Tennis, a great sport

The game of Tennis came into existence several thousand years ago. Tennis is a sport played between two players (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). A strung racquet is used to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court.

Tennis

History: The game was first created by European monks to be played for entertainment purposes during religious ceremonies. Initially the ball was hit with the hand. Then leather glove came into existence. Later on for effective hitting and serving of the ball an adaptive handle was used. Thus, racquet came into existence. After the evolution of the racket, the tennis balls also underwent frequent alterations. The first tennis ball was wooden. It gave way to a bouncier, leather ball filled with cellulose material. With time game became famous in France especially among royal family. Between 16th and 18th centuries, the game called ' Jeu de paumme' - the game of the palm was a highly regarded by kings and noblemen. In 1874, Major Walter Wingfield acquired the patent rights for the equipments and rules for the game which bore close resemblance to the modern tennis. First tennis courts emerged in the United States in the same year. The game slowly extended to different parts of the world like Russia, Canada, China and India.

Rules of Tennis:

Opponents stand on opposite sides of the court.
Server delivers the ball first. Receiver is the player who stands opposite and cross-court from the server.
The right to serve is decided by a toss of a coin or racquet.
The server shall stand behind the baseline on the deuce court within the boundaries of the singles court when playing singles and within the doubles sideline when playing doubles.
All even points are played from the deuce court and odd number points played from the advantage court.
The server shall not serve until the receiver is ready. If the server misses his target twice, he loses the point.
If the ball hits the net and goes in the correct service box, another serve is approved. If the server steps on the baseline before contact are made, the serve is deemed a mistake.
The receiver is deemed ready if an effort is made to return the server's ball.
If the ball does not land in the service box, it is deemed a fault and a second serve is given.
If the ball is hit by either opponent before the ball bounces, the server wins the point.
The server always calls his score first. If the server wins the first point, he gets a score of 15. The second point is called 30, third point is called 40 and game is won when the score goes back to love (Love means zero in tennis)
If the score is 40-40, also known as deuce, one side must win by two points.
Advantage-In means if the server wins the next point, he wins the game. Advantage-Out means the receiver has a chance to win the game on the next point.

After the game, the opponents serve. Games equal 1. The first to win 6 games, by two, wins the set. The first to win 2 sets wins the match. If the score is 6-6, a tie-breaker is played. This is scored by one's. The first team to score 7 points winning by two wins the set.
If the ball goes into the net, or outside the boundaries of the court, the player who hit that ball loses the point. If the ball hits the net during the point and goes into the opponents' court, the ball is in play.
A player loses the point if he touches the net, drops his racquet while hitting the ball.
If players serve out of turn or serve to the wrong person or court, the game will stand and order will be resumed following the game.

Penalties:

Touching opponents ground, the net or posts or any other person or official in the game.
Carrying the ball or catching it in the racket.
Hitting the ball two times or before it has crossed the net.
If the ball hits or touches anything on (clothes) or carried by the player
Throwing the racket or other kinds of racket abuse