Let's start talking about this wonderful sport called Tennis, the accounts of the beginning of the sport are from different periods.
The first practitioners were found in Egypt and some European countries. Its followers used only a ball and their hands.
Later, the sport became more similar to the one played today, although it still did not use a racket, the palms of the hands fulfilled this role. The competitions were held indoors.
Initially the game consisted of throwing the ball against the wall, which over time was modified to a rectangular space, with larger dimensions, markings on the floor and an object to hit the ball.
After a while, the nobles approved the innovation and soon several courts were built in France, even reaching England.
After the Napoleonic War, most of the courts were destroyed and consequently its practice dwindled. The rebirth took place around the 19th century and this time tennis was here to stay.
The English liked the sport so much that they opened spaces where another sport was very popular, croquet.
When the Olympic Games reopened in 1896 in Athens, tennis made its debut in the competition. Brazil discovered the sport at the end of the 19th century, through the English and French. It all started with the people of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and then spread throughout the country.
Today there are two million players, of which 33,675 are registered with the Brazilian Tennis Confederation.
How do you play Tennis?
The word tennis comes from the French word meaning to throw or catch. Today the sport consists of throwing and hitting the ball.
A point is won when the ball hits the opponent's side of the court, passing over the net and the opponent does not hit it back.
Today there are simple competitions, with one player against another, and in pairs. In this case, there are two athletes in a team and it can even be mixed, one man and one woman.
The court can be made of clay, synthetic flooring or grass. It is divided in the middle by a net that is 1.07 meters high at the ends and 0.914 meters in the center.
In addition to the option of being in open or covered environments, the court has dimensions that vary depending on the type of dispute.
- Simple: 23.77 meters long by 8.23 meters wide.
- Doubles: The length is the same, but the width is 10.97 meters.
The matches begin with the serve made from the back of the court and last 3 or 5 sets, depending on the competition. In each set, the winner is the athlete who wins 6 games, with at least 2 games difference.
Game points are counted as follows:
- First point: 15
Second point: 30
Third point: 40
Fourth point: Game - Equal: When there is a tie in points.
If the game ends in a tie, it goes to a tie-break. Therefore, the player must reach 7 games first to emerge victorious.
However, the match only ends when the tennis player manages to obtain a 2-game difference, even if he has already scored 7 games. Therefore, in the end, someone will be the winner.