Tennis Info trivia

Tennis is a game played between two players ("singles") or two teams of two players ("doubles"). Players use a stringed racquet to strike a rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. In some places tennis is still called lawn tennis to distinguish it from real tennis (also known as royal tennis or court tennis), an older form of the game that originated in France in the Middle Ages and is played indoors on a very different court. Originating in England in the late 19th century, lawn tennis spread first throughout the English-speaking world, particularly among the upper classes. Tennis is now once again an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society, by all ages, and in many countries around the world. Except for the adoption of the tie-breaker in the 1970s, its rules have remained remarkably unchanged since the 1890s. Along with its millions of players, millions of people follow tennis as a spectator sport, especially the four Grand Slam tournaments.

In tennis, a singles player or doubles team is said to have achieved the True Grand Slam if they succeed in winning all four of the following championship titles in the same calendar year or just Grand Slam by owning all four at the same time:

Australian Open - The Australian Open is the first of the world's four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, held each January at Melbourne Park.
French Open - The French Open, is a tennis event held over two weeks between mid May and early June in Paris, France, and is the second of the Grand Slam tournaments on the annual tennis calendar. It is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world.
Wimbledon - The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly referred to as simply "Wimbledon", is the oldest event in the sport of tennis. Held every June and July in London, United Kingdom, the tournament is the third Grand Slam event played each year, preceded by the Australian Open and the French Open, and followed by the U.S. Open.
U.S. Open - The United States Open tennis tournament, commonly referred to as the U.S. Open, is the fourth and final event of the Grand Slam tennis tournaments. At Flushing Meadows - Corona Park in the Queens borough of New York City.

The Golden Slam, or Golden Grand Slam, is winning all four Grand Slam tournaments, as well as the Gold medal in tennis at the Summer Olympics, in the same calendar year.

Terminology

Ace – serve where the tennis ball served is served in and not touched by the receiver
Ad court – left side of the court of each player
Advantage – when one player wins a point from a deuce and needs one more point to win the game
All-court – style of play which is defined as a composite of all of different playing styles which includes baseline, transition, and serve and volley styles.
Alley – area of the court between the singles and doubles sidelines, also known as the tramlines
Approach shot – a shot used as a setup as the player runs up to the net, often using underspin or topspin and being a much faster shot than used during rallies
ATP – Association of Tennis Professionals, the men's professional circuit
ATP Champions Race – The ATP points ranking system which starts at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year mirrors the ATP entry system ranking. The top eight players at the end of the year qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup
Australian formation – a formation used in doubles
Backhand – a method of wielding a tennis racquet where the player hits the tennis ball with a stroke that comes across their body with the back of their racquet hand facing the ball, thus serving the ball into the corner of the opponent's side and awarding you the point.
Backswing – the portion of a swing where the racquet is swung backwards in preparation for the forward motion to hit the ball
Bagel – winning a set 6-0. A double bagel is winning 6-0, 6-0.
Ball Person – a person, male or female, tasked with retrieving tennis balls from the court that have gone out of play, usually juniors at ATP events
Baseline – the chalk line at the farthest ends of the court indicating the boundary of the area of play.
Baseliner – a player who plays around the baseline during play and relies on the quality of his or her ground strokes
Big serve – a forceful serve, usually giving an advantage in the point for the server
Block – a defensive shot with relatively little backswing, usually while returning a serve
Bread stick – winning a set 6-1. See bagel
Break – to win a game as the receiving player or team, thereby breaking serve. Noun: break (service break) (e.g. 'to be a break down' means 'to have, in a set, one break less than the opponent', 'to be a double break up" means 'to have, in a set, two breaks more than the opponent')
Break back – to win a game as the receiving player or team immediately after losing the previous game as the serving player or team
Break point – one point away from a break (expressed as the score of 30-40); a double break point (or two break points) is expressed as the score of 15-40; a triple break point (or three break points) is expressed as the score of 0-40
Buggy Whip – Describes a forehand hit with a follow through which does not go across the body and finish on the opposite side but rather goes from low to high and finishes on the same side (similar to the driver of a horse drawn carriage whipping a horse).
Bye – Refers to the round of tournament where a player advances automatically without facing an opponent.
Call – an utterance of a line judge declaring that a play was outside of the play area
Cannonball – A somewhat older term used to define a hard flat serve.
Can Opener – A serve hit by a right handed player with slice landing on or near the intersection of the singles tramline and service line in the deuce court (landing in the ad court for a left handed player).
Carve – To hit a groundstroke shot with a combination of sidespin and underspin
Challenge – to request the official review of the location where the ball has landed after a shot using the means of electronic ball tracking technology. See Hawk-Eye
Challenger – A tournament/tour which is one level below the ATP tour. Players compete on the Challenger tour in an effort to gain ranking points which allow them to gain entry to tournaments on the ATP tour.
Chip – blocking a shot with underspin
Chip and charge – an aggressive strategy to return the opponent's serve with underspin and move forward to the net
Chop – a shot with extreme underspin
Clean the Line/Clip the Line – A shot in which some part of the ball lands on the line.
Closed stance – hitting the ball with the body facing between parallel to the baseline and backturned to the opponent; a classic technique.
Code Violation – On the ATP tour, occurs when a player commits a violation such as voicing an obscenity or hitting a ball into the stands (not during the point). The first violation results in a warning, the second a point penalty, the third a game penalty, and the fourth forfeiting the match.
Counterpuncher – a defensive baseliner. See tennis strategy
Court – the area designated for playing a game of tennis
Crosscourt – hitting the ball diagonally into the opponent's court
Cyclops – A device used on Center Court to detect if a serve lands long past the service line. The device emits an audible noise when the serve is long.
Deep – a shot that lands near the baseline, as opposed to near the net
Deuce – the score 40-40 in a game. A player must win two consecutive points from a deuce before winning the game. See advantage
Deuce court – the right side of the court of each player
Dink – hitting a shot with no pace
Dirtballer – a clay court specialist
Double Bagel – see Bagel
Double Fault – two faults in a row in one point, causing the player serving to lose the point
Doubles – a tennis game played by four players, two per side of the court
Down the line – hitting the ball straight ahead into the opponent's court
Drop shot – a play in which the player hits the ball lightly enough to just go over the net; designed to catch a player who is away from the net off guard
Drop volley – a drop shot executed from a volley
Fault – a serve that fails to place the ball in the correct area of play, therefore not starting the point
First Service – the first of the two serves of a tennis ball a player is allowed at the beginning of a point.
Flat – e.g. a flat serve; a shot with relatively little spin
Follow through – the portion a swing after the ball is hit
Foot fault – when a player, during the serve, steps on or over the baseline into the court before striking the ball, which results in a service fault. A foot fault may also occur when the player steps on or across the center hash mark and its imaginary perpendicular extension from the baseline to the net
Forced error – when an opponent hits a difficult shot that causes the player to miss. As opposed to the Unforced error
Forehand – a method of wielding a tennis racquet where the player hits the tennis ball with a stroke that comes from behind their body with the front of their racquet hand facing the ball
Game point – a situation when the player who is leading needs one more point to win a game
Golden set – winning a set without losing a point
Groundies – see Groundstroke
Groundstroke – a forehand or backhand shot that is executed after the ball bounces once on the court
Hacker – A beginning to intermediate player
Hail Mary – an extremely high lob, for defensive purposes
Half volley – a volley shot made after a short bounce
Head – (racket) the portion of the racket that contains the strings
Hold – winning the game when serving
I-formation – (in doubles) a formation where the server and partner stand on the same side of the court (deuce or advantage court) before starting the point
Inside-out – running around one side (e.g. the backhand side) and hitting a crosscourt shot
Inside-in – running around one side and hitting it down the line; less popular than the inside-out
Insurance Break – Obtaining an overall advantage of two breaks of serve.
ITF – the International Tennis Federation, the governing body of world tennis.
Jamming – to serve or return straight to the opponent's body
Kick serve – a type of spin serve that bounces high
Lawn tennis – "regular" tennis, as opposed to table tennis or real tennis, the game from which tennis is derived.
Let (let service) – when the ball from a serve touches the net but lands in the service court; the serve is void, and the server gets to retake that serve.
Let – a warning exclamation when multiple matches occur adjacent to one another and one match's ball bounces into the court of another match. The point is replayed in the offended match. Most often used in high school and college tennis.
Line judge – a person designated to observe the passage of tennis balls over the boundary lines of the court. A line judge can declare that a play was within or outside of the play area and cannot be overruled by the players. A line judge must defer to an umpire's decision, even when it contradicts their own observations.
Lob – a stroke in tennis where the ball is hit high above the net. If the opposing player or players are up at the net, the intention may an offensive lob in order to win the point outright. In a defensive lob, the intent is to give the player time to recover and get in position, or, if the opponents are at the net, to force them to chase down the lob.
Love – zero (score) (e.g. 'to hold to love' means 'to win the game when serving with the opponent scoring zero points'; 'to break to love' means 'to win the game when receiving with the opponent scoring zero points')
Love game – a shutout game, won without the opponent scoring
Lucky Loser – The highest ranked player to lose in the final round of qualifying but still gain acceptance into the main draw of a tournament due to a main draw player withdrawing
Mac-Cam – A high speed video camera used for televised instant replays of close shots landing on/near the baseline.
Match point – a situation when the player who is leading needs one more point to win the match. If the player is serving in such a situation, (s)he is said to be 'serving for the match'. Variations of the term are possible, e.g. championship point is the match point in the final match of a championship
Mercedes Super 9 – The former name for the 9 ATP Masters Series Tournaments
Mini-break – to win a point from the opponent's serve in a tiebreak
Mis-hit – when the racket fails to make contact with the ball in the "sweetspot" area of the strings
Mixed Doubles – a tennis game played by four players, two male, two female, one of each player sex per side of the court
Moonball – a medium high offensive lob hit with topspin
Net– the piece of netting stretched across the middle of the court; it is held up by the posts
Net point – a point won or lost on approaching the net, as opposed to a point won or lost by a stroke from the baseline
New balls – a new set of balls replacing the old ones during the game from time to time due to the fact that strokes make the ball heat up and alter its bounce characteristics; the player first to serve one of the new balls shall show it to the opponent expressly
Open stance – hitting the ball with the body facing between parallel to the baseline and facing the opponent; a modern technique.
Out – any ball that lands outside the play area
Overhead – (also: 'smash') a situation when the player is hitting the ball over his/her head; if the shot is hit relatively strong, it is referred to as the smash (see: Smash); smashes are often referred as simply 'overheads', although not every overhead shot is a smash
Overrule – reversing a call from the linesperson, done by the umpire
Passing shot – A shot that passes by (not over) the opponent at the net (see lob)
Poaching – (in doubles) an aggressive move where the player at net moves to volley a shot intended for his/her partner
Point – the period of play between the first successful service of a ball to the point at which that ball goes out of play
Pusher – a player who does not try to hit winners, but only to return the ball safely
Putaway – a shot to try to end the point from an advantageous situation
Qualies – The qualifying rounds of a tournament where participants compete for a spot in the main draw.
Racquet – a bat with a long handle and a large looped head with a string mesh tautly stretched across it, made of wood, metal or some other synthetic material, used by a tennis player to hit the tennis ball during a game of tennis - (see also Racket)
Rally – (Following the service of a tennis ball) – A series of return hits of the ball that ends when one or other player fails to return the ball within the court boundary or fails to return a ball that falls within the play area.
Receiver – the person that is being served to
Referee – a person in charge of enforcing the rules in a tournament, as opposed to a tennis match (see Umpire)
Retriever – a defensive baseliner. See tennis strategy
Round of 16 – The round of a tournament prior to the quarterfinals in which there are 16 players remaining, corresponds to the 4th round of 128-draw tournament, the 3rd round of a 64-draw, and 2nd round of a 32-draw tournament.
Round Robin – a tournament in which players are eliminated after losing twice (as opposed to the conventional single elimination draw tournament).
Second Service – the second and final of the two serves a player is allowed at the beginning of a point
Serve – (also, as a noun, 'service') to begin a point by hitting the ball into the opponent's half of the court
Service game – with regard to a player, the game where the player is serving (e.g. 'Player A won a love service game' means that Player has won a game where (s)he was serving without the opponent scoring
Serve and volley – a strategy to serve and immediately move forward to make a volley and hopefully a winner
Set point – a situation when the player who is leading needs one more point to win a set. If the player is serving in such a situation, (s)he is said to be 'serving for the set'
Shank – a mishit where the ball contacts the racket frame during the swing resulting in a shot which is usually well out
Singles – a tennis game played by two players
Sitter – a shot hit by the opponent which is hit with very little pace and no spin which bounces high after landing thus being an easy shot to "put away"
Slice – (rally) hitting a tennis ball with underspin; (service) serving with sidespin
Smash – the most frequent variety of the overhead shot (see: Overhead): an overhead shot at an angle close to perpendicular causing the ball to bounce off the opponent's court at angle close to perpendicular or in another manner that is hard to manage by the opponent
Spank – To hit a groundstroke flat with a lot of pace
Spin – rotation of the ball as it moves through the air, affecting its trajectory and bounce. See Backspin & Topspin
Split step – a footwork technique, doing a small hop just before the opponent hits the ball
Spot Serving/Server – Serving with precision resulting in the ball either landing on or near the intersection of the center service line and service line or singles tramline and service line
Squash Shot – A forehand slice shot typically hit on the run from a defensive position
Stick the Volley – A volley hit crisply resulting in shot with a sharp downward trajectory
Straight sets – a match victory in which the victor never lost a set
Strings – The material weaved through the face of the racquet. The strings are where contact with the ball is supposed to be made
Stroke – a striking of the ball
Sweetspot – The central area of the stringbead which is the desired location for making contact with the ball
Tennis Ball – a soft, hollow, air-filled rubber ball coated in a synthetic fur, used in the game of tennis
T – where the center line and service line intersect to form a T.
Tennis Bubble – An indoor tennis facility consisting of a domed structure which is supported by air pressure generated by blowers inside the structure.
Tennis Elbow – A common injury in beginner to indermediate tennis players possibly due to improper technique or a racket which transmits excessive vibration to the arm.
Tiebreak (also: tiebreaker) – a special game at the score 6-6 in a set to decide the winner of the set; the winner is the first to reach at least seven points with a difference of two over the opponent.
Topspin – spin of a ball that goes forward over the top of the ball, causing the ball to dip and bounce higher
Touch – Occurs when a player touches any part of the net when the ball is still in play resulting in losing the point
Tramline – a line defining the limit of play on the side of a singles or doubles court.
Tweener – a trick shot first popularized by Yannick Noah which involves hitting the ball between the legs from front to rear while retrieving an offensive lob.
Twist Serve – A serve hit with a combination of slice and topsin which results in a curving trajectory and high bounce in the opposite direction of the balls flight trajectory.
Underspin – spin of a ball that goes forward; the spin is underneath the ball, causing the ball to float and bounce lower
Umpire – (during play) – an independent person designated to enforce the rules of the game in a match, usually sitting on a high chair beside the net
Unforced error – during play, an error in a service or return shot that cannot be attributed to any factor other than poor judgement and execution by the player
Vibrazorb – A small device placed in between the strings near the throat of the racket for the purpose of dampening vibration
Volley – a forehand or backhand shot executed before the ball bounces in the court.
Walkover – an unopposed victory. A walkover may be awarded as a bye, or more commonly because the opponent defaulted by being disqualified or failing to attend the match—including after withdrawal due to injury.
Wild card – a player allowed to play in a tournament, even if his/her rank is not adequate or does not register in time. Typically a few places in the draw will be reserved for wild cards, which may be for local players who do not gain direct acceptance or for players who are just outside the ranking required to gain direct acceptance.
Winner – (rally) a forcing shot that can not be reached by the opponent and wins the point; (service) a forcing serve that is reached by the opponent, but is not returned properly, and wins the point
Women's doubles – An event that two women play together and serve to other two women, serving with the server of the team's choice to go first, then the other team, and the other player of that team, and then the other player of the other team. Scoring is the same that of women's singles. See: Mixed doubles
WTA – Women's Tennis Association, the women's professional circuit

The International Tennis Federation

ATP - The official site for men's professional tennis

The International Tennis Hall of Fame

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