Tennis is played between individuals (singles) or pairs (doubles)—which can include mixed pairs of men and women. The first tennis tournament was at Wimbledon, England, in 1877. Championships began in the USA in 1881, in France in 1891 and Australia in 1905. These four events are today’s top tournaments, known as the Grand Slams or majors. Tennis is also an Olympic sport.

Court

There are four main types of surface. Rubber-based asphalt and cement are called hard courts, on which the ball bounces higher than on a grass surface, which is fast with a low bounce. Red clay or synthetic clay make a soft court that slows the ball down and allows more spin, so games often have longer rallies. The US and Australian Open tournaments have hard courts, the French Open has clay courts, while Wimbledon has grass.

Service

A point can start and finish with the serve as this can be a very powerful shot—the fastest recorded blasted at 263 km/h (164 mph) from the racket of Australian player Sam Groth in 2012. The server hits the ball into the service box diagonally opposite. If the ball strikes the top of the net but lands in the service box, the server takes this serve again. If it lands outside the service box or in the net, he or she takes a second serve, but if that fails, the point is lost.

Rallies

The returner hits the ball back before it bounces twice. If this return is within the court, play goes on (a rally) until a ball lands in the net or outside the boundary. The player who hit that ball loses the point, and play restarts with a new serve. The advantage usually lies with the server. Top players hope to win their opponent’s service game to achieve a "break of serve".

Shots

There are eight types of shot: the serve, forehand, backhand, volley, half-volley, drop shot, lob and smash. Forehands are hit by swinging the racket across the body, while backhands swing away from the body. Players often alter the angle at which the racket face strikes the ball to apply spin.

​​​​​​​Hitting the ball before it bounces is called volleying and is usually done close to the net. A half-volley is hit just as the ball comes off the ground. A drop shot is hit with back spin to bounce low just beyond the net, forcing the opponent to rush to reach the ball. A lob is a ball struck high in the air over an opponent to try to force them to the back of the court. A lob that is not hit high or long enough is likely to be smashed—hit hard on the volley from above the head for a winner.

Pickleball

Rapidly growing in popularity worldwide, pickleball is a racket sport that resembles tennis. Two players (singles) or four players (doubles) hit a ball over a net until one side is unable to return the ball. But pickleball differs from tennis in several key ways. It has its own court, which is 44 feet (13.4 metres) long and 20 feet (6.1 metres) wide. On each side of the net is a 7-foot (2.1-metre) area known as the non-volley zone or "kitchen", where a player may not strike the ball until it has bounced. Players use smooth-faced paddles (similar to, but larger than, table tennis rackets) to hit the hollow plastic ball. Only the serving side—all serves are underarm—can score points. 

Padel

Padel is a racket sport invented in Mexico, played in doubles (usually) on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court with a net 0.88 metres (34.6 inches) high in the middle. Although padel shares the same scoring system as tennis, the rules, strokes, and playing technique are different. The court has walls, made of glass or brick, and the balls can be played off them in a similar way as in squash. Padel rackets are made of a composite material without strings. The height of the ball being served must be at or below the waist level.