Tennis

Tennis, racket game played on a rectangular court by two or four players. The court, divided by painted lines into sections (78 ft-23.8 m long and 27–31.5 ft-8.2–9.6 m wide) is bisected by a net 3 1/2 ft (107 cm) high. The object is to hit the hollow ball of cloth-covered rubber, about 2 1/2 in (6.4 cm) in diameter and 2 oz (57 g) in weight, over the net into the opposite court such that the opposing player is unable to return it. The racket has a metal or laminated wood frame, with gut or nylon strings forming an oval “head”; it is about 27 in (69 cm) long and weighs 12 oz (340–454 g). Tennis originated in 15th-century France as indoor court tennis and took its present form, lawn tennis, in 1870. It was first played in the United States in 1874. In 1877 England held the first Wimbledon Championship. Dwight Davis donated the Davis Cup in 1900. The International Lawn Tennis Federation regulates rules and play in over 80 countries.