tennis

Tennis champion Martina Navratilova. Born in Prague in 1956, Navratilova later moved to the USA. By the time of her retirement in 1994, she had won 167 women's singles titles, including a record 9 at Wimbledon. Navratilova undoubtedly ranks among the greatest female tennis players of all time.

Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova. Born in 1981, Kournikova became a professional tennis player in 1996. Her moderate success on the tennis court has sometimes been overshadowed by her career as a model and pin-up.

Tennis star Venus Williams. Born in 1980, Williams won her first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon in 2000. She reclaimed her title in 2001, and with her sister, Serena, has brought women's tennis to a new peak of power and skill.

Racket-and-ball game invented towards the end of the 19th century. Although played on different surfaces (grass, wood, shale, clay, concrete), it is also called ‘lawn tennis’. The aim of the two or four players (in singles or doubles matches) is to strike the ball into the prescribed area of the court, with oval-headed rackets (strung with gut or synthetic alternatives), in such a way that it cannot be returned. The game is won by those first winning four points (called 15, 30, 40, game), unless both sides reach 40 (deuce), when two consecutive points are needed to win. A set is won by winning six games with a margin of two over opponents, although a tie-break system operates at six games to each side except in the final set of certain competitions. A match lasts a maximum of five sets for men, three for women.

Major events include the Davis Cup, first contested in 1900 for international men's competition; Wimbledon, a UK open event for players of both sexes; and the US, French, and Australian Opens.

Tennis was introduced by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield at a Christmas party at Nantclwyn, Wales, in 1873. His game was then called ‘Sphairistike’. It derived from court tennis.

Until the mid-1970s, tennis rackets were made from wood or moulded from aluminium. In 1976, the Prince racket, made from sandwiched layers of aluminium and glass fibre, doubled the racket area to 130 sq in. Today, rackets are made from graphite and glass fibre.