Introduction to Tennis

By Alan

Introduction to Tennis

Tennis is a sport between two teams with 1 or 2 players on each team. They play on a tennis court usually made of grass, clay, or concrete. The opposing players play six periods of tennis in a match. Each period is called a set. Whoever has the most points after 6 sets wins. The United States Tennis Association (USTA), has more than 700,000 people participating in the league, more than any other tennis league in the world. Some of the most famous tennis players in the world include Roger Federer, Rafal Nadal, Greigor Dimitrov, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Ashley Barty, Gael Monfils, Dustin Brown, Novak Djokovic, and many more.
The game has no clock to set time limits, so generally, a tennis game can last forever without end. The goal of scoring points is to hit the ball to a place inside the designated area so that the opponent can’t hit the ball back. Tennis players use backhand and forehand shots to get points and win matches. Players take breaks during a match to recharge their bodies through healthy snacks and water and rest, then get back on the court to start playing again. Usually, players switch sides after each period or after rest breaks. Depending on if you play singles or doubles, you get different baselines and tennis court sizes. For singles, the service box stays the same size, that is where the served ball has to bounce, but the baselines and sidelines get a couple feet smaller than the doubles court. The no man’s land gets cut off a bit for singles too, that is where most non serve balls bounce.
You keep score by starting at 0, then counting by 15 two times, that is 15, 30, then add ten points to get to forty. After you get to 40, you add an advantage point, and so on.
The biggest prizes in tennis history are the Wimbledon, U.S Open, Australian Open, and French Open. Every year, all the people in the USTA compete for these prizes, but only one person in each tournament gets to win the prize and take it home.
These are just the basics of tennis. If you want to know more about this sport, do some readings and research or contact me to write another article on the subject. Keep tuned in on Sparky to see my next article about soccer.