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Tennis

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

A tennis racket with two tennis balls, perfect for learning about sports and games!

Tennis is a fun game where people use rackets to hit a ball. You can play with one person (singles) or with two teams of two players each (doubles). The goal is to hit the ball so your opponent cannot return it, and you earn a point.

People of all ages enjoy tennis, even those who use wheelchair users. Tennis started a long time ago in France during the Middle Ages. It became the game we know today in Birmingham, England, in the late 1800s. Tennis is related to other games like croquet and bowls, and an older form called real tennis.

Tennis is very popular all around the world. Big tournaments are called the Grand Slam events. These include the Australian Open on hardcourts, the French Open on red clay courts, Wimbledon on grass courts, and the US Open on hardcourts. Tennis is also part of the Olympic sports in the Summer Olympic Games.

Tennis is played on a court that is 78 feet long. For singles, it is 27 feet wide, and for doubles, it is 36 feet wide. There is a net in the middle. Players hit the ball over the net into their opponent’s side.

The biggest tournaments happen every year and are very exciting to watch. They are known as the Grand Slams and include the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. These tournaments are very important and offer lots of prizes.

Images

Historical drawing showing people playing jeu de paume, an early version of tennis, from the 17th century.
This house in Birmingham is where the modern game of lawn tennis was invented in the 1860s.
A historical illustration of a tennis match from 1887, showing players in period clothing enjoying the game.
A wooden tennis racket, a piece of sports equipment used to play tennis.
Different lengths of tennis racket strings for stringing a racket.
Two tennis players showing good sportsmanship by shaking hands after their match.
Tennis champion Roger Federer playing at Wimbledon in 2009.
Tennis players competing in a match at the 2009 French Open.
Novak Djokovic playing tennis at the 2009 US Open.
A young boy from the 1500s holding a tennis racket and ball, painted in the late 16th century.
Historical photo of tennis players Friedrich Traun and John Pius Boland competing in the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Tennis, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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