Tennis 🎾

1. Serena Williams
2. Roger Federer
3. Rafael Nadal
4. Dominic Thiem
5. Naomi Osaka
6. Ashleigh Barty
7. Lleyton Hewitt
8. Venus Williams
9. Steffi Graff
10. Andy Murray

Basic Rules:

The rules of tennis can differ slightly between singles matches and doubles matches but things first both players will need a racquet each a ball between them to play.Tennis can be played on numerous different court settings including grass, clay, hard surface and carpet with each having a different effect on how the ball bounces. The court is made up of a rectangle which includes a base line (the end of the rectangle), service areas (two spaces over the net which the ball must land in), and two tram lines down either side.

The main aim of the game is to hit the ball over the net landing the ball within the margins of the court and in positions that will ultimately make it harder for your opponent to receive it. You win a point every-time your opponent is unable to return the ball back to you or it does not fall in the court margins.

A quick coin toss will determine the question of who serves first and what side the player receives their opponents shots from. The server will continue serving the ball to the other player until the set has ended. After the end of that set, the positions will switch with the server becoming the receiver and the receiver becoming the server for the next set. This process is repeated throughout until the end of the match.

Scoring:

To win a game a player needs to score a certain amount of sets and points to win the game. The points go as 15 (1 point), 30 (two points), 40 (three points) and the final point would result in winning the overall point and the end of that game. Scores can get to 40-40 which is known as deuce, when this happens the player must then win by two clear points. Winning a set is usually the first player to get to 6 games but they must clear by at least 2 games.

More Rules:

• When serving it must be done from behind the base line and served into the diagonal service area over the net. If the servers foot crosses the line that serve is counted as a fault.
• If the server fails to get their serve in the service space on the court, they get three chances before the opponent gets the point and they must start serving to the opposite service space box.
• If the ball hits the top of the net before landing in the receivers box it is known as a let ball and the person serving can repeat that serve again.
• After winning one point from deuce that player is on advantage. If the player wins the next point they win the game, if they lose it goes back to deuce.
• If a player purposely touches the net, acts rudely or distracts his opponent this can be a loss of a point straight away.
• 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

During the formation of the modern game of tennis, there was very little documentation of how the sport evolved, especially in Australia. Unlike other sports such as football, rugby and cricket, a lot of written Australian history simply vanished, making the foundations of Australian tennis a mystery. 

What we do know is that tennis spread rapidly throughout Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Adelaide from its introduction in 1875, when the first tennis court was constructed in Hobart and the first English professional arrived on Australian soil. The first tennis tournament played in Australia was in January, 1880 at the Melbourne Cricket Club and was named the ‘Championship of the Colony of Victoria.’ Until the mid 1920s, most tennis racquets used in Australia were imported from the USA or England. The first racquets made in Australia began appearing around this time and by the 1930s Australian made racquets were being exported.

Technology raised the profile of tennis in Australia and across the world. It was also noted that the invention of the lawn mower enabled tennis courts to be constructed much easier. Courts were built in existing sports clubs such as cricket and croquet so it was easy to convert the playing surface from one sport to another. Tennis spread all over the country in Australia, from homes to clubs, to isolated farms and homesteads. Australian courts were made from clay, sand, dirt or asphalt, and appeared everywhere. Traditional manufacturers of existing sporting equipment such cricket, baseball and tennis started to experiment in designing and making new rackets, balls and stringing types. 

The history of Australian tennis wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the Australian Open. It was originally called “The Australasian Championships”, then in 1927 “The Australian Championships” and in 1969 was renamed to “The Australian Open”. The game did not attract foreign players until 1946 when air travel made it practical for these players to attend. Melbourne became the permanent home for The Australian Open in 1972 after previously being hosted in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.