Tennis is a raquet sport that can be played individually against a single
opponent or between two teams of two players each. Each player uses a
tennis racket 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.
Each player uses a tennis racquet that is strung with cord to strike a
yellow hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net and into the
opponent's court. The objective of the the game is to maneuver the ball in
such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The
player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the
opposite player will.
In tennis in order to intiate play one player must serve, this is done by tossing the ball up into the air and hitting it into the diagonally opposite service box. This serve is often returned by either a backhand shot (for a right-handed player this is a stroke that begins on the left-side of the body).
Backhand
Alternatively, a serve can be returned by a forehand shot (a stroke that for a right handed player it begins on the right hand side of the body). In singles play, when both receiving and returning serve the players must stand behind the baseline, the line which defines the farthest boundary and is parallel to the net.
Forehand
Tennis can be played on multiple different surfaces such as hard-court, clay and grass, with each of these surfaces requires different styles of play, for example clay courts favour players who choose to stand further behind the baseline, whereas grass courts favour players who often come to the net. Each of these surfaces hosts large touraments for professional players, which are known as the "Grand Slams," both the Australian Open (held in Melbourne) and the US Open (held in New York) are on outdoor hard courts, the Roland Garros or French Open (held in Paris) is played on clay and Wimbledon (held in London) is played on grass courts. Well-known active tennis players include: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Simona Halep and Ashleigh Barty (who is pictured above serving at the Roland Garros in 2019).