Base Line Tennis

What boys do, girls can too. Boys are not the only children who can play tennis. Girls can also pick up their racquets and engage themselves in the sport.

Female athletes only had a handful of sports to play. Thats not the case anymore. There are so many choices ever since organizations have become active in educating and empowering girls through sports.

A majority of female athletes play tennis. In fact, the four grand slams are eagerly awaited each year: Australian Open, French Open, US Open and Wimbledon. Of course, the game of tennis has something different to offer. For those who are into fashion, they can check out what the girl players are wearing. For those who are into the game, they can observe the game play of their favorite tennis femme fatale.

Womens Tennis Association or WTA recently changed its name to The Sony Ericsson
WTA tour. This is the female counterpart to mens tennis or Association of Tennis Professional (ATP.)

A players total points are calculated every week. Points are gathered from the tournaments played during the past year. The top 17 tournaments add up to the players total points.

Now that 2006 is about to end, here is the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Ranking:

1. Henin-Hardenn, Justinne of Belgium
2. Sharapova, Maria of Russia
3. Mauresmo, Amelie of France
4. Kuznetsova, Svetlana of Russia
5. Clijsters, Kim of Belgium
6. Petrova, Nadia of Russia
7. Hingis, Martina of Switzerland
8. Dementieva, Elena of Russia
9. Schnyder, Patty of Switzerland
10. Vaidozova, Nicole of Czech Republic
11. Safina, Dinara of Russia
12. Jankovic, Jelena of Serbia
13. Charvetadze, Anne of Russia
14. Ivanovic, Ana of Serbia
15. Schiavone, Francesca of Italy
16. Myskina, Anastasia of Russia
17. Bartoli, Marion of France
18. Huntachova, Daniela of Slovakia
19. Groenefeld, Anna-Lena of Germany
20. Peer, Shahar of Israel
21. Li, Na of China
22. Golovin, Tatiana of France
23. Srebotnik, Katarina of Slovenia
24. Zvonareva, Vera of Russia
25. Davenport, Lindsay of USA
26. Sugiyama, Ai of Japan
27. Medina Garrigues, Anabel Medina of Spain
28. Pennetta, Flavia of Italy
29. Stosur, Samantha of Australia
30. Kirilenko, Maria of Italy
31. Santangelo, Mara of Italy
32. Bondarenko, Alona of Ukraine
33. Zheng, Jie of China
34. Muller, Martina of Germany
35. Krajicek, Michaela of Netherlands
36. Danilidou, Elena of Greece
37. Shaughnessy, Meghann of USA
38. Garbin, Tathiana of Italy
39. Poutchkova, Olga of Russia
40. Bremond, Severine of France
41. Rezai, Aravane of France
42. Safarova, Lucie of Czech Republic
43. Likhovtseva, Elena of Russia
44. Perry, Shenay of USA
45. Jackson, Jamea of USA
46. Costanic, Jelena of Croatia
47. Williams, Venus of USA
48. Vesnina, Elena of Russia
49. Dechy, Nathalie of France
50. Lino, Lourdes Dominguez of Spain
51. Bammer, Sybille of Austria
52. Camerin, Maria Elena of Italy
53. Oprandi, Romina of Italy
54. Castano, Catalina of Colombia
55. Peng, Shuai of China
56. Loit, Emilie of France
57. Nakamura, Aiko of Japan
58. Benasova, Iveta of Czech Republic
59. Dulko,Gisela of Argentina
60. King, Vania of USA
61. Radwanska, Agnieska of Poland
62. Arvidsson, Sofia of Sweden
63. Smashnova, Anna of Israel
64. Kanepi, Kaia of Estonia
65. Pironkova, Isvetana of Bulgaria
66. Mirza, Sania of India
67. Pascual, Virginia Ruano of Spain
68. Bychkova, Ekaterina of Russia
69. Yakimova, Anastasiya of Belerus
70. Granville, Laura of USA
71. Gajdosova, Jarmilla of Slovakia
72. Craybas, Jill of USA
73. Tanasugarin, Tamarine of Thailand
74. Laine, Emma of Finland
75. Chan, Yung-jan Taipei
76. Pin, Camille of France
77. Bardina, Vasilisa of Russia
78. Pratt, Nicole of Australia
79. Pierce, Mary of France
80. Sun, Tiantian of China
81. Fedak, Yuliana of Ukraine
82. Scruff, Julia of Germany
83. Sucha, Martina of Slovakia
84. Birnerova, Eva of Czech Republic
85. Vinci, Roberta of Italy
86. Harkleroad, Ashley of USA
87. Morigami, Akiko of Japan
88. Razzano, Virginie of France
89. Sprem, Karolina of Croatia
90. Tu, Meilen of USA
91. Domachowska, Maria of Poland
92. Azarenka, Victoria of Belarus
93. Wozniak, Aleksandra of Canada
94. Rodionova, Anastassia of Russia
95. Williams, Serena of USA
96. Kloesel, Sandra of Germany
97. Dushevina, Vera of Russia
98. Lepchenco, Varvara of Uzbekistan
99. Brianti, Alberta of Italy
100. Pous Tio, Laura Pous of Spain

So you decided to take tennis seriously. First things first. In order for you to become a really good tennis player, you must have the equipment. It is like a knight marching off to a battle with the best weapons.

The basic tennis equipments are racquets, balls, shoes, socks, caps, hats, sunglasses and towels.

This article will share tennis equipment tips a newbie has to know:

1. Save Your Strings
String savers are those tiny plastic pieces inserted in the section where the strings touch the racquets sweet spot. These prevent the strings to rub against one another. It also aims to achieve a long string life.

In a tennis match, having string saver are not illegal because the ball does not really touch these.

String savers are used by players that have gut strings. These are effective in prolonging string life. But there are those players who dont like String Savers primarily because it gives their racquets a stiff grip.

If you wish to prolong the string life of your racquet, use a thick gauge string. We highly suggest that you replace your strings many times in a year, that is if you frequently play.

2. What You Should Know About Your Strings

- Lower string tensions equate to more power
- There is more ball control with higher string tensions
- Lower string density caused by fewer strings equate to more power
- the thinner the string, the more power
- the more elastic the string, the more power
- the softer the coating, the softer the string, therefore the less tendency to vibrate
- thinner strings produce more spin
- fewer strings equate to more spin

3. What You Should Know About Your Tennis Racquet
The general rule for tennis racquets is that the stiffer the frame, the more power it generates. This is because:

- the heavier the frame, the more power it generates
- the heavier the frame, the less it vibrates
- the stiffer the frame, the more power it generates
- if the frame is stiff, then it transmits more to the arm
- a stiff frame entails a more uniform ball response against the swing of the racquet
- the larger the frame, the more power it generates
- the larger the frame, the more resistant it is to twisting

4. Safe Racquet Storage

It is necessary that you do not leave your tennis racquets in the car. If your racquet has synthetic strings, then it begins to lose its tension at about 43 degrees C or 110 degrees F. Always leave your racquet at a cool storing place in order for the strings to stay intact.

5. Racquet Stringing Frequency

Tennis players wonder how often they must have their racquets re-strung. Answer it should it must be re-strung at least twice a year, even if the string remains in tact or it breaks. The player must always restring his racquet as many times in one year as he plays in a week. For example, you play four times a week, then have your racquet re-strung four times a year.

Tennis is a sport worth investing on. Whenever you play, it keeps the blood pumping and also exercises your reflexes. Just stick to these tips and soon enough youll notice what a better tennis player youve become from the time you first held a racquet.

Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is extremely aching tendonitis that sometimes badly affect an elbow subjected to too much stress, for instance related with tennis. Exactly what causes tennis elbow is unidentified, although it is thought to be for the reason that there are inflammation of the tendon and occurrence of small tears of the tendons that are attach to the muscles of the forearm to the arm bone at the elbow joint.

Symptoms of tennis elbow include tenderness over the inflamed area and acute pain when the elbow is stressed. The pain connected with tennis elbow more often than not has a gradual onset, although it may as well come on suddenly.

There are quite a number of ideas that tennis elbow is not just simply an “inflammation” of the tendons around the joint. Furthermore, it is thought of as related to a person’s degenerative process. It can either be the result of becoming old or repetitive use.
It can be an outcome of an incomplete curative response in absence of good blood circulation. Consequently access to nutrients and oxygen that is essential for healing is deprived to the sufferer. This results to the deterioration of the tendon that cause the small tears.

Most sufferers of tennis elbow are between 35-65 years old. Both men and women have the same chance of being afflicted with it. Tennis elbow inflicts 75% of patients dominant arm. Any person is capable of being affected, but tennis elbow is in general noticed in two sets of patients, namely:

Blue-Collar Workers

People who use their hands in working, manual laborers, they are in danger of being affected tennis elbow. Occupations that may lead to tennis elbow include plumbing, painting, gardening, and carpentry works.

Athletes

Athletes engaging in racquet sports are most likely to develop tennis elbow. Most certainly about 1/3 of regular tennis players suffer from tennis elbow at any time in their playing career. In addition, tennis elbow is also evident in those engaged in playing golf, and fencing, to name a few.

Symptoms and Signs

Difficulty to hold, squeezes, or clasp things

Point softness at or around area of the lateral or medial elbow muscles

Forearm muscle stiffness

Soreness, stiffness, or not enough elbow and hand action

Not enough forearm useful power

The disorder is treated by avoiding stress, or in severe cases, by immobilizing the elbow. Healing may be accelerated by anti-inflammatory drugs or by injection of an adrenal steroid preparation such as hydrocortisone. If someone has tried more than two cortisone injections with no relief, it is doubtful that additional injections will help the patient.
There are a number of ways to treat tennis elbow. Nonoperative healing is doing well in majority of patients. Modification of lifestyle is vital for tennis elbow to be cured and to control its recurrence. Anti-inflammatory drugs are frequently used to relieve pain and swelling associated with tennis elbow.

For a tennis player, racquets must be sized appropriately, as well as the grip size. Playing on hard courts add to the possibility of tennis elbow occurrence. Stroke technicalities ought to be assessed to make sure that the ball hit the ball at the middle of the racquet and also the racquet must not be lead by the players on bended elbow.

Wearing of elbow orthosis or elbow clasp help the sufferer. The brace of the elbow clasp will pass on the pull of misaligned muscles. This clasp is proven to relieve the pain during activities. Easy exercises can be valuable in managing elbow tennis symptoms. These workouts must cause no ache, on the other hand, the exercise is supposed to be stopped if pain persists. The tendons and muscles must be toughen as it help keep away its recurrence.

Tennis elbow is a condition brought about by swelling of the tendons on the outer surface (lateral side) of the elbow at a bony prominence (lateral epicondyle) of the upper arm. It does not normally lead to serious harms. However, if left untreated, failure of movement can result to elbow and forearm malfunctions. The condition is not restricted to tennis players.

A tennis court is a flat rectangular surface, with line markings on it outer borders. These boundaries are termed as sidelines and baselines. There are two smaller rectangles on the interior that serves as the service boxes.

For the singles game, the court measures 78 feet (23.77 meters) in length at the sidelines and, 27 feet (8.2 meters) in width at the base lines. While for the doubles, the court is made of 9 feet (2.7 meters) wider by making the base lines 4.5 feet (1.37 meters) longer in both directions. These added extensions on the sidelines are identified as alleys.
Boundaries for doubles are identified as “doubles alleys”. Alleys near the area of the court are required for players when reaching for swarming balls.

Net designed parallel to the base lines is stretched out and separate the court at the midpoint. The net made from natural or synthetic cord is tied amid two posts. It is 3 feet (0.91 meter) far above the ground at the center and 3.6 feet (about 1 meter) at the sideline posts.

On either side of the net, 21 feet (6.4 meters) from it and parallel to it, are the service lines. A centerline between the service lines and parallel to the sidelines creates two service courts, each 13.5 feet (about 4 meters) wide. These are used in serving for both singles and doubles matches.

There are four foremost types of courts depending on the kind of material used in the court surface: grass, clay, hard courts, and indoor courts. Whichever of among the several court surfaces the size, shape and markings, however, are standard.

Clay Courts

Flattened shale, brick or stone, are the materials used for clay courts. They can either be green or red in color. American or green or clay is faster, than the red ones. Courts made from clay are being regarded as “slow”, since ball bounces rather high and much more slow, This makes it more hard for the athlete to strike an overrun ball.

A game on clay courts usually entails the capability to glide hooked on ball when hitting, as against on a hard or grass court while running or stopping. Clay courts typically are found in the European and the South American countries.

Hard courts

Hard courts, commonly made from concrete or plastic materials, and are considered “average to high-speed” surfaces. Hard courts are more fast than courts made from clay. However, hard courts are much more slow compared to grass courts. Being regarded as the most unbiased kind of playing court, it is intended to any mode of play. The acrylic solid court is used for US Open Play-Offs, whereas, Australian Open is done on synthetic hardcourt.

Grass courts

Considered as the fastest court in the tennis sports are the grass courts. They are made of grass cultivated on compressed soil, akin to the green grass used in a golf course. Several variables are considered when using grass courts: bounces rely on how good and fitting is the grass, when the mowing of the grass has been done, and is overuse by a recent play.
A world known grass court is the Wimbledon Centre Court. Itssurface is not as tough as the hard courts, making the ball bounce lower, which necessitates faster reach for the ball.

Indoor courts

Indoor courts are made of lumber, cement, or ‘rug’. Artificial turf is the other name it is known for. Fairly fast and the most typical is the carpet style indoor courts. A less popular indoor surface is the wood courts.

To summarize, a tennis court is a place where a tennis game is played. It is a solid rectangular flat surface with a net standing in the center. The court can be outdoors or indoors and can have a diversity of surfaces. Each court surface, regardless of its type is with drainage layer to counteract rain.