Tennis

Tennis is a racquet sport that can be played individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles).

Each player uses a racquet that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a good return. The opponent who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite opponent will.

The rules of tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tie-break in the 1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of a point.

• Historians believe that the game's ancient origin lay in 12th century northern France, where a ball was struck with the palm of the hand. Louis X of France was a keen player of jeu de paume("game of the palm"), which evolved into real tennis, and became notable as the first person to construct indoor tennis courts in the modern style. Louis was unhappy with playing tennis outdoors and accordingly had indoor, enclosed courts made in Paris "around the end of the 13th century".

Equipment: racquets,balls and

miscellaneous.

• Men's tournament structure :Challenger Tour and Futures tournaments

The Challenger Tour for men is the lowest level of tournament administered by the ATP. It is composed of about 150 events and, as a result, features a more diverse range of countries hosting events. The majority of players use the Challenger Series at the beginning of their career to work their way up the rankings. Andre Agassi, between winning Grand Slam tournaments, plummeted to World No. 141 and used Challenger Series events for match experience and to progress back up the rankings. The Challenger Series offers prize funds of between US$ 25,000 and US$ 150,000.

Women's tournament structure• Premier events for women form the most prestigious

level of events on the Women's Tennis Association Tour after the Grand Slam tournaments. These events offer the largest rewards in terms of points and prize money. Within the Premier category are Premier Mandatory, Premier 5, and Premier tournaments. The Premier events were introduced in 2009 replacing the previous Tier I and II tournament categories.

• Currently four tournaments are Premier Mandatory, five tournaments are Premier 5, and twelve tournaments are Premier. The first tiering system in women's tennis was introduced in 1988. At the time of its creation, only two tournaments, the Lipton International Players Championships in Florida and the German Open in Berlin, comprised the Tier I category.

Grand Slam tournament winnersFemale:

• Margaret Court (24)

• Steffi Graff(22)

• Helen Wills Moody (19)

• Serena Williams(19)

• Chris Evert (18)

• Martina Navratilova (18)

• Billie Jean King (12)

• Maureen Connolly Brinker (9)

• Monica Seles(9)

• Molla Bjurstedt Mallory (8)

• Suzanne Lenglen (8)

• Dorothea Lambert Chambers (7)

• Maria Bueno (7)

• Evonne Goolagong Cawley (7)

• Venus Williams (7)

• Justine Henin (7)

• Blanche Bingley Hillyard(6)

• Doris Hart (6)

• Margaret Osborne duPont (6)

• Nancye Wynne Bolton (6)

• Louise Brough Clapp (6)

• Lottie Dod(5)

• Charlotte Cooper Sterry(5)

• Daphne Akhurst Cozens (5)

• Helen Jacobs (5)

• Alice Marble(5)

• Pauline Betz Addie (5)

• Althea Gibson (5)

• Martina Hingis (5)

• Maria Sharapova(5)

Male :• Roger Federer (17)

• Pete Sampras (14)

• Rafael Nadal (14)

• Roy Emerson(12)

• Rod Laver (11)

• Björn Borg (11)

• Bill Tilden (10)

• Fred Perry (8)

• Ken Rosewall (8)

• Jimmy Connors (8)

• Ivan Lendl (8)

• Andre Agassi (8)

• Novak Djokovic(8)

• William Renshaw (7)

• Richard Sears (7)

• William Larned (7)

• Henri Cochet (7)

• Rene Lacoste (7)

• John Newcombe (7)

• John McEnroe (7)

• Mats Wilander (7)

• Lawrence Doherty (6)

• Anthony Wilding (6)

• Donald Budge (6)

• Jack Crawford (6)

• Boris Becker (6)

• Stefan Edberg (6)

• Frank Sedgman (5)

• Tony Trabert(5)

Formerly known as Oleksandr Dolgopolov, Jr., is the top-ranked Ukrainian male tennis player. He changed his first name spelling to the current form in May 2010.Dolgopolov reached the quarterfinals of the 2011 Australian Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 13 in January 2012.

• Andriy Medvedev is a former professional tennis player from Ukraine.

Andriy is the Ukrainian language spelling of his first name, while Andrei is

the Russian language spelling of his first name, with both regularly used.

Medvedev made a splash on the international tennis scene when, as a 17-

year-old, he won titles in Genoa and Stuttgart. His most successful

tournament was the Hamburg Masters (formerly the German Open), which

he won three times (1994, 1995 and 1997).He reached a career-high singles

ranking of World No. 4.

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