Tennis Voyage Tips and guide

Tennis is a popular racquet sport played by either individual opponents (singles) or teams of two players (doubles). Players hit a felt-covered rubber ball across a net, aiming it in such a way as to make the ball difficult for the opponent to successfully return. Tennis tournaments can be large events, drawing visitors from around the globe and offering lucrative prize packages. (In 2024, the Wimbledon tournament in London offered a prize package of more than £50 million.)

Tennis is thought to have been invented in France in the 12th century, but was originally played by hitting the ball with an open hand. It wasn't until the 16th century that the racquet was invented in England, giving us the game that we now know as tennis. King Henry VIII was allegedly a fan of the sport, which he called real tennis. Quite right, Hank, old chap!

Today real tennis or royal tennis refers to a variant of the game which is only played in 45 active courts worldwide. The real tennis court has walls with sloping penthouse roofs which are used during play, reminding casual observers of the game of squash.

The court is a rectangle separated by a net. Any type surface might be playable, but the most common are:

• Grass - the original surface for a tennis court, now rare
• Clay - soft surface with some give that absorbs energy from the ball, sometimes described as a "slow" surface, clay courts are challenging to play
• Hard - typically a poured concrete surface that may be coated with plaster, the most common court today

The court shown in the photo is correctly lined to define areas of play. the long areas at either end of the court, perpendicular to the net are called the doubles alleys because they are "fair" territory only when playing doubles.

• The two inside squares close to the net are the serving area. When it is your turn to serve, you will stand behind the line of the serving area and hit the ball diagonally towards the opposite serving square. A served ball must land inside the serving square. A ball that hits a boundary line of the correct serving square is in play.
• The outer lines all the way around the court are the boundary lines. A ball hit out of bounds is a point for the opponent. In singles play, the boundary is inside the doubles alley. The boundary lines themselves are in play at all times.

The court should have a net stretched tautly across the court. Each player needs a racquet (or racket), which looks like a tight net stretched across an open frame. The racquet could be made of wood or a metal such as aluminum, but in modern play most racquets are made from carbon fiber-reinforced plastics. Several tennis balls will be needed. The ball is about the size of a baseball, but much lighter and softer. It is completely covered in soft felt and has a thin rubber shell inside. Do not play with a dog in the court because he will chew and destroy the balls. Any kind of shoe is acceptable by the rules, but most courts require soft tennis shoes that don't leave a mark. Hard rubber soles typically leave black scuff marks on the surface.

The rules are basically pretty simple: one player starts the play by serving the ball (hitting it fairly to his opponent). The other player tries to return the ball (hit it back). The players continue hitting it back and forth until one misses a shot (fails to return it into fair territory). A miss could be that the opponent swings and misses, it could be that the ball goes outside the boundary lines, or it could be that it hits the net or some other object (lights, scoreboard, spectators, dog chewing tennis ball, etc.)

Points are a little complicated, because it keeps newbies on their toes. Basically, scores go: 0 (also called love) 15 30 40

Before starting play, the umpire announces the current score. "30 love" means the serving player has 30 points and the receiving player is a total loser (err, has zero points). If the score is tied, the umpire may announce the score as "all", for example, "30 all". A player that has 40 points usually wins the game if he wins the next round of play, unless both players are tied at 40, in which case this is called "deuce". A player that wins the next round after reaching deuce is said to have the "advantage", and the player who has the advantage may seal the game by winning the next round of play. However, if the player who does not have the advantage wins the next round, it goes back to deuce, and this continues until a player with the advantage wins.

Typically, games go quickly and are played in groups called sets. In a professional tournaments, first-to-6-game sets are the norm, unless both players are tied a 5 games apiece, in which case one player needs to win 7 games to win the set. If both players are tied at 6 games apiece and it is not the final set of the match, this results in a tiebreaker set, in which the first player to reach 7 points and achieve a margin of at least 2 points over their opponent wins the set. However, tiebreakers do not apply in the final set, and one player must lead by at least 2 games to win the match. Matches at professional tournaments are usually played to a best-of-three or best-of-five sets.

In more informal tournaments, 5-game sets may happen. (So what you see on the telly might not be what you see at the neighborhood rec center.)

Main article: Spectator sports#Tennis

Tennis aficianados will travel the world to see their favorite tennis tournament. Besides the events listed in this section, the Summer Olympics held every 4 years includes tennis events, and professional tennis associations offer regional, national, and international tournaments that draw participants like mosquitos to a lantern. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) frequently host tournaments around the world. A fan never has to look far to find a good tournament to watch.

Some of the most famous tournaments include the following:

• Davis Cup - billed as The World Cup of Tennis, the Davis Cup is the premier tournament for national teams in men's tennis, with more than 150 teams representing countries around the world competing for one of the sport's most prestigious titles. In 2024, the winning team was from Italy and the final 8 teams of 2025 will face off in Bologna, Italy.

• The Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Federation Cup or Fed Cup) is the premier women's tennis tournament for national teams. The most recent winner in 2024 was also Italy.

Four tournaments together make up the "Grand Slam" tennis tour. These are the most prestigious prizes for individual competitors.

• Wimbledon Championships - held annually at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London's Wimbledon district since 1877, the tournament brings huge numbers of visitors to London while even more watch it on television around the world. The tournament features the world's top tennis champions playing on a traditional grass surface in a best of five format. Tournaments are played for men, women, and mixed, both singles or doubles.

• Australian Open - held annually in January at the Melbourne Park tennis complex in Melbourne's inner east, the Australian Open is the first major tournament of the year for professional tennis players. First held in 1905 and originally played on grass courts, it was switched to hard courts in 1988 when the tournament moved to its current site. In 2025, players competed for A$96.5 million in prizes.

• French Open (known in French as Roland Garros) - First played in 1891, at several locations in and near Paris (except for one year in Bordeaux) until moving to its current Parisian site, Stade Roland Garros, in 1928. The current venue is a large tennis complex in the Bois de Boulogne, a large park in Paris' 16th arrondissement. The tournament is a best-of-five format, played on clay courts, and is regarded as the most grueling of the major tennis tournaments. In 2024, the tournament awarded more than €53 million in prizes.

• US Open - played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, a large park in the New York City borough of Queens. The tournament has been played every year since 1881 (including through World War I, World War II, and the COVID pandemic), although it wasn't held in NYC until 1915, and its current site didn't open until 1978. Since moving to the current site, the tournament has been played on hard courts. The tournament is the last "Grand Slam" event of the year. In 2024, players competed for prizes worth US$75 million.

Tennis is a hugely popular recreational sport around the world. In the United States alone, the U.S. Tennis Association estimated that more than 22 million people played tennis recreationally. It can be played indoors in colder climates or where frequent rain demands it, though the sport is particularly popular in warm weather climates. In tropical locations, resorts with golf courses often have sizeable tennis programs with courts of varied surface type and with individual instruction or skills camps.

Some resorts feature tennis programs that draw serious recreational players. These properties take their tennis chops seriously. Each has at least 10 courts with various surfaces and professional instructors (see the listings for individual destinations for info on hotels and how to get there).

• San Diego, California - the Valencia Resort is seriously posh, and is known for its tennis programs. They have 13 hard-surface courts (with rubberized "plexipave" surface) plus three European clay courts. The Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy provides professional instruction and conducts clinics.

• Punta Cana, Dominican Republic - the Tortuga Bay Hotel includes a LUX Tennis Academy offering professional instruction, equipment to borrow (no need to pack the racquets), a spacious, clean locker room and your choice of 10 hard-surface courts, a grass court, or a European clay court. Four of the courts are maintained to ITT professional standards. (They also have pickleball courts and paddle courts.)

• Kiawah Island, South Carolina - the Kiawah Island Resort is famous among golfers, but they take their tennis equally seriously with a whopping 22 tennis courts! (Most of any U.S. resort hotel.) The Roy Barth Tennis Center offers professional instruction any time for any level of player and also offers weekend tennis programs and clinics and tournaments.

• Marbella, Spain - the Hotel Puente Romano is one of Europe's most exclusive tennis resorts. Opened in 1979 by Swedish tennis champion, Björn Borg, the tennis facility has 14 courts, a team of professional tennis instructors and celebrity pros who occasionally pop in for a day or two to relax and play the resort's mix of hard-surface and clay courts.

• Hilton Head Island, South Carolina - the Palmetto Dunes offers 17 hard and clay surface courts under the shade of towering pine trees, professional instructors offer private lessons and clinics.

• Tyrol, Austria - the Bio- und Wellnesshotel Stanglwirt has 14 hard and clay surface courts, including 6 indoor courts for all-season play. They offer instruction, clinics and a variety of other spa and wellness programs.

• 56.2537-3.206511 Falkland Palace Real Tennis Court, Falkland, Glenrothes, Scotland, UK. Falkland Palace is a fun palace with a dark history, built in the 12th century but taking its present Renaissance style from 1500. The palace contains the "real tennis" court, built for King James V of Scotland between 1539 and 1541 at a cost of £70. The court can usually be seen on a general tour of the palace. This is the world's oldest tennis court still in use. The court is played by Falkland Palace Royal Tennis Club and it may be possible for experienced players to play in one of their Wednesday or Sunday sessions. (updated Jul 2025)