The forerunner of modern tennis was lawn tennis, the rules for which were developed in 1858 in England. At the same time, the first court was created. Tennis was included in the program of the Olympic Games in 1896. However, from 1924 to 1988, there were no competitions in this sport in the format of the Olympiads.
The competition involves 2 opponents or 2 pairs of players.
Tennis players need to hit the ball to the opponent's side with a racket and try to do it so that the opponent does not hit it.
The game begins with a serve, the right to which passes from one tennis player to another during the match. To serve the ball, you need to stand behind the back line at the divider and send the ball with the racket diagonally to the opposite side of the court. It is not allowed to hit the net or out-of-bounds with the ball. If this happens, the athlete is given a second attempt. As soon as one of the players gets a point, the server changes.
Each point increases the player's score. After 0 comes 15, then 30 and 40. To win a game, you need to earn 1 more serve than your opponent if he has 30 or fewer points. When each of the players has 40 points, to win, you need to gain an advantage of 2 serves.
If, after a hit other than service, the ball touches the net and falls on the player's court, a point is awarded to his opponent.
To win a set, you need to win 6 games. When the score is 6: 5, an additional game is played, if the score is 7: 5, the set is considered completed. When each player has 6 wins in games, a tie-break is played.
In this case, the change goes through two feeds. You need to score at least 7 points with an advantage of 2 or more points. There is no time for a tie-break. It lasts until one of the athletes wins. After every 6 points, the players change courts.
3 or 5 sets form a match. To win the game, you need to win in 2 or 3 sets for a 3- and 5-set match, respectively.
For a single game, a court with a length of 23.8 m and a width of 8.2 m is used. A net is stretched along its center, which divides the court into two equal parts. The height of the net in the center is 91.4 cm, and the height of the racks is 107 cm.
The weight of the ball, which is thrown by the players, varies from 56.7 g to 58.5 g. Its diameter is approximately 6, 541-6, 858 cm.
The following standards are established for tennis rackets: their length should be no more than 73, 66 cm, and the diameter is admissible up to 31, 75 cm.
During the competition, the participants are divided in such a way that the 16 tennis players with the best rating and the players from the same country meet each other as late as possible.
