Tennis Clothes

Tennis clothes have changed a lot from what they used to be to what they are now. Men nowadays usually wear loose fitting shorts and a lose or synthetic t-shirt whilst playing tennis. Women usually wear a tennis skirt (a skirt with shorts underneath for holding balls) and a synthetic t-shirt or tank top.  When playing a formal game of tennis, it is usually customary to wear white however nowadays, tennis clothes come in practically all colours.

Originally, when playing tennis men wore cotton shirts, long trousers and a knitted sweater vest. This heavy outfit of course was not practical when playing a tiring game of tennis and in 1926 when Rene Lacoste created a polo t-shirt a new era of tennis clothes for men was born. In 1932 Henry Austen decided to wear shorts to Wimbledon and even though the style didn't catch on for another decade, he greatly influenced men's tennis attire.

In the 1900's, women wore lace up corsets and full length dresses made out of heavy material when playing tennis. By the 1920's full length dresses had been traded to knee length dresses and in the 1930's to make tennis outfits more feminine, pleats were added and dresses were shortened to a few inches above the knee. In 1980, tennis players started wearing tennis outfits in a variety of colours to customize their look on the court. This look carried on to present day where tennis outfits in a variety of colours and styles are common.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Cooper_(tennis)

Tennis Rackets

Tennis rackets have evolved greatly from the laminated wood rackets that used to be used to what we now know as rackets today. In the 1960's Wilson created a steel framed racket which became popular because the famous tennis player Jimmy Connors used it. In 1968 Spalding created the aluminium racket. The aluminium framed racket while lighter and more flexible than wood or steel was a lot less accurate therefore most professional and amateur tennis players continued to use either steel or wood rackets. In 1975, the improvement of aluminium led to oversized tennis rackets being created. Since aluminium became much lighter than wood or steel, tennis rackets could be larger than before without throwing off the player's game. With larger rackets, players were able to put more spin or slice on the ball which is very useful in a game of tennis. In the 1980's the first graphite tennis racket was created. The graphite racket was lighter and stronger than aluminium and players could hit the ball a lot harder with it. Today, tennis rackets are made out of graphite mixed with other materials such as tungsten and titanium.

There are seven parts to a tennis racket: the head, rim, face, neck, butt, handle and strings. Apart from the basic foundation, rackets vary depending on height, weight, colour, stringing and more. All of these variables apart from the colour can have various effects on one's game. Rackets can weigh between 230g (very lightweight) and 350g (heavyweight). A lighter racket is easier to move so players are able to swing it faster while a heavy racket gives a player more balance and power while hitting the shots. Rackets also have different head sizes- a smaller head giving the player more control over the ball and a larger head giving the player more room for error and more power in their shots. The stringing on rackets can also greatly effect one's game. If a racket is strung loosely the player is able to put more power and spin onto the ball, if the racket is strung tightly then the racket has more control over the ball and one is able to predict the power and angle the ball will be hit at.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Tennis_racket_owned_by_Gerald_R._Ford.JPG

Tennis Balls

The process of making tennis balls is very interesting. In fact, there are multiple steps factories need to go through in order to produce the yellow balls we know as tennis balls. To learn more about those steps check out the video attached below. There are also certain requirements for tennis balls set by the ITF or International Tennis Federation. For up instance, a tennis ball must either be white or yellow, must have a diameter between 6.35cm and 7.15cm and must weigh between 56 and 59.6g. Tennis balls also must be exactly the same on the outside and if there are any seams they must be stitchless.

The manufacturing of tennis balls used to take place in Europe and the USA however tennis balls are now made mainly in Asia. Asia is considered to be a prime location for their manufacturing because of the easy access to cheap materials and the reasonable labor costs. However, while having factories in Asia may be cost-effective for companies, their effect on the environment definitely does not come without a price. For instance, if one takes the tennis ball company Slazenger-who supply tennis balls for Wimbledon one can clearly see that they have left a huge environmental footprint on the planet. Slazenger obtains its supplies from all over Asia: petroleum from Zibo China, glue from Basilan Phillipines tin from Indonesia and much more. All of these supplies are shipped over to their headquarters in Bataan and after being manufactured and packaged are shipped 50,000 miles to Wimbledon

Tennis Courts

Tennis is always played on a flat surface that is rectangularly shaped. A tennis court is 78 feet long however the width of the court changes depending on the game you are playing. For instance, when playing singles the width of a tennis court is 78 feet, however, when playing doubles the width of a tennis court becomes 36 feet. A single tennis court can be used to play either singles or doubles depending on the situation. Below is a picture of a tennis court showing the different lines and their lengths:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_court

There are four main types of surfaces used in tennis courts. The surfaces are clay, hard, grass and carpet.

Clay courts are made using crushed stone or brick and come in two different types- red clay which is the more common and green clay which is a harder type. Red clay is mainly made of crushed brick and is the type of court used in the French Open. Green clay is made of crushed basalt and is more compact and therefore harder than red clay courts. Clay courts are slow courts because the ball bounces higher on them giving the players more time to reach the ball. While clay courts are cheap and easy to install, maintaining clay courts can be an expensive and time consuming job. Clay courts need to be regularly monitored for their water balance and need to be rolled regularly.

Hard courts are usually made of hard materials such as concrete or asphalt and covered with acrylic material to provide some cushioning and seal the surface. Tennis on hard courts is usually a medium fast to fast paced game because the surface of the court does not allow for much absorbtion of the energy coming form the tennis ball. However, the speed of the game can vary depending on the amount of sand on top of the surface- the more sand the slower the game because there is more friction. Hard courts are maintained using various methods including power washing, chemical treatments and brushing. Some major tennis tournaments that use hard courts as their surfaces are the Australian Open and the US Open.

Grass Courts as the name suggests are played on various types of grasses. They can be quite difficult and expensive to maintain. For example, without a proper cover for the rain, grass courts can become extremely slippery and must be left for at least a day in order to fully dry. Balls on grass courts do not usually bounce higher than knee height so players need to get to the ball quickly when playing on grass courts. Wimbledon is the only one of the five grand slam tournaments to be played on grass, giving it a unique aspect.



Carpet Courts are woven or non-woven removable strips made from polymeric and rubber materials.
There are two main types of carpet courts- an outdoor one made with turf and covered with sand, and an indoor one made of nylon and rubber. Tennis on carpet courts is played extremely fast.

History of Tennis

The origins of tennis dates back to a very long time ago. In fact, it is believed that the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians played very early versions of the game. However, the first written record of tennis dates back to 1000 when French monks started playing a game they called 'jeu de paume' or game of the hand. Over the next few centuries it became extremely popular with the nobilities in Europe in fact, it became so popular that the Pope and King Louis VI tried to ban the game. When the game spread to England King Henry VII and VIII became huge fans and had thousands of courts built throughout the country. In fact, Hampton Court Palace-one of the many courts built, still survives today.

As tennis grew in popularity, it evolved in many different ways. For example, originally balls were wooden however after time they evolved to leather balls filled with cellulose material. In 1850 Charles Goodwin created a scientific process called vulcanisation which made tennis balls bouncier which enabled tennis to be played on grass courts. Another example of how tennis evolved was in racquets. Originally, tennis was played using the hand however after a while it evolved to gloves with webbing between the fingers. In 1500, a wooden racket handle strung with sheep guts was developed which laid the foundations for tennis rackets today.

In 1873 Major Walter C. Wingfield created a set of rules for the game of tennis. While these rules are different from the ones we have now, Major Wingfield's creating of these rules allowed for the spread of tennis to Russia, China, India, Canada and the United States. Today tennis is one of the most widely played sports in the entire world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis

Introduction

Hello and welcome to The Geography of Tennis! Throughout the next few weeks I plan to tell you everything and anything about the geography of tennis. I will be covering topics such as the history of tennis, its popularity in different countries, the producing of tennis rackets and balls, the different types of courts and even more. I hope that after reading this blog you will have learned lots of new things about the sport of tennis and that maybe you'll be inspired to go out start playing some tennis.