1.
Roger Federer
–
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No.4 by the Association of Tennis Professionals. Many players and analysts have called him the greatest tennis player of all time, Federer turned professional in 1998 and was continuously ranked in the top 10 from October 2002 to November 2016. Federer has won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, the most in history for a tennis player. In majors, Federer has won seven Wimbledon titles, five Australian Open titles, five US Open titles and he is among the eight men to capture a career Grand Slam. He has reached a record 28 mens singles Grand Slam finals, Federers ATP tournament records include winning a record six ATP World Tour Finals and playing in the finals at all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. He also won the Olympic gold medal in doubles with his compatriot Stan Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, representing Switzerland, he was a part of the 2014 winning Davis Cup team. He was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a four consecutive years from 2005 to 2008. Federer was born at the Basel Cantonal Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, Federer has one sibling, his older sister Diana, who is the mother of a set of twins. He holds both Swiss and South African citizenship, Federer was raised as a Roman Catholic and met Pope Benedict XVI while playing the 2006 Internazionali BNL dItalia tournament in Rome. Like all male Swiss citizens, Federer was subject to military service in the Swiss Armed Forces. However, in 2003 he was ruled unsuitable and was not required to fulfil his military obligation. Instead, he served in the protection force and was required to pay 3% of his taxable income as an alternative. He grew up supporting F. C. Basel and the Swiss National Football Team, Federer also credits the range of sports he played as a child—he also played badminton and basketball—for his hand-eye coordination. Federer is married to former Womens Tennis Association player Mirka Vavrinec and he met her while both were competing for Switzerland in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Vavrinec retired from the tour in 2002 because of a foot injury and they were married at Wenkenhof Villa in Riehen near Basel on 11 April 2009, surrounded by a small group of close friends and family. In July 2009, Mirka gave birth to twin girls, Myla Rose. The Federers had another set of twins in 2014, this time boys whom they named Leo and Lennart, in 2003, he established the Roger Federer Foundation to help disadvantaged children and to promote their access to education and sports. In 2005, he auctioned his racquet from his US Open championship to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, at the 2005 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Federer arranged an exhibition involving several top players from the ATP and WTA tour called Rally for Relief
2.
The Championships, Wimbledon
–
The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and is widely considered the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. Since the Australian Open shifted to hardcourt in 1988, Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass. The tournament takes place two weeks in late June and early July, culminating with the Ladies and Gentlemens Singles Final. Five major, junior, and invitational events are each year. Wimbledon traditions include a dress code for competitors and Royal patronage. The tournament is notable for the absence of sponsor advertising around the courts. In 2009, Wimbledons Centre Court was fitted with a roof to lessen the loss of playing time due to rain. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is a club founded on 23 July 1868. Its first ground was off Worple Road, Wimbledon, in 1876, lawn tennis, a game devised by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so earlier and originally given the name Sphairistikè, was added to the activities of the club. In spring 1877, the club was renamed The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, a new code of laws, replacing the code administered by the Marylebone Cricket Club, was drawn up for the event. Todays rules are similar except for such as the height of the net and posts. The inaugural 1877 Wimbledon Championship started on 9 July 1877 and the Gentlemens Singles was the event held. It was won by Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player, about 200 spectators paid one shilling each to watch the final. The lawns at the ground were arranged so that the court was in the middle with the others arranged around it. The name was retained when the Club moved in 1922 to the present site in Church Road, however, in 1980 four new courts were brought into commission on the north side of the ground, which meant the Centre Court was once more correctly defined. The opening of the new No.1 Court in 1997 emphasised the description, by 1882, activity at the club was almost exclusively confined to lawn tennis and that year the word croquet was dropped from the title. However, for reasons it was restored in 1899
3.
Tennis court
–
A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be used to create a tennis court, Tennis is played on a rectangular flat surface, usually of grass, clay or hard material. The dimensions of a court are defined and regulated by the International Tennis Federation governing body and are written down in the annual Rules of Tennis document. The court is 78 feet long and its width is 27 feet for singles matches and 36 feet for doubles matches. The service line is 21 feet from the net, additional clear space around the court is needed in order for players to reach overrun balls for a total of 60 feet wide and 120 feet long. A net is stretched across the width of the court, parallel with the baselines. The net is 3 feet 6 inches high at the posts, the net posts are 3 feet outside the doubles court on each side or, for a singles net,3 feet outside the singles court on each side. Tennis is played on a variety of surfaces and each surface has its own characteristics which affect the style of the game. There are four types of courts depending on the materials used for the court surface, clay courts, hard courts, grass courts. The Australian Open switched to hard courts in 1988 and in its years the French championship alternated between clay and sand/rubble courts. ITF uses the classification for tennis court surface types, Clay courts are made of crushed shale, stone. The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament to use clay courts, Clay courts slow down the ball and produce a high bounce in comparison to grass courts or hard courts. For this reason, the court takes away many of the advantages of big serves. Clay courts are cheaper to construct than other types of tennis courts, Clay courts need to be rolled to preserve flatness. The clays water content must be balanced, green courts generally require the courts to be sloped to allow water run-off, Clay courts are more common in Europe and Latin America than in North America and tend to heavily favour baseline players. Grass courts are the fastest type of courts in common use and they consist of grass grown on very hard-packed soil, which adds additional variables, bounces depend on how healthy the grass is, how recently it has been mown, and the wear and tear of recent play
4.
Tennis
–
Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against a single opponent or between two teams of two players each. Each player uses a racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return, the player who is unable to return the ball will not gain a point, while the opposite player will. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society, the sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis and it had close connections both to various field games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport of real tennis. The rules of tennis have changed little since the 1890s, two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s. Tennis is played by millions of players and is also a popular worldwide spectator sport. Historians believe that the ancient origin lay in 12th century northern France. Louis X of France was a player of jeu de paume, which evolved into real tennis. Louis was unhappy with playing tennis outdoors and accordingly had indoor, in due course this design spread across royal palaces all over Europe. Because of the accounts of his death, Louis X is historys first tennis player known by name. Another of the enthusiasts of the game was King Charles V of France. It wasnt until the 16th century that rackets came into use, and the game began to be called tennis, from the French term tenez, an interjection used as a call from the server to his opponent. It was popular in England and France, although the game was played indoors where the ball could be hit off the wall. Henry VIII of England was a big fan of this game, during the 18th century and early 19th century, as real tennis declined, new racket sports emerged in England. This in turn led to the codification of rules for many sports, including lawn tennis, most football codes, lawn bowls. In 1872, along with two doctors, they founded the worlds first tennis club in Leamington Spa. Evans, turfgrass agronomist, Sports historians all agree that deserves much of the credit for the development of modern tennis, according to Honor Godfrey, museum curator at Wimbledon, Wingfield popularized this game enormously
5.
Poaceae
–
Poaceae or Gramineae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses. Poaceae includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and cultivated lawns, Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath, with ca 780 genera and around 12,000 species, Poaceae are the fifth-largest plant family, following the Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Fabaceae and Rubiaceae. Grasslands such as savannah and prairie grasses are dominant are estimated to constitute 40. 5% of the land area of the Earth, excluding Greenland. Grasses are also an important part of the vegetation in many habitats, including wetlands, forests. Though commonly called grasses, seagrasses, rushes, and sedges fall outside this family, the rushes and sedges are related to the Poaceae, being members of the order Poales, but the seagrasses are members of order Alismatales. The name Poaceae was given by John Hendley Barnhart in 1895, based on the tribe Poeae described in 1814 by Robert Brown, the term is derived from the Ancient Greek πόα. Grasses include some of the most versatile plant life-forms, a cladogram shows subfamilies and approximate species numbers in brackets, Before 2005, fossil findings indicated that grasses evolved around 55 million years ago. Recent findings of grass-like phytoliths in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites have pushed this back to 66 million years ago. In 2011, revised dating of the origins of the rice tribe Oryzeae suggested a date as early as 107 to 129 Mya, a multituberculate mammal with grass-eating adaptations seems to suggest that grasses were already around at 120 mya. This separation occurred within the short time span of about 4 million years. Grass leaves are always alternate and distichous, and have parallel veins. Each leaf is differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem, the leaf blades of many grasses are hardened with silica phytoliths, which discourage grazing animals, some, such as sword grass, are sharp enough to cut human skin. A membranous appendage or fringe of hairs called the ligule lies at the junction between sheath and blade, preventing water or insects from penetrating into the sheath, flowers of Poaceae are characteristically arranged in spikelets, each having one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes, the part of the spikelet that bears the florets is called the rachilla. A spikelet consists of two bracts at the base, called glumes, followed by one or more florets, a floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma—and one internal—the palea. The flowers are usually hermaphroditic—maize being an important exception—and anemophilous or wind-pollinated, the perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules, that expand and contract to spread the lemma and palea, these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. This complex structure can be seen in the image on the right, the fruit of grasses is a caryopsis, in which the seed coat is fused to the fruit wall
6.
Turf management
–
Turf management or pitchcare describes the work needed to keep a sporting pitch ready for use. This article looks at the types of sporting pitches and the type of challenges which they present. The skills needed vary considerably dependent upon the sport and whether or not artificial surfaces are used, special sets of skills are also needed to care for either sand-based athletic fields or native soil fields. There are two types of tennis court, grass and clay. The clay courts can then be divided into natural clay, hard courts, all tennis courts should ideally be a little west of true north to ensure minimum problems from sunlight. Historically very popular, they are now slowly being replaced by clay courts which offer the opportunity of year-round usage, the skills needed to maintain a grass court are considerable. Traditionally the court is split into the foundations and drainage, the soil or binding layer, all three must work together to provide the best playing surface. Maintenance of grass courts is typically split into the following areas, scarification, mechanically raising the surface turf to prevent compaction. Usually done in springtime to correct any problems from the winter weather, winter work to remedy compaction over the summer. It will encourage deep rooting as well as assisting in drainage, seeding of worn areas after the season has ended. Top dressing at the end of the season to maintain turf quality, artificial grass courts are a popular option at club level as they are weather resistant and their shock absorbing qualities help limit injuries. However they are not recommended for high levels and are expensive to maintain. The Lawn Tennis Association prices a basic court at £27,000, clay courts require water to keep from cracking. This limits their use in very dry regions. Normal maintenance is basically regular watering and rolling, to prevent the surface turning into dust, clay courts can have both sub-surface and above surface irrigation. They provide a good training surface with a medium to slow pace, the Lawn Tennis Association prices the courts at between £34,000 and £60,000 to construct. Hard courts are made from asphalt or concrete with an acrylic covering. They are also called synthetic granular courts and these courts typically provide a fast game, which means the tennis ball will bounce with a low angle
7.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
8.
Serve and volley
–
Serve and volley is a style of play in tennis where the player serving moves quickly towards the net after hitting a serve. The server then attempts to hit a volley, as opposed to the baseline style, the slowing of court surfaces and deflation of balls, promoting longer rallies for the enjoyment of spectators, has also put a damper on the serve and volley style. Some also claim that a lack of teaching of the serve and volley to juniors, the aim of this strategy is to put immediate pressure on the opponent with the intent of ending points quickly. Good returns must be made, or else the server can gain the advantage and this tactic is especially useful on fast courts and less so on slow courts. Ken Rosewall, for instance, had a very feeble serve but was a very successful player for two decades. Goran Ivanišević, on the hand, had success employing the serve-and-volley strategy with great serves. Serve-and-volley is thought to have been invented by the Australian Norman Brookes, although earlier tennis greats such as Bill Tilden, Ellsworth Vines, and Don Budge had been noted for their fine serves and net games, they had not played a 100% serve-and-volley style game. Jack Kramer in the late 1940s was the first world-class player to come to the net after every serve. My second serve didnt kick like Bobbys, so he could return that deep enough and it forced me to think attack constantly. I would rush in and try to pound his weakest point -- his backhand, so the style I am famous for was not consciously planned, it was created out of the necessity of dealing with Bobby Riggs. In the mid-1950s, when Pancho Gonzales was dominating professional tennis with his serve-and-volley game and this, it was felt, would lead to longer rallies and more spectator interest. The match was scored as if in table tennis, with 21 points per game,5 serves per player, the fans preferred the traditional scoring system, however, and in any case Gonzales continued to win under VASSS rules. Gonzales won anyway, and this experiment was dropped, Kramer also tried marking a secondary service line one yard behind the baseline, so that the server was further away from the net when he served. Once again Gonzales was undeterred and the rules were restored. Other male tennis players known for their serve-and-volley technique include Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Patrick Rafter and Pete Sampras. Sampras, despite being known for his great serve and volley game, did not always come to the net behind the serve on slower courts and this was especially the case when he was younger. The serve-and-volley strategy has traditionally been less common amongst female players, an early pioneer in womens volleying was Elizabeth Ryan, who was at the top of the womens game in the mid-to-late 1920s. But it was later on serve and volley caught on in womens game
9.
Serena Williams
–
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player. The Womens Tennis Association has ranked her world No.1 in singles on seven occasions and she became the world No.1 for the first time on July 8,2002, and achieved this ranking for the seventh time on January 30,2017. On the sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, in total, she has been world No.1 for 316 weeks, which ranks her 3rd in the Open Era among female tennis players. Williams accomplishments and success in tennis have led some commentators, players. Williams holds the most major titles in singles, doubles, and her record of 39 major titles puts her third on the all-time list and second in the open era,23 in singles,14 in womens doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles. She is the most recent female player to have all four major singles titles simultaneously. She is also the most recent player, together with her sister Venus Williams and her total of 23 Grand Slam singles titles marks the record for the most Major wins by a tennis player in the Open Era, and is second on the all-time list behind Margaret Court. She is also the only player to have won 10 Grand Slam singles titles in two separate decades. She has won a record of 13 Grand Slam singles titles on hardcourt. Williams holds the Open Era record for most titles won at the Australian Open and she also holds an all-time record for the most singles matches won at the Grand Slams with 316 matches. She has won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with her sister Venus, as a team, she and Venus have the third most womens doubles grand slam titles, behind the 18 titles of Natasha Zvereva and the record 20 titles won by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver. Williams is also a winner of the WTA Tour Championships in the singles division. Serena has also won four Olympic gold medals, one in womens singles, the arrival of the Williams sisters has been credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the womens professional tennis tour. Williams was the highest paid athlete in 2016, earning $28.9 million in prize money. She has won the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award 3 times, Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan, to Richard Williams and Oracene Price, and is the youngest of Prices five daughters, half-sisters Yetunde, Lyndrea and Isha Price, and full sister Venus. When the children were young, the moved to Compton, California. Her father, Richard, home-schooled Serena and her sister Venus, Williams family moved from Compton to West Palm Beach, Florida, when she was nine so that she could attend the tennis academy of Rick Macci, who would provide additional coaching. Macci spotted the talents of the sisters
10.
2008 Wimbledon Championships
–
The 2008 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts. It was the 122nd edition of the Wimbledon Championships, and the third Grand Slam event of the year and it took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, England, United Kingdom, from 23 June to 6 July 2008. Spanish player Rafael Nadal won the first Wimbledon title of his career, Nadal defeated five-time defending champion Roger Federer in the final in what many regard as the greatest tennis match of all time. In the womens singles, Venus Williams claimed her fifth title, the performances of Britons Andy Murray in the mens singles and Laura Robson in the girls singles were able to arouse significant interest from the home crowd. Following the completion of the 2007 Championships, the new fixed roof was put in place, the retractable section of the new roof was completed for the 2009 Championships. Roger Federer, 6–4, 6–4, 6–7, 6–7, 9–7 It was Rafael Nadals 6th title of the year and it was his 2nd Grand Slam title of the year, his 5th overall, and his first Wimbledon title. Serena Williams, 7–5, 6–4 It was Venus Williamss 1st title of the year and it was her 7th Grand Slam title overall, her 5th win at the event, and her 2nd consecutive one. Daniel Nestor / Nenad Zimonjić def. Jonas Björkman / Kevin Ullyett, 7–6, 6–7, Lisa Raymond / Samantha Stosur, 6–2, 6–2 Bob Bryan / Samantha Stosur def. Mike Bryan / Katarina Srebotnik, 7–5, 6–4 Grigor Dimitrov def, henri Kontinen, 7–5, 6–3 Laura Robson def. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1 Cheng-peng Hsieh / Tsung-hua Yang def, matt Reid / Bernard Tomic, 6–4, 2–6, 12–10 Polona Hercog / Jessica Moore def. Isabella Holland / Sally Peers, 6–3, 1–6, 6–2 Donald Johnson / Jared Palmer def, jacco Eltingh / Paul Haarhuis, walkover Ken Flach / Robert Seguso def. Jeremy Bates / Anders Järryd, 7–6, 6–7, 10–7 Jana Novotná / Kathy Rinaldi def, martina Navratilova / Helena Suková, 5–7, 6–3, 10–5 Robin Ammerlaan / Ronald Vink def. An official said, If you look at a tournament, you see one match for £23,000, one for £27,000, one for £36,000. It doesn’t take a genius to work out something is going on in the last one. Betting on Wimbledon matches was popular in 2007, with over £420m wagered on bets, to help deal with any potential gambling problems, the All England Club restricted access to players changing rooms this year, allowing only the player and their coach permission. It was hoped that this would make communication between gamblers and players more difficult, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the sport club that plays host to the Championships, came under fire from animal activists for using marksmen to shoot down dive-bombing pigeons. The marksmen were hired by the All England Club and, armed with rifles, shot several birds. When the media broke the story on Monday, a spokesman for the All England Club defended the approach, saying that, The hawks are our first line of deterrent
