The American University of

Madaba

Name: Labeeb Al helou

ID: 1510245

Civil engineering

Sports 1 project

Tennis
 Introduction

Tennis is one of the most popular individual sports in the world (the second
popular sport in the world after the football sport) and it is a racket sport so each
player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow
rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court.
The ball must be kept in play and can only bounce one time on the court surface
before the opponent must strike the ball back over the net, the player who cannot
return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will. Tennis is often
played with one player per side (singles) or with two players per side (doubles).

Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages. The
sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users

History

This sport has been named many names during time, like the sport of kings, lawn
tennis, and real tennis, after all these names, it named as tennis. First people played
it were the nobility of France in the thirteenth century AD, but in a primitive way,
they used their palm of their hands to hit the ball and they have named it
"Paume" (palm), after that a huge improvements in this sport, so the real usage for
the rackets starts in the fifth century AD, even at that time it was not a competitive
type of sport but it was just for entertainment.

In the fifth century it was spreaded, and reaches to Europe, and they named it
“tennis” as it is known right now.

The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th

century as lawn tennis. During most of the 19th century, in fact, the
term tennis referred to real tennis, not lawn tennis
 Court

Dimensions of the court are always fixed specially in the length, the width may be
difference in case of doubles (two players each side) the width will be increased.
The court has a length of 23.77m and the width equal to 8.23m, but in case of
double the width will be equal to 10.97m, and the net is placed in the half of the
court with height equal to 91.5cm.

Tennis game is played on many types of surfaces and each surface has its own
characteristics so it affects the playing style of the game. There are four
main types of courts depending on the materials used for the court surface:

1) clay court
2) hard courts,
3) grass courts
4) carpet courts
àClay Court:
This type of courts is made of crushed shake stone or brick. This type of courts
slows down the ball and reduces the high bounce in comparison to grass or hard
courts.
Clay courts are cheaper to construct than other types of tennis courts, but a clay
surface costs more to maintain. Clay courts need to be rolled to preserve flatness.
Clay courts are more common in Europe and Latin America than in North
America.

àHard court:
This type of courts is made of uniform rigid material (often covered with acrylic
layer), in order to increase the bounce of the ball.
Hard courts can vary in
speed, they are faster than
clay but not as fast as grass
courts. The quantity of
sand added to the paint can
greatly affect the rate at
which the ball slows down.
àGrass court:
This type of courts is made of
grass grown on very hard
packed soil, the bouncing
depends on how the grass is
healthily, and how it has been
mowed.
Grass Courts are the fastest
type of courts, but this type is
rarely used now because of
high maintenance costs
(watered and mown) and took
longer time to get dry after rain.

àCarpet courts:
Carpet means
removable court
covering, which are
stored and install it
temporarily for tennis
event. Carpets are a
fast surface (faster
than the hard court),
with low bounce.
 Tennis ball

 The International Tennis Federation (ITF) defines the official diameter to

range from 6.54 cm to 6.86 cm (2.57–2.70 inches).
 Balls must have masses in the range 56.0–59.4 g (1.98–2.10 ounces).
 The balls are filled with air and are surfaced by a uniform felt-covered
rubber compound
 The only colors approved from the ITF are yellow and white, and most of
the balls are produced with fluorescent yellow "optic yellow" first
introduced in 1972
 The color of the ball is based on a research that showed that they are more
visible on the television with the optic yellow color.
 First tennis ball was made from wood. Later in the history of tennis ball was
filled with cellulose material to gave way to a bouncier, and now the balls
are filled with air

Tennis racket
 Types of matches

There are mainly three types:

1) singles match: involves two players against each other, usually 2 men or 2
women, although games between a man and a woman may be played
2) Doubles match: is played by 2 teams each team consist of 2 players, usually
all men or all women, in case of doubles match, the court width become
wider, it includes the area in the alley it will be equal to 10.97m. each team
(each two players) change positions after each point played (the one at the
net, and the other near the base line)
3) Mixed doubles match: is played the same as doubles, but with one man and
one woman per team.

 Faults and rules of playing:

The game starts with a coin toss to determine which player must serve first and
which side they want to serve from.

The aim is to hit the ball over the net landing the ball within the margins of the
court and in a way that results in your opponent being unable to return the ball.

Points are counted against any of the competing players in the following cases: if
the player hit or touches the ball more than one time in the half of the court that is
specified for him, and if the player of his racket touch the net that is centered in the
court, and if the ball touch the player or any part of his body except the racket net.
Stepping across the baseline before striking the ball is considered as (foot fault),
and walking or running while serving also considered as fault.

If the server fails to get their first serve in they may take a second serve. If they
again fail to get their second serve in then a double fault will be called and the
point lost.

A player loses a point if they fail to return the ball in either the correct areas on the
court, hits the net and doesn’t go into opponent’s area or fails to return the ball
before it bounces twice in their half.
If the ball is struck without the serve bouncing then the server will receive the
point.
The ball can hit any part of the line for the point to be called in, outside the line
and the ball is out. The balls in a tennis match are changed for new balls every 6
games.

There are 12 referees in the tennis game; one of them is the main referee and the
others are located on the lines, net, and for the foot fault, in order to detect if the
ball is in or out, and if it touches the net

The player needs to score four points to win a game of tennis. The points are
known as 15 (1 point), 30 (two points), 40 (three points) and the fourth would
result in the winning point and the end of that game. If the scores went to 40-40
this would be known as deuce.
When a game reaches deuce the player must then win by two clear points. The
player who wins with 6 games, with 2 or more, will be considered as winner for
the set.

In tennis game, there is not limited time to stop the game, but it depends on the
players them selves

Annual events

There are four annual tennis events called Grand Slam or Majors:

1) the Australian Open in mid January

2) the French Open around late May through early June

3) Wimbledon in June-July

4) the US Open in August-September

The Grand Slam are the most important annual events, offering most ranking point,
earning money, public and media attention, and greater number of “best of” sets
for men
References

 https://www.tennis.com.au/learn/rules-and-scoring
 https://arabic.sport360.com/article/tennis/375346
 http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Tennis-Racket.html
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_court
 https://www.tennistheme.com/tennishistory.html