Tennis court: general information. Court surfaces: for the analysis of sporting events The emergence of tournaments and national lawn tennis associations
In this book you will find concepts and terms that a professional player, as well as a beginner, cannot do without. How to hold the racket correctly, serve the ball, and even the equipment of a tennis player are of no small importance. The basic rules of tennis will help you easily master this exciting game.
A series: Tennis
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by liters company.
Tennis court
Now let's get acquainted with what a tennis court is: what it can and should be. It can be for both singles and doubles play, so, naturally, its sizes can change.
So, the place to play tennis is a flat area bounded by lines. The platform for a single game is a rectangle 23.77 X 8.23 m; and for doubles - 23.77 X 10.97 m. The width of all lines is 5 cm. The lines are included in the dimensions of the court and service fields.
The mesh is stretched over poles, the height of which is 1.1 m. The height of the mesh near the pole is 1.07 m, in the center of the site a little lower - 0.914 m. At this height, the mesh is held by a special braid fixed in the center of the site.
The place for playing tennis (court) is surrounded by a special metal mesh, the height of which is at least 3 m. Along the side line, the fence may be lower. To ensure that the ball is well hit, a background is installed on the back sides of the fence: greenery growing behind the fence, thick fabric hung on the fencing mesh, plywood or wooden boards. Near each area there should be a referee tower, the seat of which is located at a height of about 2 m above the level of the area.
The sites may have different surfaces. For outdoor play, dirt, asphalt, wood, concrete and grass surfaces are used. In enclosed spaces, wood is most often used, as well as synthetic, which is similar in properties to grass.
Grass courts are common in Australia. The narrow geography of this type of coating is largely due to the fact that its maintenance is very expensive; and grass playgrounds only function for a short period of time during the year. The most common sites in our country are those with a dirt surface. Most major tournaments are held there. For sports competitions, courts with wooden and asphalt surfaces are rarely used, but tennis fans are happy to train on them.
It is quite difficult to build a tennis court: after all, its surface must be perfectly smooth, and the area for one court is 40 X 20 m. More often, an asphalt court is built. The place where its construction is planned is leveled, covered with a layer of sand or crushed stone 5–7 cm thick, and then rolled away. Layers of asphalt about 5 cm thick are applied to the compacted court. It is very important that the surface of the playing field does not have dents, otherwise the ball will bounce incorrectly, and after rain there will be puddles in the uneven areas.
When constructing a wooden covering, bars or boards are used, which are laid on concrete or wooden blocks at a height of 30-40 cm from the ground, so that the flooring is ventilated, otherwise the boards will quickly become unusable.
End of introductory fragment.
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The given introductory fragment of the book Tennis. Fundamentals and rules of the game (Ilya Melnikov, 2012) provided by our book partner -
A set of provisions regulating the game of tennis.
The game of tennis is played between two players or two pairs of players. The goal of the game is to throw the ball into the opponent's half so that he cannot return it.
Service
Putting the ball into play.
Each point starts with a serve. In this case, the server must be behind the back line of the court and strike so that the ball flies over the net without touching it, and lands within one of the two service squares on the opponent’s court.
The first serve is always made to the right of the center line. After each point, the serving player moves to the other side of the center line.
To execute a serve, the serving player is given two attempts (first and second serve).
If the ball touches the net but flies over to the opponent's side, the serve is replayed. If the ball hits the service area line or the net, the player is entitled to a second serve. If it turns out to be unsuccessful, the server is given a double fault and loses the point.
Also considered a footfault is a change in the starting position of the server while walking or running, or a foot touching the court or running outside the service zone.
Game score
Scores in tennis are kept according to an unusual system - the first point won is valued with the number “15”, the 2nd - with the number “30”, the 3rd - with the number “40” and the 4th (decisive) - with the term game.
Points are counted “from the server”: thus, the score “15:0” means that the first serve was won by the server himself, and “0:15” by the receiver.
If each player wins 3 points in the game, the referee announces the score “exactly” and not “40:40”. A win by the server of the next point is declared as “over”, and a loss as “under”. In the event of an equalization of the score after “more” or “less”, the score is again announced “exactly”. In the case when the score is “exact”, what is important is not the number of points scored by the players, but the difference in the score. The game continues until the advantage of one of the opponents is two points, i.e. winning another point with the “over” means winning the game.
Point
The initial unit of counting, which begins with the number “15”.
4 points scored in a row wins the game. In a back-and-forth game, a 2-point lead is required to win the game.
Game (English “game”, translated from English “game”)
A unit of account of a higher order than a point.
The game involves playing at least 4 points (balls). Each game starts with a score of 0-0. If the server wins the serve, the score becomes 15-0 in favor of the server, if it loses 0-15 in favor of the receiver. The next serve results in a score of 30, then 40. The next play wins the game if the opponent has a score of 30 or less. If both players have 40, then winning the next serve gives an advantage. The player who has the advantage and wins the next serve wins the game.
Set (English “set”, translated from English “party”)
A unit of counting of a higher order than the game.
Involves winning at least 6 games with an advantage of at least 2 games. A player who wins 6 games is considered to have won the set. If the score in the set is 6-5, then another game is played. If the score becomes 7-5, the set ends. If the score becomes 6-6, then a tiebreaker is played.
Tie-break (English: “tie-break”, literally translated from English: “tie-breaker”)
The so-called shortened game, where the scoring is not carried out in the usual accepted order, but by awarding points for the balls won.
Can be played in any set (if the game count in the set is 6:6).
The serving player makes the first serve, then the opponent makes two serves, then the change goes through two serves. The first one to score 7 points with a difference of 2 points wins the tiebreaker. The tiebreaker lasts as long as necessary until a difference of two points is reached. The courts change after every 6 points.
The inventor of the tiebreaker is the American specialist James Van Alen (1903-1991). In 1970, the ITF allowed the tiebreaker system to be used in competitions for the first time as an experiment. In 1971, the tiebreaker was first used at the Wimbledon tournament, and in 1975 it was included in the official rules of world tennis.
Match
A certain number of sets (3 or 5) played to determine the winner.
The match can be 3-set or 5-set. In a 3-set game, the player who wins 2 sets wins; in a 5-set game, the player who wins 3 sets wins.
To win a doubles match, you must win two games out of three. In most singles competitions the same rule applies, but in the most prestigious tournaments - such as the Grand Slam or Davis Cup - you need to win three games out of five to win the match.
Other rules
The line is considered a field.
In addition to the serve, the ball that hits the net and falls on the opponent's side is counted.
The serve must be returned only after the ball has bounced, while during the game the ball can be returned before it touches the surface of the court.
A point is not counted if the ball touches the body, is hit before it crosses the net line, or if the player touches the net or net post with a racket, hand or other part of the body.
Tennis, by definition, is a gentleman's game. Nevertheless, the tennis rules provide for the disqualification of an athlete not only for non-compliance with the rules or failure to appear for a match, but also for unethical behavior during competitions that violates the gentlemanly principle of “fair play” (lit. “playing by the rules”) . Sometimes judges have to apply this point of the rules in practice. Thus, the legendary American tennis player John McEnroe, famous not only for his powerful serves, but also for his extreme intemperance on the court, managed to “earn” disqualification twice at the Grand Slam tournaments.
