THE TENNIS PORTAL

Tennis is a sport played between either two players (singles) or two teams of two players each (doubles). Players use a stringed racquet to strike a ball, a hollow rubber sphere covered in felt, over a net into the opponent's court. In some places tennis is still called lawn tennis to distinguish it from real tennis (also known as royal tennis, court tennis or jeu de paume), an older form of the game that is played indoors on a very different kind of a court. Originating in England in the late 19th century AD, the game spread first throughout the English-speaking world, particularly among the upper classes. Tennis is now played in the Summer Olympic Games and at all levels of society, by individuals of all ages many countries around the world. Its rules have remained remarkably unchanged since the early 1900s. Along with its millions of players, tennis claims millions of people who follow the sport as spectators, being particularly interested in the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Selected article

In tennis, a player uses different strategies that both enhance his own strengths and exploit his opponent's weaknesses in order to gain the advantage and win more points. Players commonly specialize in a certain style of play, focusing on what they do best as a means of beating their opponents. Based on their style, players generally fit into one of three types: baseliners, volleyers and all-court players. A baseliner plays from the back of the tennis court, around the baseline, preferring to trade groundstrokes rather than to come up to the net (except in certain situations). A volleyer tries to approach the net and hit volleys, putting pressure on the opponent. All-court players fall somewhere in between. A tennis player usually determines his/her strategies based on his/her weaknesses. For example, most players have a stronger forehand, therefore they will hit forehands "inside out" to their opponents.

Selected picture

Selected biography

Ana Ivanović, (Serbian: Ана Ивановић, Serbian pronunciation: [ˈana iˈvaːnɔvitɕ]  ( listen); born November 6, 1987, in Belgrade, Serbia, then Yugoslavia) is a former World No.1 Serbian tennis player. As of October 26, 2009, she is ranked World No. 22 by the Women's Tennis Association. She won the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.

Selected quote

News

Roger Federer at the 2010 Australian Open.

• Jan31: Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray in the final of the 2010 Australian Open by a score of 6–3, 6–4, 7–6(13–11) to become only the second men in the Open Era to have won four titles at the Australian Open, which he tied Andre Agassi. This was his 16^th slam title for his career, which is most amongst men's tennis players all-time, and separates him from Sampras' fourteen by two on the all-time list.

• Jan30: Serena Williams defeated Justine Henin in the final of the 2010 Australian Open by a score of 6–4, 3–6, 6–2. This win was her 12^th slam title in her career tying her with Billie Jean King on the all-time list at number six, but in the Open Era she surpassed Margaret Court's 11 mark becoming number four behind Steffi Graf at 22, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova at 18 slam titles. In addition, Williams won her 5^th Australian Open Women's Singles title, which is a record, and she bested the mark of four by Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf, and Monica Seles.

Did you know...

• ...that both Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi had losing records in doubles play?

• ...that Roger Federer leads Andy Roddick in head-to-head matches 19-2 (as of July 6 2009)?

• ...German Steffi Graf is the only player with at least 4 singles titles at each of the Grand Slams?

• ...Martina Navratilova had a 74 match winning streak in 1984?

Topics

Related WikiProjects

Things you can do

• Create requested tennis articles, or expand tennis stubs
• Visit Wikipedia:WikiProject Tennis/Assessment, and help out by assessing requested articles.
• Add summaries of good Tennis articles and biographies to the list of Selected Articles and list of Selected Biographies
• Add the Template:WikiProject Tennis to tennis articles around Wikipedia.
• Check the collaboration page and help improve the selected article.
• Help nominate and select new content for the Tennis portal.
• Check the article guidlines for areas you may wish to edit in.

Categories

Associated Wikimedia