Portal:Tennis
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Tennis is a sport played between either two players (singles) or two teams of two players each (doubles). Players use a stringed racquet to strike a ball, a hollow rubber sphere covered in felt, over a net into the opponent's court. In some places tennis is still called lawn tennis to distinguish it from real tennis (also known as royal tennis or court tennis), an older form of the game that is played indoors on a very different kind of a court. Originating in England in the late 19th century CE, the game spread first throughout the English-speaking world, particularly among the upper classes. Tennis is now played in the Summer Olympic Games and at all levels of society, by individuals of all ages many countries around the world. Its rules have remained remarkably unchanged since the early 1900s. Along with its millions of players, tennis claims millions of people who follow the sport as spectators, being particularly interested in the four Grand Slam tournaments.
Tennis is played on a rectangular flat surface, usually made of grass, clay, or concrete. The court is 78 feet (23.77 metres) long and 27 feet (8.23 meters) wide for singles matches; for doubles matches, the width is extended by 9 feet (2.74 meters). Additional clear space around the court is required in order for players to reach overrun balls. A net is stretched across the full width of the court, parallel with the baselines, dividing the court into two equal halves. The net is 3 feet, 6 inches (1.07 meters) high at the posts, and 3 feet (91.4 centimetres) high in the center.
Each of the three primary court types (clay court, grass court, and hardcourt) imparts a different speed and spin to the ball, which affects the level of play for individual players. Some players specialize in certain surfaces on which they are more successful (for example, grasscourt specialists or clay court specialists) or in certain ball-striking techniques (shots or strokes) to which they are best inclined physically.
A volley is a tennis shot undertaken prior to a ball's contacting the court, most often employed proximate to the net as an offensive tactic, in order that an opponent should have to react with celerity, that an opponent should better be able to strike the ball at angles, and that a player should not be disadvantaged by an unlikely bounce on an uneven surface (as on a grass or hard court). Such a shot requires that the player volleying possess superb hand-eye coordination and generally short reaction time, inasmuch as, in singles play, an opponent make himself seek to strike angular shots past the player at the net (a passing shot), who, should he initially miss the ball, will be unable to reach the ball once more, or make seek to hit a shot above the player at the net toward the baseline (a lob).
A volley is struck, either as a forehand or backhand, with a short backswing and, most often, a punching stroke; less frequently a player make seek to impart spin, especially backspin, in order that reaching or properly striking the played ball should be more difficult for the opponent, or to strike a softly-hit ball with some backswing (as in a swing volley). Where a ball approaches a player low to the ground, he sometimes allows it to bounce before striking it whilst it is near to the ground; because he nevertheless uses the punch form of a volley, such a shot is known as a half volley. Where a volley is struck from midcourt, with a substantial backswing, and with topspin, the term drive volley is often ascribed, and such volleys are often used to allow a player time to approach the net in order that he might subsequently play a traditional volley.
The volley is often used as a finishing component in the serve-and-volley strategy in which a player, most often on a fast surface, such as grass (as against clay), having completed his service—especially where such service is flat (i.e., with the ball hit squarely with a racquet gripped in the Continental or Eastern fashion so that the ball is hit low to the net and with much power but little spin) or sliced (i.e., with the ball hit with a racquet gripped in the Continental or Eastern backhand style, so that much lateral spin is imparted)—moves immediately to the net in order that he might volley a service return so as quickly to end a point and, ultimately, to claim the game he serves (holding serve); such style has often been practiced by Americans Pancho Gonzales, John McEnroe, and Pete Sampras; Australians Rod Laver and Patrick Rafter; and Britons Tim Henman, pictured at left playing a backhand volley at the net after serve, and Greg Rusedski.
In his 1979 autobiography The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis, American Jack Kramer, ranked by American journalist Bud Collins as having been the world's best player for six seasons between 1947 and 1953, ranked players against whom he played and whom he observed in various categories, focusing on those who developed or improved certain shots or strategies. As the best forehand volley players, Kramer named countrymates Wilmer Allison and Budge Patty and Australian John Newcombe; as the best backhand volley players, countrymate Don Budge and Australians Ken Rosewall and Frank Sedgman; and as other superb volleyers from amongst his twenty-one best-ever players, Australian Jack Crawford, pictured at right completing a forehand volley, and Americans Ted Schroeder and Tony Trabert.
Arthur Ashe Stadium, located at the United States Tennis Association National Tennis Center, in Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, United States, is the main stadium of, and houses the main hard tennis court for, the United States Open, contested each in year in August as one of the sport's four Grand Slam tournaments.
Named for American Arthur Ashe, who claimed the United States Open men's singles title, defeating Dutchman Tom Okker in the final, of the tournament's inaugural iteration in 1968 and thereafter won the 1970 Australian Open men's singles—over Australian Dick Crealy—and the 1975 The Championships, Wimbledon men's singles—over countrymate Jimmy Connors—championships, the stadium and concomitant court replaced those of the Louis Armstrong Stadium, itself opened in 1977 as a replacement to the Singer Bowl, in 1997 as part of a Tennis Center expansion, offering a seating capacity more than double that of its predecessor—the stadium includes 22,547 individual seats and 90 luxury suites, as against the 10,000 individual suites of the Armstrong Stadium—expanded space for player locker rooms, and five restaurants.
Since its opening, Ashe Stadium has hosted the men's singles and women's singles championship during each Open contested; each of American Serena Williams, countrymate Venus Williams, Swiss Roger Federer, and Australian Patrick Rafter has won two titles on the court, and five players—each Williams, Swiss Martina Hingis, American Andre Agassi, and countrymate Pete Sampras—have each appeared in three singles finals on the court. During the 2006 Open, the Ashe and Armstrong courts will be equipped with Hawk-Eye technology so as to permit, for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament, instant replay; each player or team will be permitted two challenges per set—challenges resulting in the overturning of a call shall not count against the restriction—and one additional challenge during any tiebreak contested.
Carlos Moyá Llompart (also referred to as Carlos Moyá; born August 27, 1976) is a right-handed Spanish professional tennis player, best known for having, for two weeks in 1999, been the world's top-ranked player; for won the 1998 Tournoi de Roland-Garros men's singles title; for having reached at least the semifinals of two other Grand Slam tournaments—the 1997 Australian and 1998 United States Opens—for having won at least one Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour event in eleven of the twelve seasons between 1995 and 2006, inclusive; for having won three ATP Masters Series titles; for having thrice qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup; and for having won six consecutive matches to help Spain to the 2003 Davis Cup title.
Presently a resident of Switzerland, Moyá was born in Palma de Mallorca on the island of Mallorca, flag pictured, in the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands, and having begun playing tennis aged six years, enjoyed early success, becoming a professional in 1995 and, aged just 18 years, won, on the clay courts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, that season's ATP Buenos Aires title, defeating countrymate Felix Mantilla in straight sets to claim a championship he would win again in 2003 and 2006. Moyá reached three ATP Tour tournament finals in 1996, losing the BMW Open in Munich, Germany, to Czech Slava Dosedel, having defeated two players—Austrian Thomas Muster and Croat Goran Ivanišević—to reach the title tie; defeating Mantilla to win, in Umag, Croatia, the Croatian Open, a tournament he completed having won 62 games and having conceded just 24; and falling to countrymate Alberto Berasategui in the Bucharest Open in the eponymous city in Romania.
Moyá enjoyed a breakthrough year in 1997, reaching six tournament finals. Having reached the finals of the Sydney Outdoor in Sydney, Australia, before falling to Briton Tim Henman, Moyá, one week thence, defeated three players ranked in the world's top 20—German Boris Becker, Mantilla, and American Michael Chang—to reach the men's singles title match at the hardcourt Australian Open, ultimately losing to American Pete Sampras in three sets. Moyá would lose in the finals of tournaments in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (to Dosedel), and in Indianapolis, United States (to Swede Jonas Björkman) before reaching finally achieving a tournament victory, this at the Long Island Open, in which he defeated Australian Patrick Rafter, earning the number six overall world ranking. Moyá's performance at a clay court tournament in Bournemouth, England, one in which he lost a final to Mantilla having defeated Briton Greg Rusedski in the semifinals, moved him into the world's top five, which position he secured by advancing from round robin group play (defeating Sampras and Muster) in the 1997 ATP World Championships; Moyá lost a semifinal tie against Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov in two tiebreaks, finishing in equal third.
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- Every time we play tennis we are prophets without knowing of the future position of the ball which is conceived of as present. In the human stage we have extended mostly backwards as memory, our immediate prevision being limited by lack of scientific knowledge. — Irish biophysicist John Desmond Bernal
- Billie and I did wonders for women's tennis. They owe me a piece of their checks. — American tennis player Bobby Riggs, on his losing, aged 55 years, a 1973 exhibition match, styled as the Battle of the Sexes, to countrymate Billie Jean King
- Being beaten in tennis is not the same as being beaten in football. Tennis is one-to-one combat: you physically, mentally and emotionally beat the other guy. When you've done that for 15 years it creates a lot of resentment. — German tennis player Boris Becker, on the nature of tennis as an individual sport and on its tendency to produce intense rivalries
- Why has slamming a ball with a racquet become so obsessive a pleasure for so many of us? It seems clear to me that a primary attraction of the sport is the opportunity it gives to release aggression physically without being arrested for felonious assault. — American columnist Nat Hentoff, pictured at right
- Tennis is more than just a sport. It's an art, like the ballet. Or like a performance in the theater. When I step on the court I feel like Anna Pavlova. Or like Adelina Patti. Or even like Sarah Bernhardt. I see the footlights in front of me. I hear the whisperings of the audience. I feel an icy shudder. — American amateur tennis player Bill Tilden II, on the nature of tennis and the role of spectators on competitors
- But Henin-Hardenne, the champ here in 2004, holder of four major titles and destined for the Hall of Fame, walked. She walked away with $458,500, which ought to buy a lot of upset-stomach relief, leaving a bad taste and a blot on the game. In a word she was unprofessional, especially with 15,452 in the stands and a worldwide TV audience eavesdropping. — American journalist Bud Collins, in the Boston Globe, on the retirement, whilst trailing by one set, of Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, pictured at left, in view of putative stomach illness, from the women's singles final against Frenchwoman Amélie Mauresmo in the 2006 Australian Open
- I think we played singles, doubles and mixed. They just play singles. I guess it's different today probably because of television and press, but you have everything with you today; we couldn't afford to take families, we didn't have psychologists, we didn't have masseurs with us. — Australian tennis player Margaret Smith Court, 24 times a singles and 38 times a doubles Grand Slam titlist, on the specialization permitted extant professional tennis players, in part in view of the contemporary increases in tournament purses
- New York love it when you spill your guts out there. Spill your guts at Wimbledon and they make you stop and clean it up. — American tennis player Jimmy Connors, on the differences between reserved and traditional spectators at the The Championships, Wimbledon, contested in London, England, and the more raucous and demonstrative spectators at the United States Open, contested in New York City, New York, United States
- For a couple of months, though I wasn't partying all the time, I was going out, having a glass or two of wine...I skied in St. Moritz, I show-jumped, but then the challenges disappeared. I knew I was never going to be the best at anything else...I think I can still be one of the best tennis players; that is what has brought me back. — Swiss tennis player Martina Hingis, on her having, in view of ankle ligament injuries, retired from professional tennis in 2002, having won fourteen Grand Slam titles and having been the world's top-ranked player for 209 weeks, and her undertaking to return to competitve play in 2006
- I submit that tennis is the most beautiful sport there is, and also the most demanding....Basketball comes close, but it's a team sport and lacks tennis's primal mano-a-mano intensity. Boxing might come close–at least at the lighter weight divisions–but the actual physical damage the fighters inflict on each other makes it too concretely brutal to be really beautiful; a level of abstraction and formality (i.e., play) is necessary for a sport to possess true metaphysical beauty... — American essayist David Foster Wallace
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Players - Shots - Terminology - Tournaments - Venues - Women's
- Having lost his first singles match of the Cup in straight sets to David Nalbandian, Marat Safin overcomes José Acasuso in a fourth set tiebreak, whereupon Russia, three matches to two, win the 2006 Davis Cup final over Argentina on the indoor clay courts of Olympic Stadium in Moscow. The Argentine side, which also comprises Juan Ignacio Chela, who wins just thirteen games across a four-set singles match against Nikolay Davydenko, and Agustín Calleri, who, having won three singles matches over the World Group schedule, plays only a doubles match in which Nalbandian and he lose 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, advance to the final having, on the strength of a fifth tie win by Chela over Sasa Tuksar, dispatched defending champion Croatia in a quarterfinal match in which Ivan Ljubičić, having scored two of his squad's three points in its first round victory over Austria, earns both of his team's points, and, five-nil, with a defaulted uncontested dead rubber, over Australia, to which the Argentine side permit just two sets. Russia, as Argentina a 2005 semifinalist, having, behind two singles wins by Dmitry Tursunov and two points compiled by Igor Andreev, a singles winner over Jesse Huta Galung and, with Mikhail Youzhny, a doubles victor over Raemon Sluiter and John Van Lottum, achieved a first round sweep over the Netherlands, reach the final by displacing, as in a 2005 quarterfinal, France, this behind two fifth-set singles victories posted by Safin and Tursunov over Richard Gasquet, and, in the team's first home match, the United States, the latter once more behind Safin, who defeats Andy Roddick, the world's sixth-ranked player, and ultimately concedes a point to fifth-ranked American James Blake only in a dead rubber, and Tursunov, who tops Roddick, 17-15, in the fifth set of the tie betwixt the two. The play of the league system employed by the International Tennis Federation, the tournament's governing body, to structure the event also concludes as the sides to compose the 2007 World Group are determined; 2005 runners-up Slovakia—which lose a first round tie against Chile and a playoff against Belgium, for whom Olivier Rochus wins two singles matches and partners with Kristof Vliegen to claim a doubles match—and the Netherlands—which, having been held pointless by Russia, manage just one dead rubber victory against the Czech Republic, for whom Tomáš Berdych earns two singles points and, with Martin Damm, one doubles point—are relegated to Group One of the European/African Zone, whilst the Belgian and Czech corps are promoted.
- The 2006 season of the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour concludes.
- As in the event's 2003, 2004, and 2005 iterations, Swiss Roger Federer, for the 149th consecutive week the world's top-ranked player and, as in 2004 and 2005, the champion of ATP Race, completes the first round round-robin tournament without having lost a tie, having conceded just two sets across Red Group matches against fourth-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubičić, fifth-seeded American Andy Roddick, and seventh-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian, to advance with Nalbandian, who finishes alongside Roddick and Ljubičić with a 1-2 record but earns a transfer spot in view of his having won four sets across the first round, as against the three claimed by Roddick and Ljubičić, who nevertheless garners his match over Nalbandian, 5-7, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5, and therein tallies 30 aces. American James Blake, seeded eighth, defeats Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the first Gold Group match and thereafter records a three-set victory over third-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko to secure a transfer spot; Nadal overcomes countrymate Tommy Robredo in straight sets and dispatches Davydenko in three sets to advance to the semifinals having achieved, as Blake, a 2-1 record. Federer defeats Nadal, 6-4, 7-5, in the first semifinal, whilst Blake permits Nalbandian, in the 2005 Cup final a winner in a fifth-set tiebreak over Federer, just five games across two sets to reach the final in his first Cup; Federer registers a first-set shutout and ultimately concedes just seven games to Blake in claiming his third straight sets Cup title. In the Red Group of the doubles event, Australian Paul Hanley–in 2005 with countrymate Wayne Arthurs a round-robin round loser–and Zimbabwean Kevin Ullyett–in 2005 with countrymate Wayne Black a semifinalist–seeded fourth and ranked respectively seventh and eighth in the world, win all three first-round matches contested, overcoming a one set-to-none deficit to first-seeded Americans Bob and Mike Bryan (collectively, the Bryan Brothers), the 2003 and 2004 titlists, and dropping 23 games combined to seventh-seeded Israelis Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram and sixth-seeded Czech Martin Damm and Indian Leander Paes, the latter with Serbian Nenad Zimonjić a 2005 runner-up, but nevertheless proceeding through group play undefeated; the side are joined in the semifinals by Damm and Paes, whom the Bryans defeat but who, as the American and Israeli squads, finish at 1-2 and advance on the basis of the team's four sets-to-four record. Swede Jonas Björkman and Belarussian Max Mirnyi, having, seeded second, captured just one set across three first-round matches to finish last in the 2005 Gold Group, permit, once more seeded second and ranked fourth and third in the world respectively, just one set over three first-round matches, twice winning tiebreaks, and are followed to the semifinals by third-seeded Bahamanian Mark Knowles and Canadian Daniel Nestor, who win in straight sets over fifth-seeded Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, the tournament's defending champion, and Zimonjić and eighth-seeded Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, who, in winning 26 games and losing 42, also fall to Santoro and Zimonjić to finish as the event's sole winless side. Hanley and Ullyett, having won one semifinal set, lose the second and third sets, 1-6, 3-6, to Knowles and Nestor, whilst Björkman and Mirnyi and Damm and Paes play three consecutive tiebreak sets, the last of which Björkman and Miryni win, 7-5, to reach the final; the latter side prevails in the final, 6-2, 6-4, to draw within $168,000 of the Bryans atop the enumeration of doubles teams by 2006 ATP Tour earnings.
- Federer finishes the 2006 season having won twelve tournaments, more than any other player, including four events—the Indian Wells, Miami, Toronto, and Madrid Masters—contested as part of the ATP Masters Series, in which he becomes, after American Andre Agassi, the second winningest-ever Masters player, and three Grand Slam singles events—the Australian Open, over Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis; the Championships Wimbledon, over Nadal; and the United States Open—to conclude the season, as those of 2004 and 2005, as the world's top-ranked player and to earn more prize money–$8,343,885–than any other player in a single season; he is voted for the third consecutive year as the ATP Player of the Year. Nadal wins the sole Grand Slam event not captured by Federer—the Tournoi de Roland Garros, in four sets over the Swiss, as in the 2005 Roland Garros semifinal tie between the two; he wins five tournaments, defending four 2005 titles and claiming four championships—those of the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open–an International Series Gold event–Monte Carlo Masters, Rome Masters (7-5 in a fifth-set tiebreak), and Roland Garros and finishes the season ranked second in the world. Each of Roddick, Spaniard Tommy Robredo, and Davydenko garners one Masters Series title, and Robredo–who defeats Davydenko for the Synsam Swedish Open crown–Davydenko, Ljubičić, Serbian Novak Djokovic, German Tommy Haas, Frenchman Richard Gasquet, and Blake each win at least two tournaments; the season-ending world top ten rankings comprise Davydenko, Blake, Ljubičić, Roddick, Robredo, Nalbandian, Croat Mario Ančić, and Chilean Fernando González.
- The 2006 season of the Sony Ericsson Women's Tennis Association Tour concludes.
- Having won six of her nine matches across the 2004 and 2005 iterations of the WTA Tour Championships, Frenchwoman Amélie Mauresmo enters the 2006 Championships, contested at the indoor hardcourts of the Recinto Ferial Casa de Campo in Madrid, Spain, as the event's defending champion and as the world's top-ranked player and first-place player in the Race to the Sony Ericcson Championships and, despite falling to fifth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova in her first round-robin first-round tie in straight sets, ultimately advances to single-elimination play atop the Yellow Group ahead of third-seeded Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, who finishes as Mauresmo with a 2-1 record but who is placed behind Mauresmo in view of the latter's defeating Henin-Hardenne in three sets in the final group play match; eighth-seeded Swiss Martina Hingis, between 1996 and 2000 twice a Championships singles titlist and twice a runner-up, playing the event for the first time since 2000, overcomes Petrova in three sets and finally completes the event having claimed four sets and having conceded five to finish the Yellow Group in third place, ahead of Petrova, who finishes also with a 1-2 record. Russian Maria Sharapova, seeded third and a 2005 semifinalist, defeats countrymate Elena Dementieva, 6-1, 6-4, to begin Red Group play and thereafter earns straight sets victories over sixth-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters and countrymate Svetlana Kuznetsova, compiling in sum 36 games whilst permitting just 18, to secure the group's first transfer position; subsequent to her 6-4, 6-4 loss to Sharapova, Clijsters allows just six games combined to fourth-seeded Kuznetsova and seventh-seeded Dementieva to advance alongside Sharapova; Kuznetsova garners third place in view of her having, in straight sets, defeated Dementieva, who, as in 2005's Black Group, does not win a set amongst her three matches. In the first semifinal, Mauresmo overcomes Clijsters in three sets, whilst Henin-Hardenne dispatches Sharapova with a win in a second-set tiebreak; in a rematch of a 2003 Championships semifinal captured by Mauresmo on the strength of a first-set tiebreak win and of two Grand Slam finals played betwixt the two in 2006, Henin-Hardenne defeats the Frenchwoman, 6-4, 6-3, to win the Championships in just her fourth-ever appearance. In the doubles competition, played amongst just four duos in a knockout format, first-seeded American Lisa Raymond and Australian Samantha Stosur, co-ranked first in the world, permit just five games to fourth-seeded Czech Kveta Peschke and Italian Francesca Schiavone to win the first first semifinal in straight sets and third-seeded Zimbabwean Cara Black and Australian Rennae Stubbs, the latter a 2003 semifinalist with Russian Elena Likhovtseva and the pair runners-up to Petrova and American Meghann Shaughnessy in 2004 and to Raymond and Stosur in 2005, defeat second-seeded Chinese Yan Zi and Zheng Jie in a match in which each team records 16 games; Raymond and Stosur finally defend their title, losing, as in 2005, the first set before rallying to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
- By virtue of her winning the Tour Championships, Henin-Hardenne, who finishes the 2006 Tour having won six titles—including, as in 2003 and 2005, that of the Tournoi de Roland-Garros—more than any other player, displaces Mauresmo from first place in WTA ranking, assuming the world's number one ranking for the third time in her career, finishing a season ranked first for the second time, and, in increasing her career winnings to $13,573,319, entering the top ten of the enumeration of WTA players by career winnings; Mauresmo, twice a Grand Slam titlist—over Henin-Hardenne by walkover at the Australian Open champion and in three sets at The Championships, Wimbledon—and a semifinalist at the United States Open, and the winner as defending champion the Proximus Diamond Games, falls to third in the world rankings and becomes the only player to have spent at least 35 weeks atop the rankings without having finished any season ranked first. Sharapova, the victor of five events, including the United States Open–after that of the 2004 The Championships her second victory in a Grand Slam event–and three Tier I tournaments—the Pacific Life Open, Acura Classic, and Zurich Open—finishes the season ranked second; the season-ending top ten rankings also comprise Kuznetsova, thrice a Tour winner, including over Sharapova at the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open, and the Roland-Garros runner-up; Clijsters, the winner, as defending champion, of the Bank of the West Classic and Gaz de France Stars; Hingis, the winner over Russian Dinara Safina of the Telecom Italia Masters Roma and a finalist in two other Tier I events; Dementieva; Swiss Patty Schnyder; and Czech Nicole Vaidišová. Yan and Zheng, having become the first Chinese pair to capture a Grand Slam women's doubles championship at the Australian Open over, having defended two match points, Stosur and Raymond, and having won The Championships, Wimbledon title over unseeded Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual and Argentine Paola Suárez, third-round victors over Stosur and Raymond, finish the season ranked behind only Stosur and Raymond, champions of Roland-Garros over Slovak Daniela Hantuchová and Japanese Ai Sugiyama–the latter semifinal winners over the Chinese duo; Stubbs and Black, having advanced to the quarterfinals of every Grand Slam tournament and having claimed the Acura Classic doubles event, finish ranked third, ahead of Italian Francesca Schiavone and Czech Kveta Peschke—champions of the Tier I Kremlin Cup; Hantuchová and Sugiyama—champions of the Masters Roma; Suarez and Ruano Pascual; Safina and Slovene Katarina Srebotnik; American Meghann Shaughnessy and German Anna-Lena Groenefeld—who, having reached the Australian Open semifinals, fail, never seeded lower than fifth, to advance to the quarterfinals of any other Grand Slam tournament; Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues and Greek Eleni Daniilidou; and Chinese Li Ting and Sun Tiantian, winners of three tournaments, including, for the second time in three years, the Pattaya Women's Open, this over Yan and Zheng in a third-set tiebreak.
- ...that the Hopman Cup, an International Tennis Federation-sanctioned tournament contested annually on a hardcourt venue within the Burswood Casino in Perth, Western Australia, Australia, in which eight teams, each composed of a male and a female player, both representing the same nation, contest matches consisting of one women's singles, one men's singles, and one mixed doubles match, having first been arranged into two groups of four, in each of which a single round-robin tournament is conducted, upon the completion of which a single-elimination tournament amongst the two best-scoring teams from each group begins, was, in its first edition, in 1989, claimed by a Czechoslovak team comprising Miloslav Mečíř and Helena Suková, the former an ethnic Slovak and the latter an ethnic Czech, and has thereafter been won twice by a team representing Slovakia (in 1998 and 2005) and once by a team representing the Czech Republic (in 1994)?
- ...that, whilst no female representing Russia had won an Open era Grand Slam singles title prior to the 2004 season, of the six finals places available in that year's Tournoi de Roland Garros, The Championships, Wimbledon, and United States Open, five were claimed by Russian women, as Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, pictured, won the respective championships, elevating Russia to equal third, behind only the United States of America (eleven players) and Australia (four) and alongside the United Kingdom, in the rank of nations by distinct Grand Slam women's singles titlists fielded?
- ...that the overhead smash is a shot in which a player, often proximate on the court to the net and almost always in a forehand style, contacts a ball above his head with a swing similar to that used in the execution of a flat serve, seeking, especially upon an opponent's poorly striking a lob, to end a point?
- ...that Pancho Segura, having, aged 17 years, immigrated to the United States from his native Ecuador, won the 1943, 1944, and 1945 National Collegiate Athletic Association tennis championships, and competed simultaneously in other amateur events, claiming the 1944 United States Clay Court Championships title and twice reaching the United States National Singles Championship semifinals, ultimately entering the professional ranks in 1947 and claiming three consecutive United States Pro Championships, and, in part in view of which, ascending to the 1952 world's top ranking?
- ...that the Philadelphia Freedoms were an inaugural franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT), coached and captained in 1974 by American Billie Jean King, about whom English pop singer Sir Elton John, having attended a Freedoms match, would, with countrymate lyricist Bernie Taupin, write the single Philadelphia Freedom, and, having been absorbed by the Boston Lobsters in 1975, returned to the league as the Philadelphia Freedom in 2005, winning, in 2006, led by Canadian Daniel Nestor, American Lisa Raymond, and Australian Rennae Stubbs, the championship most valuable player award winner, the WTT championship?
