Portal:Tennis

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Welcome to the Tennis Portal

Panoramic view of Stadium Court in Tennis Center at Crandon Park, Key Biscayne, Florida, United States. Taken during the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open.

Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket strung with a cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. If a player is unable to return the ball successfully, the opponent scores a point.

Playable at all levels of society and at all ages, tennis can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The original forms of tennis developed in France during the late Middle Ages. The modern form of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis. It had close connections to various field (lawn) games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport today called real tennis.

The rules of modern tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that until 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point-challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of a point, a system known as Hawk-Eye. (Full article...)

More about Tennis history, glossary, equipment, courts, scores, types of matches, officials, shots, tournaments, and statistics

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Mario Power Tennis is a 2004 sports game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. The game is the sequel to the Nintendo 64 title Mario Tennis, and is the fourth game in the Mario Tennis series. The game was ported for the Wii in 2009 as part of the New Play Control! series, and was also re-released as a Nintendo Selects title in 2012. A companion handheld game, Mario Tennis: Power Tour, was also released on Game Boy Advance around the same time as the original GameCube release, bearing the same title as Power Tennis in Europe.

Power Tennis incorporates multiple characters, themes, and locations from the Mario series. The game includes standard tennis matches, but contains variants that feature different scoring formats and objectives. Other variants include "Gimmick" courts, thematic areas with components and properties that directly affect gameplay. The game has 18 playable characters, each categorised by their style of play and each with a pair of unique moves known as "Power Shots". Power Tennis was developed simultaneously with Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, and the pair shared similar technology and concepts with each other during production. Such similarities include an emphasis on the Mario theme in characters and settings as well as alternative game modes such as "Ring Shot". (Full article...)
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The Williams sisters rivalry was a tennis rivalry between sisters Venus Williams and Serena Williams (born June 17, 1980, and September 26, 1981, respectively), regarded as two of the best woman tennis players for over two decades. They met 31 times in professional tournaments between 1998 and 2020, with Serena leading their head-to-head 19–12.

Both sisters have been ranked world No. 1 in singles: Venus for a total of 11 weeks, beginning in February 2002; Serena for a total of 316 weeks, beginning in July 2002. Venus has won 49 singles titles over the course of her career, and Serena won 73. (Full article...)
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The 2009 Sony Ericsson Open (also known as 2009 Miami Masters) was a men's and women's tennis tournament held from March 23 to April 5, 2009. It was the 25th edition of the Miami Masters event and was played on outdoor hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida, located near Miami. The tournament was part of 2009 ATP World Tour and 2009 WTA Tour, classified as ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and Premier Mandatory event respectively.

The men's singles event was won by British player Andy Murray, who defeated Novak Djokovic in the final. Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won the women's singles event by defeating defending champion Serena Williams. Both Murray and Azarenka were first-time winners at the tournament and also the first to win from their respective countries. In the doubles events, Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram won the men's title by defeating the team of Ashley Fisher and Stephen Huss. The women's doubles title was won by Svetlana Kuznetsova and Amélie Mauresmo who overcame Květa Peschke and Lisa Raymond in the final match. (Full article...)
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World TeamTennis (WTT) was a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973.

The league's season normally took place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA would often take a break from their tour schedules to partake in World TeamTennis. (Full article...)
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In tennis, "Battle of the Sexes" describes various exhibition matches played between a man and a woman, or a doubles match between two men and two women in one case. The term is most famously used for an internationally televised match in 1973 held at the Houston Astrodome between 55-year-old Bobby Riggs and 29-year-old Billie Jean King, which King won in three sets. The match was viewed by an estimated fifty million people in the United States and ninety million worldwide. King's win is considered a milestone in public acceptance of women's tennis.

Two other matches commonly referred to as a "battle of the sexes" include one held four months earlier in 1973 between Riggs and Margaret Court over the best of three sets, and one in 1992 between Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova over the best of three sets, with hybrid rules favoring the female player dubbed "The Battle of Champions". These matches were won by Riggs and Connors, respectively. (Full article...)
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The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for men's tennis, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. The event is part of the ATP Tour 500 series on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. It is currently advertised as the "cinch Championships" after its title sponsor.

Queen's is one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world, and serves as a warm-up for Wimbledon. Andy Murray has won a record five titles between 2009 and 2016. (Full article...)
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This article covers the period from 1877 to present. Before the beginning of the Open Era in April 1968, only amateurs were allowed to compete in established tennis tournaments, including the four Grand Slam tournaments (also known as the majors). Wimbledon, the oldest of the majors, was founded in 1877, followed by the US Open in 1881, the French Open in 1891 and the Australian Open in 1905. Beginning in 1905 and continuing to the present day, all four majors have been played yearly, with the exception of during the two World Wars, 1986 for the Australian Open, and 2020 for Wimbledon. The Australian Open is the first major of the year (January), followed by the French Open (May–June), Wimbledon (June–July) and the US Open (August–September). There was no prize money and players were compensated for travel expenses only. A player who wins all four majors, in singles or as part of a doubles team, in the same calendar year is said to have achieved a "Grand Slam". If the player wins all four consecutively, but not in the same calendar year, it is called a "Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam". Winning all four at some point in a career, even if not consecutively, is referred to as a "Career Grand Slam". Winning the four majors and a gold medal in tennis at the Summer Olympics in the same calendar year has been called a "Golden Slam" since 1988. Winning all four majors plus an Olympic gold at some point in a career, even if not consecutively, is referred to as a "Career Golden Slam". Winning the year-end championship while also having won a Golden Slam is referred to as a "Super Slam". Winning all four majors, an Olympic gold, and the year-end championships at some point in a career, even if not consecutively, is referred to as a "Career Super Slam". Winning the four majors in all three disciplines a player is eligible for–singles, doubles and mixed doubles–is considered winning a "boxed set" of Grand Slam titles.

Prior to 1924, the major tennis championships, governed by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), were the World Hard Court Championships, World Grass Court Championships (Wimbledon), and World Covered Court Championships. (Full article...)
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Owen Davidson is the most recent player to complete the Grand Slam.

List of Mixed Doubles Grand Slam tennis tournament champions:

Although several players have won at least one title in each of the four majors to achieve the Career Grand Slam, only three players have won the Grand Slam, all four titles in a single calendar year. This includes one team, Margaret Court and Ken Fletcher in 1963, as well as Court and Owen Davidson separately with different partners. Billie Jean King completed the "non-calendar year Grand Slam" by winning all four majors in a row in a period spanning two calendar years. (Full article...)
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Novak Djokovic has won a record 40 Masters titles in singles. He is also the only singles player to complete the career Golden Masters, and has accomplished the feat twice.

The ATP Masters events, known as ATP Masters 1000 tournaments since 2009, are an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour since its inception in 1990. The Masters tournaments, sitting below the Grand Slam tournaments and the year-end championships, make up the most coveted trophies on the annual ATP Tour calendar. In addition to the quadrennial Summer Olympics, they are collectively known as the 'Big Titles'.

Novak Djokovic holds the record for the most Masters singles titles with 40. By completing the career set of all nine current Masters series singles titles in 2018, Djokovic became the first and only player to achieve the career Golden Masters. In 2020, Djokovic completed a second career Golden Masters. (Full article...)
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Steffi Graf

The Graf–Sabatini rivalry was a tennis rivalry between Steffi Graf and Gabriela Sabatini, who played each other on 40 occasions between 1985 and 1995. Graf was the world No. 1, and Sabatini reached a career high of No. 3. Both are Major champions, Graf winning 22 titles, and Sabatini won her only major title at the 1990 US Open over Graf. They also teamed in doubles, reaching three French Open finals and winning the 1988 Wimbledon crown.

In Grand Slams, they met 12 times, three of them in finals. Graf leads 11–1. In 1988, Graf beat Sabatini in the semifinals of the French Open, the US Open final, and the Olympic final to complete the calendar-year Golden Slam. In the 1991 Wimbledon final. Sabatini was two points away from capturing the singles title, but Graf took the match 8–6 in the deciding set. (Full article...)
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The Djokovic–Murray rivalry was a tennis rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. They met 36 times, and Djokovic leads 25–11 overall and 11–8 in finals. Ten of their encounters were played in majors, with Djokovic leading 8–2. Djokovic and Murray are one of two male pairs to have contested the finals of each of the four majors (Djokovic–Nadal is the other pair).

Djokovic leads on hard courts 20–8 and 5–1 on clay, while Murray won their two matches played on grass. The rivalry began highly competitive and remained so for many years. However, after Murray won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships over Djokovic in the final, Djokovic took a commanding lead, winning 14 of their last 17 encounters. (Full article...)
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The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters and as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Miami Gardens, Florida, United States. It is played on outdoor hard courts at the Hard Rock Stadium, and is held in late March and early April. The tournament is part of the ATP Masters 1000 events on the ATP Tour and part of the WTA 1000 events on the WTA Tour.

The tournament was held at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida from 1987 through 2018, featuring the top 96 men and women tennis players in the world. It moved to Miami Gardens for 2019. Following the Indian Wells Open, it is the second event of the "Sunshine Double" — a series of two elite, consecutive hard court tournaments in the United States in early spring. (Full article...)
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Wimbledon men's wheelchair doubles

Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, and the ball may bounce up to two times, where the second bounce may also occur outside the court.

Wheelchair tennis has been played at all four Grand Slams since 2007 and is one of the sports played at the Summer Paralympics. There are three categories, Men, Women, and Quads; each category has singles and doubles tournaments. The Quad, the newest division, is for players that have substantial loss of function in at least one upper limb, but may include various disabilities besides quadriplegia. The division is sometimes called Mixed, especially at the Paralympic Games. Quad players often tape the rackets to their hand, to compensate for loss of function, and some players are allowed to use electric-powered wheelchairs. (Full article...)
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Drawing by Jacques-Louis David of the Tennis Court Oath.

The Tennis Court Oath (French: Serment du Jeu de Paume) was taken on 20 June 1789 by the members of the French Third Estate in a tennis court on the initiative of Jean Joseph Mounier. Their vow "not to separate and to reassemble wherever necessary until the Constitution of the kingdom is established" became a pivotal event in the French Revolution.

The Estates-General had been called to address the country's fiscal and agricultural crisis, but they had become bogged down in issues of representation immediately after convening in May 1789, particularly whether they would vote by order or by head (which would increase the power of the Third Estate, as it outnumbered the other two estates by a large margin). On 17 June, the Third Estate began to call itself the National Assembly, led by Jean Sylvain Bailly. Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, took a prominent role. (Full article...)
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Wimbledon Championships is an annual British tennis tournament created in 1877 and played on outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) in the Wimbledon suburb of London, United Kingdom. The Gentlemen's Singles was the first event contested in 1877. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various tennis-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Roger Federer, the all-time record holder in men's singles (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 2Arthur Ashe stadium in 2010, before the retractable roof was added. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 3Jannik Sinner, 2024 men's singles champion. It was his first major title. (from Australian Open)
Image 4Bill Larned, a joint all-time record holder in men's singles (from US Open (tennis))
Image 5Spencer Gore, the winner of the inaugural Wimbledon Championship (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 6Kateřina Siniaková was part of the winning women's doubles team in 2024. It was her eighth major title and her third at the French Open. (from French Open)
Image 7Aryna Sabalenka, 2024 women's singles champion. It was her second major title and her second at the Australian Open. (from Australian Open)
Image 8Court 10. On the outside courts there is no reserved seating. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 9Margaret Court Arena at the Australian Open in 2005 prior to its redevelopment. Rod Laver Arena is in the background. (from Australian Open)
Image 10Laura Siegemund was part of the winning mixed doubles team in 2024. It was her second major title. (from French Open)
Image 11Sébastien Grosjean takes a shot on Court 18 during the 2004 Championships. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 12Aerial view of the grounds (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 13Margaret Court, the all-time record holder in women's singles. (from Australian Open)
Image 14Rod Laver Arena night session in 2007, the last year the tournament used the Rebound Ace surface. (from Australian Open)
Image 15Kateřina Siniaková was part of the 2024 winning women's doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 16Novak Djokovic, the all-time record holder in men's singles. (from Australian Open)
Image 17Wimbledon operates a ticket resale system where returned Show Court tickets can be purchased. All proceeds go to charity. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 18Jeļena Ostapenko was part of the 2024 winning women's doubles team. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 19The Melbourne Sports and Entertainment precinct on the banks of the Yarra River in 2010. (from Australian Open)
Image 20Coco Gauff was part of the winning women's doubles team in 2024. It was her second major title. (from French Open)
Image 21Jan Zieliński was part of the 2024 winning mixed doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 22New Rod Laver Arena entrance added in 2018 as part of the Melbourne Park redevelopment. (from Australian Open)
Image 23Marcelo Arévalo was part of the winning men's doubles team in 2024. It was his second major title. (from French Open)
Image 24Andrea Vavassori was part of the 2024 winning mixed doubles team. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 25Carlos Alcaraz, the 2024 men's singles champion. At 21, he became the youngest male player to win a major title on three different surfaces. (from French Open)
Image 26Carlos Alcaraz, the 2024 gentlemen's singles champion. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 27Arthur Ashe Stadium with the roof closed in 2018. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 28Martina Navratilova, the all-time record holder in women's singles (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 29The Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup (from Australian Open)
Image 30Centre Court at Wimbledon in May 2019 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 31Hsieh Su-wei was part of the 2024 winning women's doubles and mixed doubles team. It was her seventh major title in women's doubles and first major title in mixed doubles. (from Australian Open)
Image 32Bill Tilden, a joint all-time record holder in men's singles (from US Open (tennis))
Image 33Matthew Ebden was part of the 2024 winning men's doubles team. It was his second major title and first at the Australian Open. (from Australian Open)
Image 34Édouard Roger-Vasselin was part of the winning mixed doubles team in 2024. It was his first major title. (from French Open)
Image 35Max Purcell was part of the 2024 winning men's doubles team. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 36Richard Sears, a joint all-time record-holder in men's singles (from US Open (tennis))
Image 37Iga Świątek, the 2024 women's singles champion. It was her fifth major title and her fourth at the French Open. (from French Open)
Image 38Barbora Krejčíková, the 2024 ladies' singles champion. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 39The Royal Gallery at Centre Court, Wimbledon (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 40Commemorative plaque at Court 18 marking the longest tennis match in history (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 41Rafael Nadal holding the Coupe des Mousquetaires in 2006. (from French Open)
Image 42Chris Evert, the all-time record holder in women's singles. (from French Open)
Image 43Taylor Townsend was part of the 2024 winning women's doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 44People watching the Championships' broadcast in Canary Wharf (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 45Jordan Thompson was part of the 2024 winning men's doubles team. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 46Jan Zieliński was part of the 2024 winning mixed doubles team. It was his first major title. (from Australian Open)
Image 47The order of play for all courts is displayed on boards around the grounds. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 48Rod Laver Arena, the main court of the Australian Open, in 2023. (from Australian Open)
Image 49Wimbledon ball girl at the net, 2007 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 50Debenture of the All England Lawn Tennis Ground Ltd., issued 20th August 1930 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 51Composition of the courts. (from French Open)
Image 52Lyudmyla Kichenok was part of the 2024 winning women's doubles team. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 53Sara Errani was part of the 2024 winning mixed doubles team. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 54Hsieh Su-wei was part of the 2024 winning mixed doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 55Jannik Sinner, 2024 men's singles champion. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 56Aryna Sabalenka, 2024 women's singles champion. It was her third major title. (from US Open (tennis))
Image 57View from seats of Wimbledon Court No. 1 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 58Rafael Nadal, the all-time record holder in men's singles. (from French Open)
Image 59The Ladies' (top) and Gentlemen's singles trophies (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 60Molla Mallory, the all-time record holder in women's singles (from US Open (tennis))
Image 61Elise Mertens was part of the 2024 winning women's doubles team. It was her fourth major title and second at the Australian Open. (from Australian Open)
Image 62New Show Court Arena that opened in 2022. (from Australian Open)
Image 63Henry Patten was part of the 2024 winning men's doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 64Todd Woodbridge holding the Gentlemen's doubles silver challenge cup in 2004 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 65A Royal Marines Commando as a services steward in 2005 (from Wimbledon Championships)
Image 66Rohan Bopanna was part of the 2024 winning men's doubles team. It was his first major title. (from Australian Open)
Image 67Mate Pavić was part of the winning men's doubles team in 2024. It was his fourth major title. (from French Open)
Image 68Court Philippe Chatrier during the 2013 French Open. (from French Open)
Image 69Harri Heliövaara was part of the 2024 winning men's doubles team. (from Wimbledon Championships)

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Gibson in 1956

Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis.

In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam event (the French Open). The following year she won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals (precursor of the US Open), then won both again in 1958 and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that in high school, tennis player Sara Daavettila went an entire season without losing a game?
... that American Colossus is a biography of a man who was "the most famous sportsman in the world" and "the most forgotten great athlete in American history"?

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