Tennis is generally played outdoors and typically involves two players hitting a felt-covered rubber ball over a waist-high net that divides a rectangular court. Players use rackets that have a stringed area, called the head, with which to hit the ball. The court can be made from clay, mud, grass, carpet, asphalt or plexicushion. The standard court is 23.77 metres in length and 8.23 metres in width. The length remains the same for a doubles match where two players play on each side. However, the width is extended to 10.97 metres. The tennis court has lines in white to demarcate the quadrants and doubles lines.
The objective of the game is to score a point whenever your opponent does not return the ball. Points are won when fouls occur, for example when the ball overshoots the demarcation line at the end of the court. A service line runs along the middle of the tennis court dividing the court into four quadrants. A player serving the ball has to make sure that the ball lands in the opposite player’s quadrant. A tennis match generally consists of five sets. A set consists of games; any player winning six games is the winner of a set. In tennis, scoring starts from zero and this is called “love”. The second point is called “fifteen”; the third is called “thirty”; and the last is “forty”. When both players achieve forty this is known as “deuce”. The players then have to score two more points to win the set. The player that wins three sets out of five is the winner.
The surface of a tennis court influences the speed of the game. For example, a clay court is slower and allows the ball to bounce more slowly. A plexicushion or concrete court will be faster than a clay court and allows the ball to bounce higher. Wimbledon is famous for its grass tennis courts.
When four players (two pairs) play a tennis match this is known as a doubles match. Players within a team often choose to play with one player near the net and one player behind, or alternatively they can play side by side.
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