My favourite sport : Tennis

Hey Charlie ! For my first article in this blog, I have decided to present you a sport that I'm keen on : tennis !

1. Origins

Tennis' history begins in the 12th century in France with the « jeu de paume » ("game of the palm"),a game where a ball was struck with the palm of the hand. Louis X of France was crazy about this game, which then became tennis, and he was the first person to construct indoor tennis courts in the modern style.

"jeu de paume"

The first rackets were only created during the 16th century and the game began to be called "tennis", from the French verb tenez, which can be translated as "hold!", "receive!" or "take!", an interjection used as a call from the server to his opponent. Tennis was popular in England and France, although at the beginnig it was only played indoors.

2. Rules and goal

Tennis can be played individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket to strike a ball into the opponent's court. The goal of the game is to hit the ball in such a way that the other player can't return it.

As you see, tennis isn't a difficult game to understand, the rules are quite simple. Now, let me introduce you how to score points, which is a bit harder (but don't worry, you will get it !)

3. Scoring

A. Game

A game is a series of points played with the same player serving. A game is won by the first player to have won at least four points in total and at least two points more than his opponent. The number of points in a game is described in a specific way :

• « 15 » is the first point won by a player

• « 30 » is the second one

• « 40 » is the third one ( When a player has « 40 »  and wins the next point, he wins a game)

  Nota bene : if the two players have both « 40 », they have to continue playing until one of them has two points more than the other . When one player has one more point than the other who has 40, it's called « advantage » for him. However, if he looses the next point, then he goes back to 40 like his opponent.

Good to know :The score of a tennis game during play is always read with the serving player's score first.

B. Set

A set is a series of games played with service alternating between games. Typically, a player wins a set by winning at least six games and at least two games more than the opponent. If one player has won six games and the other five, an additional game is played. If the leading player wins that game, the player wins the set 7–5. If not, a tiebreak is played. A tiebreak, played with different rules (which are actually quite complicated to understand,I must admit), allows one of the player to win one more game and thus the set, the final set score is then 7–6.

C. Match

A match is a series of sets. The first player to win two sets in a best-of-three wins the match. It can change and be three sets in a best-of-five in some tournaments such as Roland Garros.

Fun fact : The longest tennis match ever lasted eleven hours and five minutes !

4. Famous players and tournaments

The five most famous tennis tournaments are :

• Wimbledon in London

  
  

• US Open in New York

• Australian Open

• French Open with Rolland Garros in Paris

• Summer Olympics game

The three best tennis players are currently :

• Novak Djokovic (1^st) with 12 133 points ; he is 34 years old and serbian

  

• Daniil Medvedev with 10 780 points ; he is 25 years old and Russian
  
  
  

• Stephanos Tsitsipas with 8 350 points ; he is 23 years old and greek

5. My opinion : Why do I love this sport so much ?

I have been playing tennis for ten years and I think it is the best sport for several reasons. First of all, my mom, my dad and my little brother play tennis too, so we can all play together in doubles even if we don't have the same level. Tennis can be played by everyone, kids or adults, experienced people or not, and even handicapped persons. Then I can also play with friends without competition or stress, we just spend a great time together. Besides, I find this sport very relaxing. Indeed, when I'm playing tennis, I just forget all my problems and let go. Tennis can be a very physical sport, but you also need to have a strategy and to be precise. I find these parts very interesting and they are my favourites because it's important to know exactly where you want to return the ball.

So that was my article ! I hope you liked it and understood most of it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me, I will be pleased to answer them !