Lawn Tennis Terms

Tennis is packed full of jargon – as most sports are – but don’t let that put you off, once you get into the swing of things it’s actually quite simple. To assist you we’ve compiled a list of must-know terms so that you can embark on your tennis betting journey safe in the. Tennis is a sport where “love” means zero, and the scoring system is different for games, sets and matches. We get it: that's confusing. Thanks to the USTA Officiating department, it doesn't have to be. This handy guide will teach you the basics of scoring, and playing the sport for a lifetime, with helpful tips and buzzwords that you may want to know before you take to the court.

• History
  • Outstanding players
• Play of the game

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Tennis, original name lawn tennis, game in which two opposing players (singles) or pairs of players (doubles) use tautly strung rackets to hit a ball of specified size, weight, and bounce over a net on a rectangular court. Points are awarded to a player or team whenever the opponent fails to correctly return the ball within the prescribed dimensions of the court. Organized tennis is played according to rules sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the world governing body of the sport.

Tennis originally was known as lawn tennis, and formally still is in Britain, because it was played on grass courts by Victorian gentlemen and ladies. It is now played on a variety of surfaces. The origins of the game can be traced to a 12th–13th-century French handball game called jeu de paume (“game of the palm”), from which was derived a complex indoor racket-and-ball game: real tennis. This ancient game is still played to a limited degree and is usually called real tennis in Britain, court tennis in the United States, and royal tennis in Australia.

The modern game of tennis is played by millions in clubs and on public courts. Its period of most rapid growth as both a participant and a spectator sport began in the late 1960s, when the major championships were opened to professionals as well as amateurs, and continued in the 1970s, when television broadcasts of the expanding professional tournament circuits and the rise of some notable players and rivalries broadened the appeal of the game. A number of major innovations in fashion and equipment fueled and fed the boom. The addition of colour and style to tennis wear (once restricted to white) created an entirely new subdivision of leisure clothing. Tennis balls, which historically had been white, now came in several hues, with yellow the colour of choice. Racket frames, which had been of a standard size and shape and constructed primarily of laminated wood, were suddenly manufactured in a wide choice of sizes, shapes, and materials, the most significant milestones being the introduction of metal frames beginning in 1967 and the oversized head in 1976.

While tennis can be enjoyed by players of practically any level of skill, top competition is a demanding test of both shot making and stamina, rich in stylistic and strategic variety. From its origins as a garden-party game for ladies in whalebone corsets and starched petticoats and men in long white flannels, it has evolved into a physical chess match in which players attack and defend, exploiting angles and technical weaknesses with strokes of widely diverse pace and spin. Tournaments offer tens of millions of dollars in prize money annually.

History

Origin and early years

There has been much dispute over the invention of modern tennis, but the officially recognized centennial of the game in 1973 commemorated its introduction by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield in 1873. He published the first book of rules that year and took out a patent on his game in 1874, although historians have concluded that similar games were played earlier and that the first tennis club was established by the Englishman Harry Gem and several associates in Leamington in 1872. Wingfield’s court was of the hourglass shape and may have developed from badminton. The hourglass shape, stipulated by Wingfield in his booklet “Sphairistiké, or Lawn Tennis,” may have been adopted for patent reasons since it distinguished the court from ordinary rectangular courts. At the time, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) was the governing body of real tennis, whose rules it had recently revised. After J.M. Heathcote, a distinguished real tennis player, developed a better tennis ball of rubber covered with white flannel, the MCC in 1875 established a new, standardized set of rules for tennis.

Meanwhile, the game had spread to the United States in the 1870s. Mary Outerbridge of New York has been credited with bringing a set of rackets and balls to her brother, a director of the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club. But research has shown that William Appleton of Nahant, Massachusetts, may have owned the first lawn tennis set and that his friends James Dwight and Fred R. Sears popularized the game.

An important milestone in the history of tennis was the decision of the All England Croquet Club to set aside one of its lawns at Wimbledon for tennis, which soon proved so popular that the club changed its name to the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. In 1877 the club decided to hold a tennis championship, and a championship subcommittee of three was appointed. It decided on a rectangular court 78 feet (23.8 metres) long by 27 feet (8.2 metres) wide. They adapted the real tennis method of scoring—15, 30, 40, game—and allowed the server one fault (i.e., two chances to deliver a proper service on each point). These major decisions remain part of the modern rules. Twenty-two entries were received, and the first winner of the Wimbledon Championships was Spencer Gore. In 1878 the Scottish Championships were held, followed in 1879 by the Irish Championships.

There were several alterations in some of the other rules (e.g., governing the height of the net) until 1880, when the All England Club and the MCC published revised rules that approximate very closely those still in use. The All England Club was the dominant authority then, the British Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) not being formed until 1888. In 1880 the first U.S. championship was held at the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club. The victor was an Englishman, O.E. Woodhouse. The popularity of the game in the United States and frequent doubts about the rules led to the foundation in 1881 of the U.S. National Lawn Tennis Association, later renamed the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association and, in 1975, the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA). Under its auspices, the first official U.S. national championship, played under English rules, was held in 1881 at the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island. The winner, Richard Sears, was U.S. champion for seven consecutive years.

Tennis had taken firm root in Australia by 1880, and the first Australian Championships were played in 1905. The first national championships in New Zealand were held in 1886. In 1904 the Lawn Tennis Association of Australasia (later of Australia) was founded.

The first French Championships were held at the Stade Français in 1891, but it was an interclub tournament that did not become truly international until 1925; the French Federation of Lawn Tennis was established in 1920. Other national championships were inaugurated in Canada (1890), South Africa (1891), Spain (1910), Denmark (1921), Egypt (1925), Italy (1930), and Sweden (1936). In 1884 a women’s championship was introduced at Wimbledon, and women’s national championships were held in the United States starting in 1887.

There are a lot of different tennis terms used by tennis players and fans. If you want to be a tennis player then you should be familiar with almost all of these terms!

Tennis Terms

Ace

A serve that lands inside the lines and is untouched by the opponent

Advantage

The point that follows a deuce score. If the player wins this point he wins the game, otherwise it goes back to deuce!

Ad-Court

The left side of the tennis court. It is called Ad-Court because the ad points are always played from this side.

Approach Shot

A shot that the player follows to the net is called an approach shot

ATP

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of men’s Tennis!

Backspin

On a shot with backspin the ball rotates backwards. These shots usually stay pretty low

Break

When you win a game during which your opponent was serving that is called a break in Tennis!

Break Point

The receiver is said to have a break point whenever he is in a situation where a point won results in him winning the game off of the server.

Cross-Court

A shot that is hit diagonally into the opponent?s court

Deep

A shot that lands very close to the baseline rather than short around the service line

Deuce

An expression that is used when the actual score is 40-40

Deuce-Court

Lawn Tennis Association

The right side of the tennis court. It is called Deuce-Court because all deuce points are played from this side

Double Bagel

A match that ends with the score 6-0 6-0 is often called a double bagel in tennis circles. One of the funniest tennis terms in my opinion

Double Fault

The server has two serves to start the point. Whenever he misses both he looses one point in the game and this situation is called a double fault.

Doubles

When you have four players on the court and two are playing against two this is called a doubles match.

Down the Line

A shot that is hit straight along the sideline into the opponent?s court

Error

Any shot in Tennis that does not land within the lines that it is supposed to land within is called an error

Foot Fault

The server is not allowed to move over or even touch the baseline during his service motion. If he does so it is a so-called foot-fault and his serve is considered a fault.

Forced Error

When Player 1 hits a really good shot that forces Player 2 to miss that is called a forced error

Groundstroke

Whenever the ball bounces on your side before you hit it that is called a Groundstroke. Forehands, Backhands, and Slice Backhands are all groundstrokes.

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Hold

When you win your service game it is called a hold.

Inside-Out Forehand

Tennis commentators often mention the so-called inside-out forehand. This is a situation where a player hits a forehand, usually from the backhand side of the court, towards the backhand side of his opponent. The ball takes an inside-out swing pattern and therefore the shot is called an inside-out forehand

Lawn Tennis Game

Kick Serve

A serve hit with lots of topspin. The ball usually jumps high on this kind of shot!

Let

The umpire calls a let whenever a serve touches the net and still lands in the service box. The serve is then replayed

Match Point

When you have match point you only need to win one more point to win and end the entire match.

Mini-Break

If you win a point on your opponents serve during a tiebreak that is called a mini-break

Moonball

A shot hit very high over the net. These are usually defensive shots and many tennis player dislike playing against players that hit moonballs. Just hearing the tennis term “Moonball” can cause some tennis players to get into a bad mood.

Overhead

When you are at the net and your opponent tries to lob you with a high shot you will hit an overhead.

Singles

Whenever two players play a match against each other in tennis it is called a singles match

Smash

Same thing as an overhead.

Tiebreak

A tiebreak is played when the score in a set reaches 6:6. The tiebreak is played up to 7 points and the idea is to bring the set to an end because without a tiebreak it could take forever

Underspin

This is another expression for backspin. The ball rotates backwards and stays low on these shots

Lawn Tennis Terms Meaning

Unforced Error

When Player 1 misses an easy shot that is called an unforced error

Volley

Lawn Tennis Terms Examples

Whenever your hit the ball before it bounces on your side it is called a volley

What Are Some Tennis Terms

Wild Card

To get into many tournaments you need to have a certain rankings position. If you do not have that position the tournament officials can award you a wild card. With a wild card young players can often enter pro tournaments that they usually could not enter according to the ranking system

So that’s it for the tennis terms explanations. If you think a tennis term is missing then feel free to send me an email and I will include it!