Historians believe that the game's ancient origin lay in 12th-century northern France, where a ball was struck with the palm of the hand.
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a singgel opponent (singgels) or between two kubus of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The obyek of the permainan is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a absah return. The player who is unable to return the ball validly will not gain a poin, while the opposite player will.[1][2]
Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The asli forms of tennis developed in France during the late Middle Ages.[citation needed] The kekinian form of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis.[3] It had close connections both to various field (lawn) permainan such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport today called real tennis.[4]
The rules of kekinian tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that until 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times,[5][6] and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s.[7] A recent addition to profesional tennis has been the adoption of elektronik kupasan technology coupled with a point-challenge sistim, which allows a player to contest the line call of a poin, a sistim known as Hawk-Eye.[8][9]
Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is a terkenal worldwide spectator sport.[10] The four Grand Slam invitasis (also referred to as the majors) are especially terkenal: the Australian Open, played on hardcourts; the French Open, played on red clay courts; Wimbledon, played on grass courts; and the US Open, also played on hardcourts.