Introduction

With very numerous followers, tennis is one of the most popular sport in Britain. Moreover, the modern game of tennis originated in the United Kingdom in the late XIXth century. After its creation, tennis was practicing by the upper-class English-speaking population before be spread around the world. Tennis is today and since 1896 an Olympic sport, and is played at all levels of society at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including people in wheelchairs.

Manner of play

Tennis is a racket game, played on a rectangular, flat surface, usually grass, clay, a hardcourt of asphalt. The players (or teams) start on opposite sides of the net. One player is designated the server, and the opposing player, or in doubles one of the opposing players, is the receiver. Service alternates between the two halves of the court. For each point, the server starts behind his baseline, between the center mark and the sideline. The receiver may start anywhere on his side of the net. In a legal service, the ball travels over the net (without touching it) and into the diagonally opposite service box. If the fisrt service is fault, it means is out of the service box lines or if the player does a foot fault on the line. A legal service starts a rally, in which the players alternate hitting the ball across the net. A legal return consists of the player hitting the ball to send it in the server's court. The ball then travels back over the net and bounces in the court on the opposite side. The first player or team to fail to make a legal return loses the point. A tennis match is over when one of the player has reach the score of two sets (or three in certain important tournaments such as Grand Slam and Olympic Games). A set consists of games, and games, in turn, consist of points. A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving. A game is won by the first player to have won at