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 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 object of the game is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball validly will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.

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. 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 both 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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Image 1
The French Open, also known as Roland-Garros, is an annual tennis tournament held over two weeks in May and June. Established in 1891 and played since 1928 on outdoor red clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, the French Open is (since 1925) one of the four Grand Slam tournaments played each year, the other three being the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Organised by the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT), the French Open is the second of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the year to be played. In 1968, it was the first Grand Slam tournament to open to non-amateur players.

The winner of the men's singles event receives the Coupe des Mousquetaires, named after The Four Musketeers of French tennis: Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste. The event was not held from 1915 to 1919 because of the First World War and was held unofficially as the Tournoi de France under German occupation from 1941 to 1944, during the Second World War. (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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Tennis string in closeup view

In tennis, the strings are the part of a tennis racquet which make contact with the ball. The strings form a woven network inside the head (or "hoop") of the racquet. Strings have been made with a variety of materials and possess varying properties that have been measured, such as dynamic stiffness, tension retention, thickness (gauge), string texture (shape of the string), and rebound efficiency. (Full article...)
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The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was changed to the Fed Cup in 1995, and changed again in September 2020 in honor of former World No. 1 Billie Jean King. The Billie Jean King Cup is the world's largest annual women's international team sports competition in terms of the number of nations that compete. The current Chairperson is Katrina Adams.

The Czech Republic dominated the BJK Cup in the 2010s, winning six of ten competitions in the decade. The men's equivalent of the Billie Jean King Cup is the Davis Cup, and the Czech Republic, Canada, Australia, Russia and the United States are the only countries to have held both Cups at the same time. (Full article...)
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The Davis Cup is an annual international team event in men's tennis. Established in 1900 as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge, it is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), who describe it as the "World Cup of tennis." The first event in 1900 was a match between Great Britain and the United States, while 135 nations entered the 2016 Davis Cup.

The tournament sees players competing for their country in four singles and one doubles matches, known as rubbers, over the course of three days, with the team that wins three rubbers progressing. The countries are divided into groups based upon their location or performance in previous years. The Davis Cup World Group is the top level of the competition and features matches between players from the top 16 countries at the start of the year. Countries that lose their first round match face a relegation play-off against winning countries from the continental zones. World Group winning countries progress to the quarter-finals. Nations have to win a further three ties in order to claim the position of Davis Cup champions.The United States are the most successful nation in the history of the competition, with 32 victories. Australia are second with 28 (individually or in a combined Australasia team) and Great Britain and France are tied for third with 10. Teams from Europe have won the competition the most with 48 victories, followed by North America with 33 and Oceania with 28. (Full article...)
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The Australian Hard Court Championships was a former professional tennis tournament established in 1938 and held until 2008. The event was played on clay courts until 1977 when it switched to hard courts. The tournament was a combined event for men and women until the end of the 1980s. In 2009, Tennis Australia merged the separate men's and women's tournaments into a new combined tournament called the Brisbane International. (Full article...)
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The Agassi–Sampras rivalry was a tennis rivalry between Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, who were both ranked world No. 1 during the 1990s. Sampras held the world's top ranking for (a then-record) 286 weeks while Agassi held it for 101 weeks. With contrasting styles and temperaments, they played each other 34 times from 1989 through 2002, with the head-to-head finishing 20-14 favoring Sampras. It has been named as one of the greatest tennis rivalries of all time.

In Grand Slam tournaments, they played in five finals, with Sampras winning four. They met for the first time in a Grand Slam final at the 1990 US Open, with Agassi the favorite because of his superior ranking even though Sampras had defeated former world No. 1 players Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe en route to the final. Sampras defeated Agassi in straight sets. (Full article...)
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Russian Tennis Federation (Russian: Федерация тенниса России) is a national governing body of tennis in Russia, founded as the All-Russia Tennis Association in 1989 and reorganized under the current name in 2002. It is the successor of Tennis Federation of the RSFSR (1959–1989) and the Tennis Federation of the USSR (1959–93, known before as All-Union Tennis Section, 1929-1959).

In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Tennis Federation suspended the Russian Tennis Federation. In addition, Tennis Europe suspended the federation's membership. Teams representing Russia were therefore ineligible to compete at all Tennis Europe events (including Winter & Summer Cups, European Beach Tennis, and Senior Club Championships). All Tennis Europe events in Russia were suspended, including the European Junior Tennis Championships (16 & Under) in Moscow, and delegates from Russia were not eligible to attend the 2022 Annual General Meeting of Tennis Europe. (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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"Tennis the Menace" is the twelfth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 11, 2001. In the episode, the Simpsons build a tennis court in their backyard and are ridiculed by the entire town because of Homer's inferior tennis ability. Homer therefore tries to please Marge by entering the two into a tournament, but they quickly turn into rivals when Marge replaces Homer with Bart as her partner.

The episode features guest appearances from tennis professionals Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, and the Williams sisters as themselves. "Tennis the Menace" was directed by Jen Kamerman and written by Ian Maxtone-Graham, who also directed the Williams sisters' performance. The episodes title is a parody of Dennis the Menace. The animators of The Simpsons experimented with digital ink and paint on "Tennis the Menace", making it the first episode of the series to be animated using the process since season 7's "Radioactive Man". (Full article...)
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The San Francisco Golden Gaters were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The Golden Gaters won two Western Division Championships and lost in the WTT Finals both times. The team was founded in 1973 and made the playoffs in each of the five seasons in which it participated in the league. Following the 1978 season, eight of the then 10 WTT franchises folded leaving only the Golden Gaters and the Phoenix Racquets prepared to participate in the 1979 season. WTT suspended operations of the league in March 1979, ending the Golden Gaters existence. (Full article...)
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Novak Djokovic holds the all-time record of 24 major singles titles, including a record 10 Australian Open titles. He is the only man in history to be the reigning champion of all four majors at once across three different surfaces (2016), and the only one to complete a triple Career Grand Slam (2023).

Throughout its history, many changes in the Grand Slam tennis tournaments have affected the number of titles won by various players. These have included the opening of the French national championships to international players in 1925, the elimination of the challenge round in 1922, and the admission of professional players in 1968 (the start of the Open Era).

All of these tournaments have been listed based on the modern definition of a tennis major, rather than when they were officially recognized by the ILTF. The Grand Slam tournaments are the annual four major tennis events played in the Open Era, which began in 1968, superseding the Amateur Era. The Australian and U.S. tournaments were officially recognized by the ILTF in 1924, and the French Championships followed a year later in 1925 when it became open to all international players. The United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) had several grievances with the ILTF and refused to join when it was formed in 1913. (Full article...)
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The Australian Open is an annual tennis tournament created in 1905 and (since 1988) played on outdoor hardcourts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The Australian Open is played over a two-week period beginning in mid-January and has been chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tournaments each year since 1987. The event was not held from 1916 to 1918 because of World War I, from 1941 to 1945 because of World War II and in 1986. The timing of the Australian Open has changed several times. In 1977, the date of the final moved from January to December, which resulted in having two Australian Opens in 1977; there was a January edition and a December edition that year. The originally planned December 1986 edition was moved forward to January 1987, resulting in no Australian Open in 1986. The Australian Open was an Open Era event for the first time in 1969. One year previously in 1968 the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open were Open Era events for the first time. (Full article...)
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The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility with three courts, three outdoor hard courts, one green clay court, a court tennis facility, and a theatre. The International Tennis Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization with the goal of preserving, celebrating, and inspiring the sport of tennis around the world. (Full article...)
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World TeamTennis (WTT) is 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 takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA often take a break from their tour schedules to partake in World TeamTennis. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

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Budge at Wimbledon 1938

John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female, and still the only American male — to win the Grand Slam, and to win all four Grand Slam events consecutively overall. Budge was the second man to complete the career Grand Slam after Fred Perry, and remains the youngest to achieve the feat. He won ten majors, of which six were Grand Slam events (consecutively, a men's record) and four Pro Slams, the latter achieved on three different surfaces. Budge is considered to have one of the best backhands in the history of tennis, with most observers rating it better than that of later player Ken Rosewall.

Budge is also the only man to have achieved the Triple Crown (winning singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles at the same tournament) on three separate occasions (Wimbledon in 1937 and 1938, and the US Championships in 1938), and the only man to have achieved it twice in one year. Budge was the world Number 1 amateur in 1937 and 1938 and world Number 1 professional in 1939, 1940 and 1942. (Full article...)

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