Lawn Tennis Terms

Posted By admin On 01/08/22
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Ace A service of a tennis ball that is not returned by an opponent and is deemed to be in play by the umpire.
Ad court The left side of the court of each player
Advantage When one player wins a point from a deuce and needs one more point to win the game
Alley The area of the court between the singles and doubles sidelines, also known as the tramlines
Approach shot A shot used as a setup as the player runs up to the net, often using underspin
ATP Association of Tennis Professionals, the men's professional circuit
Backhand A method of wielding a tennis racquet where the player hits the tennis ball with a stroke that comes across their body with the back of their racquet hand facing the ball
Backswing The portion of a swing before the ball is hit
Bagel Winning a set 6-0. A double bagel is winning 6-0, 6-0.
Ball Boy A person, male or female, tasked with retrieving tennis balls from the court that have gone out of play
Baseline the chalk line at the farthest ends of the court indicating the boundary of the area of play.
Baseliner a player whose strategy is to stay at the baseline during play
Big serve a forceful serve, usually giving an advantage in the point for the server
Block a defensive shot with relatively little backswing, usually while returning a serve
Bread stick winning a set 6-1. See also bagel
Break to lose a game to an opponent when you are serving
Break point one point away from a break
Closed stance hitting the ball with the body facing between parallel to the baseline and backturned to the opponent; it is known as a classic technique.
Chip blocking a shot with underspin
Chip and charge an aggressive strategy to return the opponent's serve with underspin and move forward to the net
Chop a shot with extreme underspin
Counterpuncher a defensive baseliner. See tennis strategy
Court the area designated for playing a game of tennis
Crosscourt hitting the ball diagonally into the opponent's court
Deep a shot that lands near the baseline, as opposed to near the net
Deuce the score 40-40 in a game. A player must win two consecutive points from a deuce before winning the game. See advantage
Deuce court the right side of the court of each player
Dink hitting a shot with no pace
Dirtballer a clay court specialist
Double Fault two faults in a row in one point, causing the player serving to lose the Point
Doubles a tennis game played by four players, two per side of the court
Down the line hitting the ball straight ahead into the opponent's court
Drop shot a play in which the player hits the ball lightly enough to just go over the net; designed to catch a player off guard who is away from the net
Drop volley a drop shot executed from a volley
Fault an unsuccessful serve that fails to place the ball in the correct area of play therefore not starting the Point
First Service the first of the two serves of a tennis ball a player is allowed at the beginning of a Point.
Flat e.g. a flat serve; a shot with relatively no spin
Follow through the portion a swing after the ball is hit
Foot fault a fault caused by the server stepping into the tennis court
Forehand a method of wielding a tennis racquet where the player hits the tennis ball with a stroke that comes from behind their body with the front of their racquet hand facing the ball
Game point one point away to win the game.
Golden set winning a set without losing a point
Golden Slam winning the Grand Slam and the tennis Olympic gold medal in a calendar year
Grand Slam the four most prestigious tournaments in a year: the Australian Open, the French Open (or Roland Garros), Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Winning the Grand Slam is winning all four in a calendar year.
Groundies see Groundstroke
Groundstroke a forehand or backhand shot that is executed after the ball bounces once on the court
Hail Mary an extremely high lob, for defensive purposes
Head (racket) the portion of the racket that contains the strings
Hold winning the game when serving
I-formation (in doubles) a formation where the server and his partner stand on the same side of the court (deuce- or ad-court) before starting the point
Inside-out running around one side (e.g. the backhand side) and hitting a crosscourt shot
Inside-in running around one side and hitting it down the line; less popular than the inside-out
Jamming to serve or return straight to the opponent's body
Kick serve a type of spin serve that bounces high
Lawn Tennis tennis played on a court laid out on a grass covered surface
Let when the ball touches the net but enters the opponent's half of the court within the play area. The point is replayed
Line Judge a person designated to observe the passage of tennis balls over the boundary lines of the court. A Line Judge can declare that a play was within or outside of the play area and cannot be overruled by the players. A line Judge must defer to an Umpire's decision, even when it contradicts their own observations.
Lob a stroke in tennis where the ball is lifted high above the net with the intention of it going over the opposing player in the case of him being close to the net, thus nearly guaranteeing the point
Love zero (score) Love game a shutout game won without the other player scoring
Match point a situation when the player who is leading needs one more point to win the match
Mini-break to win a point from the opponent's serve in a tiebreak
Mixed Doubles a tennis game played by four players, two players are male, two are female, one of each player sex per side of the court
Moonball an extremely high lob
No-Man's Land the area between the service line and the baseline, where a player is most vulnerable
Open stance hitting the ball with the body facing between parallel to the baseline and facing the opponent; it is known as a modern technique.
Out any ball that lands outside the play area
Overrule reversing a call from the linesperson, done by the umpire
Passing shot A shot that passes by the opponent at the net, but not over him (see lob)
Poaching (in doubles) an aggressive move where the player at net moves to volley a shot intended for his/her partner
Point the period of play between the first successful service of a ball to the point at which that ball goes out of play
Pusher a player who does not try to hit winners, but only to return it safely
Putaway a shot to try to end the point from an advantageous situation
Racquet a bat with a long handle and a large looped head with a string mesh tautly stretched across it, made of wood, metal or some other synthetic material, that is used by a tennis player to hit the tennis ball during a game of tennis - (see also Racket)
Rally (Following the service of a tennis ball) A series of return hits of the ball that ends when one or other player fails to return the ball within the court boundary or fails to return a ball that falls within the play area.
Referee a person in charge of enforcing the rules in a tournament, as opposed to a tennis match (see Umpire)
Retriever a defensive baseliner. See tennis strategy
Set point one point away from winning a set
Singles a tennis game played by two players
Second Service the second and final of the two serves of a tennis ball a player is allowed at the beginning of a Point
Serve to begin a point by hitting the ball into the opponents half of the court
Serve and volley a strategy to serve and immediately move forward to make a volley and hopefully a winner
Slice (rally) hitting a tennis ball with underspin; (service) serving with sidespin
Spin rotation of the ball as it moves through the air, affecting its trajectory and bounce
Split step a footwork technique by doing a small hop just before the opponent is hitting the ball
Tanking to purposefully lose a match, because of poor mental game or others. Or, to simply purposefully lose one unnecessary set, so as to focus energy and attention on the final and match-deciding set
Tennis Ball a soft, hollow, air filled rubber ball coated in a synthetic fur used in the game of tennis
Tiebreak a special game at the score 6-6 in a set to decide the winner of the set; the winner is the first to reach at least 7 points with a difference of 2 from the opponent.
Topspin spin of a ball that goes forward over the top of the ball, causing the ball to dip and bounce higher
Tramline a line defining the limit of play on the side of a singles or doubles court.
Underspin spin of a ball that goes forward under of the ball, causing the ball to float and bounce lower
Umpire (during play) an independent person designated to enforce the rules of the game in a match, usually sitting on a high chair beside the net
Unforced error during play, an error in a service or return shot that cannot be attributed to any factor other than poor judgement by the player.
Wild card a player let by organizers to play in a tournament, even if his/her rank is not adequate or does not register in time
Winner (rally) a forcing shot that can not be reached by the opponent and wins the point; (service) a forcing serve that is reached by the opponent, but is not returned properly, and wins the point
WTA Women's Tennis Association, the women's professional circuit

Terms
Tennis
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    • Outstanding players
  • Play of the game
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Orange Lawn Tennis Club is permitted to revise these Terms at any time as it sees fit, and by using this Website you are expected to review these Terms on a regular basis. ASSIGNMENT The Orange Lawn Tennis Club is allowed to assign, transfer, and subcontract its rights and/or obligations under these Terms without any notification. Tennis vocabulary, Tennis word list - a free resource used in over 40,000 schools to enhance vocabulary mastery & written/verbal skills with Latin & Greek roots. Ace - a serve that is a winner without the receiving tennis player able to return the ball. Ad court - the part of the tennis court that is to the left of the tennis players Advantage - when a tennis player needs one more point to win the game after the score was deuce.

Lawn Tennis Rules

Lawn Tennis Terms
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Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce, 4th Baron AberdareSee All Contributors
Author of The Story of Tennis; Willis Faber Book of Tennis and Rackets.
Alternative Title: lawn tennis

Tennis, original name lawn tennis, game in which two opposing players (singles) or pairs of players (doubles) use tautly strung rackets to hit a ball of specified size, weight, and bounce over a net on a rectangular court. Points are awarded to a player or team whenever the opponent fails to correctly return the ball within the prescribed dimensions of the court. Organized tennis is played according to rules sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the world governing body of the sport.

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Tennis originally was known as lawn tennis, and formally still is in Britain, because it was played on grass courts by Victorian gentlemen and ladies. It is now played on a variety of surfaces. The origins of the game can be traced to a 12th–13th-century French handball game called jeu de paume (“game of the palm”), from which was derived a complex indoor racket-and-ball game: real tennis. This ancient game is still played to a limited degree and is usually called real tennis in Britain, court tennis in the United States, and royal tennis in Australia.

The modern game of tennis is played by millions in clubs and on public courts. Its period of most rapid growth as both a participant and a spectator sport began in the late 1960s, when the major championships were opened to professionals as well as amateurs, and continued in the 1970s, when television broadcasts of the expanding professional tournament circuits and the rise of some notable players and rivalries broadened the appeal of the game. A number of major innovations in fashion and equipment fueled and fed the boom. The addition of colour and style to tennis wear (once restricted to white) created an entirely new subdivision of leisure clothing. Tennis balls, which historically had been white, now came in several hues, with yellow the colour of choice. Racket frames, which had been of a standard size and shape and constructed primarily of laminated wood, were suddenly manufactured in a wide choice of sizes, shapes, and materials, the most significant milestones being the introduction of metal frames beginning in 1967 and the oversized head in 1976.

While tennis can be enjoyed by players of practically any level of skill, top competition is a demanding test of both shot making and stamina, rich in stylistic and strategic variety. From its origins as a garden-party game for ladies in whalebone corsets and starched petticoats and men in long white flannels, it has evolved into a physical chess match in which players attack and defend, exploiting angles and technical weaknesses with strokes of widely diverse pace and spin. Tournaments offer tens of millions of dollars in prize money annually.

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History

Origin and early years

There has been much dispute over the invention of modern tennis, but the officially recognized centennial of the game in 1973 commemorated its introduction by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield in 1873. He published the first book of rules that year and took out a patent on his game in 1874, although historians have concluded that similar games were played earlier and that the first tennis club was established by the Englishman Harry Gem and several associates in Leamington in 1872. Wingfield’s court was of the hourglass shape and may have developed from badminton. The hourglass shape, stipulated by Wingfield in his booklet “Sphairistiké, or Lawn Tennis,” may have been adopted for patent reasons since it distinguished the court from ordinary rectangular courts. At the time, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) was the governing body of real tennis, whose rules it had recently revised. After J.M. Heathcote, a distinguished real tennis player, developed a better tennis ball of rubber covered with white flannel, the MCC in 1875 established a new, standardized set of rules for tennis.

Meanwhile, the game had spread to the United States in the 1870s. Mary Outerbridge of New York has been credited with bringing a set of rackets and balls to her brother, a director of the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club. But research has shown that William Appleton of Nahant, Massachusetts, may have owned the first lawn tennis set and that his friends James Dwight and Fred R. Sears popularized the game.

Lawn Tennis Other Terms

Lawn

An important milestone in the history of tennis was the decision of the All England Croquet Club to set aside one of its lawns at Wimbledon for tennis, which soon proved so popular that the club changed its name to the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. In 1877 the club decided to hold a tennis championship, and a championship subcommittee of three was appointed. It decided on a rectangular court 78 feet (23.8 metres) long by 27 feet (8.2 metres) wide. They adapted the real tennis method of scoring—15, 30, 40, game—and allowed the server one fault (i.e., two chances to deliver a proper service on each point). These major decisions remain part of the modern rules. Twenty-two entries were received, and the first winner of the Wimbledon Championships was Spencer Gore. In 1878 the Scottish Championships were held, followed in 1879 by the Irish Championships.

There were several alterations in some of the other rules (e.g., governing the height of the net) until 1880, when the All England Club and the MCC published revised rules that approximate very closely those still in use. The All England Club was the dominant authority then, the British Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) not being formed until 1888. In 1880 the first U.S. championship was held at the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club. The victor was an Englishman, O.E. Woodhouse. The popularity of the game in the United States and frequent doubts about the rules led to the foundation in 1881 of the U.S. National Lawn Tennis Association, later renamed the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association and, in 1975, the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA). Under its auspices, the first official U.S. national championship, played under English rules, was held in 1881 at the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island. The winner, Richard Sears, was U.S. champion for seven consecutive years.

Lawn Tennis Terms Pictures

Tennis had taken firm root in Australia by 1880, and the first Australian Championships were played in 1905. The first national championships in New Zealand were held in 1886. In 1904 the Lawn Tennis Association of Australasia (later of Australia) was founded.

The first French Championships were held at the Stade Français in 1891, but it was an interclub tournament that did not become truly international until 1925; the French Federation of Lawn Tennis was established in 1920. Other national championships were inaugurated in Canada (1890), South Africa (1891), Spain (1910), Denmark (1921), Egypt (1925), Italy (1930), and Sweden (1936). In 1884 a women’s championship was introduced at Wimbledon, and women’s national championships were held in the United States starting in 1887.

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