What is "tennis"

Tennis \Ten"nis\, n. [OE. tennes, tenies, tenyse; of uncertain origin, perhaps fr. F. tenez hold or take it, fr. tenir to hold (see Tenable).] A play in which a ball is driven to and fro, or kept in motion by striking it with a racket or with the open hand.
--Shak.

His easy bow, his good stories, his style of dancing and playing tennis, . . . were familiar to all London.
--Macaulay.

Court tennis, the old game of tennis as played within walled courts of peculiar construction; -- distinguished from lawn tennis.

Lawn tennis. See under Lawn, n.

Tennis court, a place or court for playing the game of tennis.
--Shak.

Tennis \Ten"nis\, v. t. To drive backward and forward, as a ball in playing tennis. [R.]
--Spenser.

mid-14c., most likely from Anglo-French tenetz "hold! receive! take!," from Old French tenez, imperative of tenir "to hold, receive, take" (see tenet), which was used as a call from the server to his opponent. The original version of the game (a favorite sport of medieval French knights) was played by striking the ball with the palm of the hand, and in Old French was called la paulme, literally "the palm," but to an onlooker the service cry would naturally seem to identify the game. Century Dictionary says all of this is "purely imaginary."\n

\nThe use of the word for the modern game is from 1874, short for lawn tennis, which originally was called sphairistike (1873), from Greek sphairistike (tekhne) "(skill) in playing at ball," from the root of sphere. It was invented, and named, by Maj. Walter C. Wingfield and first played at a garden party in Wales, inspired by the popularity of badminton.\n\nThe name 'sphairistike,' however, was impossible (if only because people would pronounce it as a word of three syllables to rhyme with 'pike') and it was soon rechristened. ["Times" of London, June 10, 1927]\nTennis-ball attested from mid-15c.; tennis-court from 1560s; tennis-elbow from 1883; tennis-shoes from 1887.

n. (label en sports) A sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets. vb. 1 (context intransitive dated English) To play tennis. 2 (context transitive English) To drive backward and forward like a tennis ball.

n. a game played with rackets by two or four players who hit a ball back and forth over a net that divides the court [syn: lawn tennis]

Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams 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 object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.

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 modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as "lawn tennis". It had close connections both to various field ("lawn") games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport of real tennis. During most of the 19th century, in fact, the term "tennis" referred to real tennis, not lawn tennis: for example, in Disraeli's novel Sybil (1845), Lord Eugene De Vere announces that he will "go down to Hampton Court and play tennis."

The rules of tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point challenge system, which allows a player to contest the line call of a point.

Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is also a popular worldwide spectator sport. The four Grand Slam tournaments (also referred to as the "Majors") are especially popular: the Australian Open played on hard courts, the French Open played on red clay courts, Wimbledon played on grass courts, and the US Open played also on hard courts.

Tennis is a tennis– simulation video game developed for the Atari 2600 by Activision, and published in 1981. The game was designed by Activision co-founder Alan Miller.

Activision has republished Tennis in a number of game compilations, as well as via Microsoft's Game Room service.

is a sports game released for the NES. In North America and Europe, Tennis was one of 18 launch games for the NES. A Game Boy version was also released.

Tennis is the third studio album by Chris Rea, released in 1980.

Tennis (styled as TENNIS) is an American sports magazine owned by the Miller Publishing Group. It is a monthly magazine – but publishes only 8 issues per year – which covers news from the world of tennis.

Tennis is a racquet sport played on a ground court.

Tennis may also refer to:

Tennis is an American indie pop band from Denver, Colorado, United States, made up of husband-and-wife duo Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley.

Tennis is an (abstract) strategic pencil and paper game for two players.

The game field consists of 4 fields and a centre line. These are called (-2,-1,0,1,2), with negative numbers belonging to player 1, positive to player 2. At start, the ball is at the centre line (0).

Both players start with the same initial number (e.g. 50 points). In each draw, both players choose a number, and the ball is moved towards the player with the smallest number. The number that was chosen reduces the points for the next draws.

The aim of the game is to move the ball beyond the second field of the opponent.

The game is described in.