Tennis: The Most Important Thing You Need to Know
There are two basic things you need to know about tennis rules. Firstly, it can be played by two opponents or two teams, each of which consists of two people – from here such concepts as singles and doubles in tennis arose. Secondly, the main task of tennis players and tennis players is to send a ball with a racket to the opponent’s side so that he cannot return it, and you can hit the ball on the fly – that is, without waiting for it to hit the court – or after a ball is touched once.
But these rules appeared relatively recently, while the history of tennis itself started back in the 11th century Europe – then up to 12 people could play tennis at the same time, and the ball was hit by hand. Over time, the game evolved, players began to use rackets and netting, and in the seventies of the XIX century, English Major Walter Clopton developed on its basis a new sport, which he called spherical. The rules of spherical studies improved over time, and the tennis that is played today all over the world was born from it. Interestingly, its old-school version is also still alive, although not so popular, and is nowadays called real tennis.
The first tennis tournament in the world was held in Wimbledon in 1877, and in 1899 four Harvard students came up with and organized the first competition between national teams. Later it was called the Davis Cup – in honor of one of the organizers of the tournament, Dwight Davis, who bought a silver cup for the winner with his own money. Male tennis players have always fought for the Davis Cup, and its female counterpart, the Federation Cup, appeared only in 1963.
It is curious that for about forty years, starting from the twenties of the XX century, only amateurs had the right to speak at leading tournaments, that is, those who did not receive money for their performances, and professionals could only participate in special professional tours. But the number of fans who wanted to earn on their talent and turned into professionals grew, which began to negatively affect the quality of world tournaments. Because of this, in 1968, the Wimbledon tournament was made open to all participants, and soon the organizers of other leading tournaments made the same decision. So began the Open Age of Tennis.
Why Grand Slam is about tennis and not about hockey
Today, four Grand Slam tournaments, also known as majors, are considered the most prestigious tennis competitions – these are the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon Tournament and the US Open. It’s funny that the term “Grand Slam” was taken from the bridge – a victory in the four main tournaments of the season was compared to compiling a “Grand Slam” in this card game.
All the majors go on for about two weeks, and only in their program, in addition to standard matches in singles and doubles, mixed matches are included – competitions between couples, each of which includes representatives of both sexes. The Big Four differs from the rest of the tournaments in terms of regulation: for example, in singles the matches between male tennis players are played in five sets, while in all other tournaments both men’s and women’s matches in singles consist of three sets. In addition, both men and women in singles do not play a tie-break in the final set – the game is played until one of the players wins the set with a margin of two games. Only at the US Open, a tie-break is held to determine the winner in all sets with a score of 6: 6, TV organizers persuaded the organizers to introduce such rules, which were unprofitable and problematic to broadcast the protracted matches.
Each season begins with the Australian Open, or Australian Open, held in Melbourne in late January – early February. This is the youngest of the Grand Slam tournaments – it was first held in 1905. Members of the Australian Open play on a special high-tech coating called hard. The baton is picked up by the French Open, which covers the end of May and the beginning of June. This tournament was first held in 1891. His second name, “Roland Garros”, he received from the tennis complex of the same name, where competitions are held. Tennis players of the French championship compete on clay courts. The oldest of the majors, the Wimbledon tournament is held in late June – early July in Wimbledon, which you probably already guessed by name. Wimbledon tournament matches are held on grass courts. Finally, the season closes with the US Open Tennis Championship, or US Open, held in New York. He is only five years older than the Australian Open, and his matches, like the matches of the Australian tournament, are held on hard courts.
US Open 2018 started on August 21, and will end on September 9. This year the prize pool of the championship will be $ 53 million, a record for all majors, and the organizers can afford it, because US Open is the most profitable of all four Grand Slam tournaments.
