Tony Hawks - Tennis on the football field. Rules of playing tennis briefly Tennis court

Tennis is gaining more and more popularity. It is played by professional and amateur athletes, adults and children. What size should a tennis court be? This is what we will talk about.

What is a tennis court?

To play tennis quite a platform is required large sizes. Unfortunately, the majority of amateur gardeners do not have the opportunity to build a court on their dacha plot.

The area of ​​600 m2 does not allow for a full-fledged tennis court even for amateur players.

But there is a way out. Tennis is a group game. It involves a minimum of 2 players. Therefore, using the territory adjacent to the garden partnership, you can equip an excellent tennis court, which will allow all members of the team to spend their leisure time in an organized manner.

What should be the dimensions of a tennis court in meters? The playing area is a flat area measuring 18 by 36 meters, or 648 m2.

Arrangement of a tennis court

To build a court you will need:

• sketch of a tennis court;
• availability of a suitable location;
• drainage pipes;
• sand, clay, fertile soil, crushed stone, artificial lawn grass;
• tennis net, posts for fastening it;
• possibility of installing wind protection;
• rollers for compacting and leveling soil.

In the selected area, soil leveling is carried out. The slope of the site should be no more than 1 degree. Drainage pipes are laid along the perimeter and diagonally to ensure water flow if the surface is soil or grass. When installing hard flooring (concrete or asphalt), drainage should not be installed diagonally.

The prepared site is covered with a layer of crushed stone, which is leveled with a roller. Next, pour a layer of sand, which is also compacted. An earthen mixture consisting of sand, clay and fertile soil is poured on top of this pillow. The proportions should be the same. The soil is leveled, its level is checked with a construction compass, then everything is compacted and watered for shrinkage. The base dries for 3 days. After this, preliminary marking of the site is done. At its base, poles for the net and supports for wind protection are installed. Artificial lawn grass turf is laid on the ground.

Tennis court dimensions

On artificial turf Tennis field markings are applied. The court is made for doubles and singles play. Each type is characterized by its own court size.

In order to save building material and marking area for different types games are played on one field. What size should a tennis court be? The standard is 18 by 36 meters. But when they combine the fields of the steam room and single player, then it is worth noting their main difference - the field for a single game is smaller in width.

Court dimensions in doubles:

Tennis court dimensions in singles:

• central dividing line - 4.165 m;
• field width - 8.23 ​​m.

All other court size indicators are the same as in doubles play.

Tennis court care

Features of court care depend on its surface. The most complex manipulations require a primer coating. After each game it needs to be leveled, watered, and restoration work carried out after the winter period.

Hard surface courts (concrete, asphalt, wood, plastic) only need to be cleaned after rain and autumn leaves. Artificial grass fields require the least effort. They only need to be cleared of autumn leaves with a rake, while the water leaves through the drainage.

A tennis court is a special area designed for training and competitions in this exciting sport. They are not arranged arbitrarily - the size of the tennis court is organized depending on the standard requirements that apply to these sites.

Court dimensions

The court sizes that are common today depend on the type of future competitions held there - for singles or doubles. The difference between the sizes of these two courts is expressed in the difference in the width of the court.

For length, the following tennis court dimensions are established - 23.78 m. For width – 10.97m tennis doubles, 23.78m singles. Both of these areas vary in width to accommodate the optimal number of actively moving participants.

Court grid and court markings

The tennis court is divided in the middle by a net through which the ball passes. As a result of the division, the length of the court in each half is 11.89 meters. The net itself is fixed to posts; they are placed outside the court to reduce the likelihood of injury to players. In this case, the racks are slightly higher than the highest point of the nets.

There are service lines on each half of the court, they are located parallel to the net and the drawn back lines. The total distance between them is 12.8 m, that is, 6.4 m from the grid on each side. The center line is drawn perpendicular to the net, it begins and ends at the marking of the service lines. The service lines are marked from lines drawn parallel to the outer court markings. Thanks to this marking, a play corridor is created. Its width - 1.37 m - is the same for all types of courts - both doubles and singles.

Play space

The actual dimensions of a tennis court are slightly larger than the space limited by the extreme marking lines - at the back and on the sides. It is the actual size of the court that will determine the location of the ball during the competition. For the races of participants in competitions and training, the distance is set at 6.4 m from the back line of the court and 3.66 m from the side line. Similar sizes are accepted at world-class competitions.

At national and regional championships, it is possible to hold the tournament on a court with a reduced racing area, but not less than 3.66 m from the side markings and 5.48 m from the back. For indoor (indoor) courts there is also a requirement for the ceiling height - not lower than 9.14 m.

Tennis (tennis)- a sport in which two players or two teams of two compete with each other. The goal of each player/team is to throw the ball to the opponent's side with the racket so that the opponent cannot reflect it. In this case, the ball must touch the opponent’s half of the field at least once.

History of the emergence and development of tennis

The predecessor of tennis is considered to be the French game “jeu de paume” (French jeu de paume, literally playing with the palm). Unlike modern tennis, jeu de paume was played indoors and with the palm of the hand. Later, the palms were replaced by gloves, the gloves were replaced by special bats, and only then rackets appeared.

One of the most famous references to tennis in medieval literature is an episode in Shakespeare's historical chronicle Henry V, where the French Dauphin sends the young English king a keg of tennis balls as a mockery.

Almost all French kings played tennis; Charles IX called tennis “one of the most noble, worthy and healthy exercises that princes, peers and other noble persons can engage in.”

In 1900, students at Harvard University decided to organize a tournament for national teams. One of the students, Dwayne Davis, used his own money to buy a silver cup for the winner, and most importantly, he drew up the rules of the tournament. Davis and two of his friends played for the US team, which won this tournament and the next one in 1902. The Cup was held every year and was subsequently called the "Davis Cup", which is still a popular event in the world of tennis.

Since the 1920s, professional tennis players began to earn money by playing in exhibition matches. The first professional tennis match in history took place on October 9, 1926 in New York at the Madison Square Garden indoor arena, in the presence of 13 thousand spectators.

Rules of the game of tennis

Players or teams must be on opposite sides of the net. One of the players is the server, the second, respectively, the receiver. The serving player must send the ball so that it lands in the opponent's half of the court. The receiving player must have time to redirect (hit) the ball to the opponent's side before it hits the court or before it touches the court a second time. If one of the tennis players misses the ball, then his opponent gets a point.

A tennis match consists of “sets”, and they, in turn, are made up of “games”, to win which you need to score goals (minimum 4 goals: 15-30-40 game, but with a difference of at least two goals). When serving, the player has two attempts in which he alternates serving the ball to the left and right squares. After the game is played, the serve passes to the opponent. After playing an odd number of games, players are given a minute break and sides are changed. The first player to win 6 games (provided that his opponent has won no more than 4 games) is considered to have won the set. To win the match you need to win 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 5 sets. The player who reaches the required number of sets won wins the match.

The rules of doubles tennis are slightly different from singles, namely:

• the match takes place on a larger court;
• the ball is hit by the one who is in the best position;
• players of each team serve in turn;
• players only accept serves from their side throughout the entire set.

On official matches there is a referee present, he is on the tower. In addition to the judge on the tower during the match, there may be line judges who record the ball entering the court area. Since 2006, tennis has seen the era of electronic refereeing systems (Eye of the Hawk), which accurately determine where the ball lands.

Tennis court

Standard size The tennis court is 23.77 meters long and 8.23 ​​meters wide (10.97 meters for doubles). The area of ​​the tennis court is about 196 m2. To install tennis courts intended for competitions, an area of ​​668 m2 is required. The court has rectangular shape with a flat surface with markings applied to it:

• The lines along the short sides of the court are called back lines, and along the long sides are called lineouts.
• The court is marked with service zones using service lines parallel to the back lines and the net, 6.40 m from the net and drawn only between the side lines for singles, and a center service line drawn in the middle of the court parallel to the side lines and between the service lines . The center service line is also indicated on the net by a vertical white stripe stretched from the surface of the court to the top edge of the net.
• A short mark is applied to the back lines to mark their middle.

There is a net stretched in the middle of the court, which runs across the entire width and divides it into two equal parts. The standard size of a tennis net is 1.07 meters by 12.8 meters, and has square cells with a side of 4 centimeters.

Types of tennis court surfaces:

• herbal (grass),
• ground (clay),
• hard
• synthetic carpets (artificial grass, acrylic coverings).

There are other types of tennis court surfaces, such as asphalt, wood or rubber, but these are not used in official matches. Tennis courts There are open and covered.

Tennis equipment

Tennis equipment: tennis racquet and a ball. The racket consists of a handle and a round rim with stretched strings. The rim of the racket is made of complex composite materials (ceramics, carbon fiber, metal). Tennis racket strings can be either natural or synthetic. Previously it was believed that natural strings have best characteristics, but today artificial strings have caught up with natural strings in terms of characteristics. Interestingly, the tension force of horizontal and vertical strings is usually different. Typically, a tennis racket is selected individually for each player.

There are special requirements for rackets from International Federation Tennis (ITF):

• The length of the racket must not exceed 73.66 cm.
• The width of the racket should not exceed 31.75 cm.
• The size of the string surface of the racket, that is inner size(to the rim) -29.21 cm wide and 39.37 cm long.

The game is played using a yellow-white hollow rubber ball. The outside of the ball is covered with fluffy felt to impart certain aerodynamic properties.

Tennis tournaments

1. In modern tennis the most major competitions 4 tournaments count Grand Slam:

• Australian Open - open championship Australia
• Rolland Garos (Roland Garosse) - French Open Championship
• Wimbledon Championships - the most prestigious championship in the Grand Slam series, takes place in the outskirts of London - Wimbledon
• US Open - US Open Championship.

1. The Davis Cup is the unofficial world tennis championship.
2. The Kremlin Cup is the largest championship in Russia.

Standard court dimensions, including races, are 18.3×36.6 m. The playing field is a rectangle with dimensions:

• for single player 8.23×23.77 m;
• for doubles play 10.97×23.77 m.

Measurements are taken along the outer edges of the marking lines.

The evolution of changes in the shape, marking and size of the court. Methodology for marking the court.

The length of the back races on sites intended for official tournaments must be at least 6.4 m on each side (for club and training grounds it is allowed to reduce the width of side runs to 5 meters). The width of the side runs must accordingly be at least 3.6 m on each side (not less than 3 meters). Central and first courts of Grand Slam tournaments, the most prestigious series ATP And WTA, as well as courts for Davis Cup matches in “ World group” have races of at least 8.23 ​​m behind the back line and at least 4.57 m behind the side line.

The permissible unevenness of the site is 3 mm for every linear 3 m of the surface.

The distance between the axes of the posts for attaching the net is 91.4 cm on both sides of the outer side lines. If the pillars are supposed to be removable, then the depth of the embedded parts for them is 0.75 m.

The recess for the carabiner (hook) of the central belt, tennis net, is located in the center of the playing field (recommended depth - 20.5 cm).

Court surfaces can be either natural or artificial. Read more.

Outdoor courts (on outdoors) along the longitudinal axis are oriented in the North-South direction. This arrangement is the most comfortable when playing on sunny days (in the morning and evening the sun does not blind the eyes).

COURT ACCESSORIES

The permanent equipment is:

• mesh with central belt;
• pillars and racks (supports) for the mesh;
• referee's tower;
• fencing behind and to the side of the court;
• stands or seats for spectators (if the court is intended for tournaments).

For some tournaments the requirements ITF minimally defined permissible quantity places for spectators. For example, for the Davis Cup - no less than 12 thousand.

• the net (black or dark colors) must be stretched so as to completely cover the space between the two posts, and have cells of such a size that the ball cannot fly through it;
• the width of the upper white strip of fabric is 5-6.35 cm on each side;
• maximum diameter of the metal mesh cable is 8 mm;
• the maximum width of the central white mesh belt is 5 cm;
• the height of the mesh in its center is 91.4 cm (adjustable with a belt);
• the cross-sectional area of ​​the posts for attaching the mesh should be no more than 15 sq.cm or 15 cm in diameter (with a round cross-section);
• the cross-sectional area of ​​the net posts (used in single-player games) should not exceed 7.5 sq. cm or 7.5 cm in diameter;
• the height of the pillars or racks exceeding the upper edge of the mesh is no more than 2.5 cm.
• the distance between the axis of the post or post to the outer edge of the corresponding side line is 91.4 cm;
• the distance between the pillars (along their axes) is 12.8 m;
• The referee's tower must be such that the seat is located at a height of 1.8-2.0 m from the surface of the court.

Outdoor courts must have a fence made of metal woven mesh ("chain-link") with a mesh size of 3.5 to 5 cm or a fence. The recommended height of the fence around the site is at least 3 m, except for areas behind the side lines, which can be 1 m.

For better visibility of the ball behind the back lines, dark backgrounds are used. They also play a windproof function on open courts. Tennis backdrops are installed along the end sides of the court and act as windproof and shading background screens. Backdrops are made in sizes: 2.0×12 m, 2.1×18.0 m and 2.7×18.0 m.

The size of the backgrounds and at what height they are hung are not specified by the rules.