Tennis

tennis, game played with a racket and a ball by two as in singles or four as in doubles competitors, on a rectangular court with a net strung between the midpoints of the longer sides of the court. tennis may be played indoors or outdoors. the game ranks as one of the most popular spectator and participation sports in the world, with fans and competitors in more than 100 countries. originally called lawn tennis to distinguish it from the sport of court tennis, from which it was derived, the game is now commonly known as tennis.
the court is marked with white lines to indicate its dimensions and service areas. the court is 78 ft 23.8 m long, divided into two equal sides by a net standing 3 ft 0.9 m high at the center of the court. for singles the court is 27 ft 8.2 m wide. for doubles the addition of alleys 4.5 ft 1.4 m wide along the two longer sides increases the width to 36 ft 11 m. for more detail, see accompanying diagram. courts may be of grass, clay, asp...