INTERNATIONAL TENNIS

Tennis, or Lawn Tennis as it is often called, originated in England in the late 19th Century and is now played by both men and women all over the world on varying surfaces.

Playing surfaces, as well as grass, now include clay, all weather, hard, carpet.

Tennis is either played as "Singles", one player against another, or as "Doubles" with two players facing another two players. The doubles games can be either single sex or mixed.

Tennis is included in the summer Olympic Games .

As well as millions of active players of all ages, tennis also has a huge following and for professional players there are enormous sums of money to be made in the way of prize money and lucrative sponsorship deals. The sport also benefits from major television coverage.

The singles title holders, both men and women, can be household names and icons. Some well known players over the years include:Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Rod Laver, Fred Perry, Billy Jean King, Maria Bueno, Steffi Graff, Martina Navratilova, Maria Shrapova, Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport to name but a few.

Arguments abound about who is the best player of all time.

The world governing body for tennis is the ITF - International Tennis Federation, formerly known as the ILTF - International Lawn Tennis Federation, which has its headquarters in Roehampton, England. http://www.itftennis.com/

The Association of Tennis Professionals is for the male players, whilst the WTA is for female professional players.

There is a complicated system in place for the ranking of players and their subsequent seeding in tournaments.

The DAVIS CUP is probably the most well known international team tournament for men with the Fed Cup being the women's equivalent.

The tournaments included in the Grand Slam are:

AUSTRALIA OPEN

FRENCH OPEN

WIMBLEDON

U.S. OPEN

The ATP MASTERS SERIES is another prestigious event for male tennis players with the series being followed by the last tournament of the year TENNIS MASTERS CUP.