Title: TENNIS
1TENNIS
2THE HISTORY
- Tennis of one kind or another was played in
France as far back as the twelfth century. It was
not until the late nineteenth century that the
game, in a somewhat different form, began to take
on popularity in Britain with the start of lawn
tennis. Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, in search
of a more energetic game than croquet for the
leisure classes, created an activity that was
court tennis (which had existed for centuries).
He called it Sphairistike, Greek for ball games.
Wingfield patented his game in 1874 and a kit was
made available for sale. People took to the new
game, but soon realized they didn't need Major
Wingfield's kits. Wingfield let his patent run
out in 1877 and in that year the All England Club
held a tournament. Eventually the game was
modified from the prescriptions laid out by Major
Wingfield.. There have also been changes in the
quality and type of equipment and clothing used.
Early this century short pants were a radical
idea. During the past few decades players have
gradually replaced wooden and metal rackets with
rackets made of graphite and other compounds.
After 1984, when John McEnroe and Pat Cash
wielded wooden rackets in the semifinals of the
U.S. Open, wooden rackets quickly became an
leftover, to the grieve of some purists.
3EQUIPMENT
- Racquets
- Racket String
- Tennis Balls
- Racket grips and tape
4Wimbledom Champions (Males)
- 2000 P. Sampras USA
- Sampras' older sister Stella is head coach at
UCLA, and his younger sister, Marion, is a
teacher in Los Angeles. His older brother, Gus,
is tournament director at Scottsdale ATP event. - On September 30, 2000, Sampras married American
actress and former Miss Teen USA Bridgette
Wilson. On November 21, 2002, their son Christian
Charles was born. On July 29, 2005, the couple
welcomed their second son, Ryan Nikolaos. - Sampras has thalassemia minor, an inherited
disease that causes anemia. Thalassemia minor
limits physical and athletic endurance and causes
those who have it to feel fatigued when forced to
perform athletic feats. For Sampras, it meant he
was weakened when forced to play many long
rallies from the baseline. This explains why he
came to net so often and attempted low percentage
shots if rallies lasted too long. - Sampras' business-like attitude to tennis and
cautious handling of the press led critics to
bemoan his lack of charisma, but his natural
talent and work ethic meant he was always able to
let his results speak for themselves.
5Andre Agassi USA1992
- Agassi dated famed American singer Barbra
Streisand in the early 1990s before marrying
actress Brooke Shields in a lavish ceremony on
April 19, 1997. That February, they had filed
suit against The National Enquirer claiming it
printed "false and fabricated" statements about
the couple. The case was dismissed. He later
filed for divorce from Shields, which was granted
on April 9, 1999. - Before the divorce was finalized, Agassi was
dating retired tennis star Steffi Graf. They were
married at his home on October 22, 2001. Their
son, Jaden Gil, was born on October 26. Their
daughter, Jaz Elle, was born on October 3, 2003. - The couple own homes in Las Vegas, San Francisco,
Manhattan, and Germany. They paid 23 million to
purchase a six-bedroom, eight-bathroom house in
Tiburon, California. - Agassi's older sister, Rita, was married to the
late former tennis legend Pancho Gonzales. In
1995, when Gonzales died in Las Vegas, Agassi
paid for his former brother-in-law's funeral.
6Venus Williams USA 2002
- Venus is a business woman and CEO of her interior
design firm "V Starr Interiors" located in
Jupiter, Florida. Williams' company garnered
prominence by designing the set of the "Tavis
Smiley Show" on PBS, designed the Olympic
Athletes' Apartments as a part of the US bid
package for New York, USA to host the 2012 Games,
and designing residences and businesses in the
Palm Beach, Florida area.
7Serena Williams USA 2002
- Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan. When she
and her four sisters were young, their parents,
Richard and Oracene, took them to the poor and
sometimes violent Los Angeles suburb of Compton.
Her father dreamed of making at least one of his
daughters a tennis superstar, hoping that
involvement in sports would give them a way out
of that neighborhood. When Serena was four and a
half, she won her first tournament, and she
entered 49 tournaments before the age of 10,
winning 46 of them. At one point, she replaced
her sister Venus as the number one ranked tennis
player aged 12 or under in California. Her
younger sister is another female tennis champion,
Venus Williams. They currently resides in Palm
Beach Gardens, Florida, United States.
8Andre Agassi
Pete Sampras
Venus Williams
Serena Williams
9Number Of Championships
- Venus Williams
- 2000 - Wimbledon,
- 2000 - U.S. Open
- 2002 U.S.- Open (2)
- 2003- Australian Open
- 2003- Wimbledon (2)
-
10Number of Championships
- Serena Williams
- 1999 - U.S. Open
- 2001- Wimbledon (2)
- 2001- U.S. Open (2)
- 2002- French Open
- 2002- Wimbledon
- 2005- Australian Open (2)
- 2005- Wimbledon (3)
11Number of Championships
- Andre Agassi
- Australian Open (1995, 2000, 2001, 2003)
- French Open (1999)
- Wimbledon (1992)
- U.S. Open (1994, 1999)
12Number of Championships
- Pete Sampras
- Australian Open
- (1994, 1997)
- French Open (1996)
- Wimbledon (1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2000) - U.S. Open (1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002)
13THE US LAWN TENNIS ASSOCIATION
- Established in 1881
- A world wide organization with 17 geographical
sections - Located in New York City
14THE US OPEN
- The tournament has been held at the USTA Billie
Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing
Meadows-Corona Park in the New York City borough
of Queens.
15John McEnroe
- Winner of the U.S Open in 1984
16Jimmy Connors
- Winner of the US OPEN in 1982
17Lindsay Davenport
- Winner of the US Open in 1998
18Tracey Austin
- Winner of the US Open in 1981