Technical details
At the Olympic Games both singles and doubles matches are played. Each match
is scored by points, games and sets. A set is won by a player winning six games,
except when the score is five-all, when there must be a margin of two games.
In games, points are awarded to the player who wins the rally. Zero is called
`love' in tennis and from love, the points range to 15, 30 and 40. If the score
reaches 40-all it is called 'deuce.' The next point won is called 'advantage'
and if the same player wins the next point, they have won the game. If not, then
the score reverts to a deuce and the game continues until one player wins two
consecutive points.
At the Olympic Games, matches are played to the best of three sets - except
for the men's singles and doubles, which are the best of five.
Each point begins with a serve which must land in the opposite service court
or box. If a serve lands in the box but hits the net it is called a let and the
server has another serve. If the ball lands out of the box it is called fault
and the server is allowed a second attempt. If the second serve is also a fault,
they lose the point.
Points are also lost if a player does not return the ball over the net, fails
to hit it before it bounces twice, or hits a ball beyond the court lines.
Five facts
1) Tennis or lawn tennis became popular in the mid 1800s and was played on courts marked out on garden lawns.
2) Tennis was an Olympic sport from the outset in 1896 until 1924 when it lost its place due to professionalism.
3) Tennis reappeared in 1984 as a demonstration sport and returned to the Olympic Games in 1988.
4) Over the first seven Olympic Games, from 1896 to 1924, Britain won 14 of the 33 titles.
5) Great Britain's Charlotte Cooper in 1900, became the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the women's singles event. In the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Tim Henman and Neil Broad won silver for Britain in the men's doubles.
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us