# Tennis

Tennis| Frainch singles player Guillaume Rufin serves tae Czech player Tomáš Berdych in a tennis match at the 2013 Australian Open. |
| Heichest govrenin body | International Tennis Federation |
| First played | 19th century, Birmingham, Ingland |
| Characteristics |
| Contact | Na |
| Team members | Singles or doubles |
| Mixed gender | Aye, separate tours an mixed doobles |
| Categorization | Racket sport |
| Equipment | Baw, Racket, Net |
| Venue | Tennis court |
| Olympic | Pairt o Simmer Olympic programme frae 1896 tae 1924 Demonstration sport in the 1968 an 1984 Simmer Olympics Pairt o Simmer Olympic programme frae 1988 |
| Paralympic | Pairt o Simmer Paralympic programme frae 1992 |

**Tennis** is a sport uisually played atweesh twa player (singles) or atweesh twa team wi twa player in thaim (doubles). Ilka player uises a racket that is strung tae sclaff a hollae rubber baw covered wi felt ower a net intae the opponent's court. The goal o the gemm is ti muiv the baw so that the ither player canna hit richtlie. The player thit canna hit richtlie willnae get point, while the ither player will.

Tennis is an Olympic sport an is played at aw levels o society at aw ages. The sport can be played bi onybody that can haud a racket, includin fowk in wheelchairs.

The oreeginal forms o tennis developed in Fraunce durin the late Middle Ages. The modren form o tennis originatit in Birmingham, England, in the late 19t yearhunner as **lawn tennis**. It haed close connections tae various field (lawn) gems sic as croquet an bowls as weel as tae the aulder racket sport kent the day as "real tennis".

The rules in modren tennis hivnae chynged a lot frae the 1980s. Twa exception bein thit until 1961 the server haed tae keep ae fuit on the grund at aw times, an introducin tiebreak in the 1970s. A recent addeetion tae perfaisonal tennis is the electronic review technology alang wi a pynt-challenge seestem, allouin the player tae contest the line caw o a pynt. This seestem is kent as "Hawk-Eye".

Tennis is played bi millions o recreation players an is a weel kent warldwide spectator sport. The fower Grand Slam tournies (kent an aw as *the majors*) are especially weel kent an are conseedert the heichest level o competition for the sport. These tournies are the Australian Open, played on haurdcourts; the French Open, played on reid clay courts; Wimbledon, played on gress courts; an the US Open, played on haurdcourts an aw. Tennis wis aw o the oreegional sports at the Olympic Gemms, an haes bin competit in consistent-like frae the Simmer Olympic Gemms in 1988.

## History

### Predecessors

Painting from Cremona in the late-16th century
*Jeu de paume* in the 17th century
Historians believe thit the gemm's ancient origin wis in the 12t yearhunner in northren Frunce, whaur the baw wis struck wi the paum o the haund. Louis X o France wis a keen player in *jeu de paume* ("gemm o the paum"), an it evolved intae real tennis, an became weel kent as the first person tae big indoor tennis courts in the modren style. Louis wisnae happy wi playin tennis ootdoors an so haed indoor, enclosed sourts biggit in Paris "aboot the end o the 13t yearhunner". Ower time this design spreid across ryal palaces oothrou Europe. In Juin 1316 at Vincennes, Val-de-Marne, an follaein a parteecularly tirin gemm, Louis drank a hale wheen o cuiled wine an later on dee'd o aither pneumonia or pleurisy, awtho it's suspectit thit thare wis poisonin an aw. As a result frae the contemporar acoonts o his deeth, Louis X is history's first tennis player kent bi name. Anither amang the gemm's early enthusiasts wis Keeng Charles V o Fraunce, thit haed a court set up at the Louvre Palace.

The wird *tennis* likely comes frae the Frainch term *tenez*. Tenez can be pit ower as "haud!", "recieve!" or "tak!", an interjection uised tae caw frae the server tae thair opponent. It wis weel kent in Ingland an Fraunce, awtho the gemm wis anely played indoor, whaur the baw coud be hit aff the waw. Henry VIII o Ingland wis a big fan o the gemm. This variant o the gemm is nou kent as real tennis.

An epitaph in Middle Inglis in St Michael's Church, Coventry, scrieved c. 1705, read, in pairt:

> Here lyes an old toss'd Tennis Ball:
>
>
> Was racketted, from spring to fall,
>
>
> With so much heat and so much hast,
>
>
> Time's arm for shame grew tyred at last.
>
>
>

Durin the 18t an early 19t yearhuner, as real tennis declined, new racket sports came up in Ingland.

The invention o the first lawn mower in Ingland in 1830 is believed tae hiv been a catalyst for the preparation in modren-style grass courts, sportin ovals, playin fields, pitches, greens, etc. This haes led tae the codification o modren fules for mony sports, includin lawn tennis, maist fitbaw codes, lawn bowls an ithers.