Lawn Tennis is a game played indoors or outdoors on a rectangular court by 2 person's (in singles) or by 4 persons of the same sex (women's and men's doubles) or by men and women partner's (mixed doubles). The players use rackets to strike a ball back and forth across a net. The object is to score points by hitting the ball out of the opponent's reach or in such a way that he cannot return it successfully.

The history of the game is varied and ancient. Like most other ball games, it was a solemn fertility rite in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. Philologists have suggested that the name tennis was adapted from the French exclamation 'tenez'. Another view associates the term with an Egyptian town on the Nile known as Tinnis in Arabic. Together with court tennis, the 12th century Crusades brought some of its terms to Europe. Thus, racket is derived from the Arab word 'rahat' meaning 'the palm of the hand'.

Records confirm that tennis was played in France in the 12th century at first with the palm of the hand. To soften the blow, players began to wear gloves. To begin with, court tennis was played by monks. But later on it became a favorite sport of kings. And because of the enthusiasm, with which kings and their courts pursued the game, the sport came to be called 'royal tennis'.

After 1800, court tennis began to experience a decline and its place was taken by lawn tennis, its modern adaptation. In 1877, the game became truly standardized. The All England Croquet Club in Wimbledon, whose reserves were declining as tennis became more and more popular than croquet set aside part of its lawns for a tennis court. By then virtually all that remained of Wingfield's game was the net and alternate name.

Even before the All England Championships at Wimbledon- still the major annual event in 1977, the game had found its way abroad. In 1874 Mary Outerbridge saw it played in Bermuda and introduced it to the U.S.

The Court.

The court is 78 feet long and 36 feet wide (in a single's game, it is 27 feet wide) It is divided across the middle by a net, suspended from a cord or metal cable of a maximum diameter of 1/3rd of an inch, the ends of which is attached to, or pass over the tops of two, or pass over the tops of two posts, each 3 and 6 inches high, the center of which shall be 3 feet outside the court on each side. The height of the net is 3 feet at the centre, where it is held down tightly by a strap not more than 2 inches wide.

The Ball.

The ball has a uniform outer surface and is white or yellow in colour.It should be between two and a half inches and two and five-eight inches in diameter. The weight is somewhere around two ounces.

The Racket.

The hitting surface of the racket is flat and consists of a pattern of crossed strings connected to a frame and alternately interlaced where they cross; and the stringing pattern is generally uniform.

Choice of Ends and Service.

The choice of sides and the right to be server or receiver in the first game is decided by a toss. The player winning the toss may choose or he can ask his opponents to choose:
a) The right to be server or receiver, or
b) The side, in which case the other player gets the right to be server or receiver.

The Service.

The service is delivered in the following manner: The server stands with both feet at rest behind the baseline, and within the imaginary continuation of the center-mark and sideline. He throws the ball into the air in any direction and before it hits the ground, he strikes it with his racket. It is considered delivered at the moment of impact of the racket on the ball.

The order of receiving the service is decided at the beginning of the set. The pair who has to receive service in the first game decides which partner will receive the first service, and that partner has to receive the service in every odd game throughout that set.

If the partner serves out of turn, the partner who ought to have served, serves as soon as the mistake is discovered, but all the points scored before this discovery is made, will be reckoned.

Service Fault.

The service is a fault if the ball touches the server's partner or anything that he wears or carries. But if the ball touches the partner of the receiver or anything that he is wearing or carrying before it hits the ground, the server wins a point.

Playing the ball in Doubles.

One or the other player of the opposite side should strike the ball, alternately, and if a player touches the ball in play with his racket, his opponents win the point.

A player loses a point if-
a) he fails before the ball in play hits the ground twice, consecutively, to return it directly over the net or
b) he returns the ball in play so that it hits the ground, a permanent fixture, or other object, outside any of the lines which mark off his opponents' court, or
c) he touches or hits the ball with his racket more than once in making a stroke.

Score.

If a player/team wins its first point, the score is 15 for that player/team. For winning the second point, the score becomes 30, for the third point made the score reaches 40 and the fourth point won by a player is scored game.

A player/s who first wins six games, wins a set; except that he must win by a margin of two games. Where necessary, a set is extended until this margin is achieved.