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123-800: The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane , Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA 500 tournament and ATP 250 tournament . The tournament is held annually in January at the Queensland Tennis Centre just before the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, the Australian Open (part of the Australian Open Series ). It

246-536: A felt coating. Traditionally white, the predominant colour was gradually changed to optic yellow in the latter part of the 20th century to allow for improved visibility. Tennis balls must conform to certain criteria for size, weight, deformation , and bounce to be approved for regulation play. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) defines the official diameter as 65.41–68.58 mm (2.575–2.700 in). Balls must weigh between 56.0 and 59.4 g (1.98 and 2.10 oz). Tennis balls were traditionally manufactured in

369-409: A racket and balls. The components of a tennis racket include a handle, known as the grip, connected to a neck which joins a roughly elliptical frame that holds a matrix of tightly pulled strings. For the first 100 years of the modern game, rackets were made of wood and of standard size, and strings were of animal gut . Laminated wood construction yielded more strength in rackets used through most of

492-589: A Fed Cup hat trick. It was also the second consecutive year that Plíšková and Strýcová won a decisive doubles rubber in the final. At the end of the season she changed coaches. Jiří Vaněk was substituted by David Kotyza , former coach of compatriot and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová. In 2017, Plíšková started the season by playing in Brisbane , where she beat Yulia Putintseva and qualifier Asia Muhammad in two sets and then Roberta Vinci in three sets. She then defeated Elina Svitolina and Alizé Cornet (both in straight sets) and won her 7th title. At

615-691: A WTA world No. 1 ranking, but was already representing the United States when she first topped the rankings in 1978. Plíšková attained solid results during the U.S. summer swing, reaching the quarterfinals and semifinals of the Canadian Open and the Western & Southern Open , respectively. Pliskova participated in the US Open , where she was the top seed for the first time in a major. Plíšková easily defeated Magda Linette in straight sets in

738-542: A best-of-five, wins the match. Only in the final sets of matches at the Olympic Games and Fed Cup are tiebreaks not played. In these cases, sets are played indefinitely until one player has a two-game lead, occasionally leading to some remarkably long matches . In tournament play, the chair umpire announces the end of the match with the well-known phrase " Game, set, match " followed by the winning person's or team's name. A game point occurs in tennis whenever

861-594: A consequence of this run, she broke into the world's top 20 for the first time in her career. At the first major event of the year in Australia , Plíšková reached the third round, before losing to Ekaterina Makarova . She made her debut for the Czech team in the first round of the 2015 Fed Cup World Group in February, winning both of her rubbers against Françoise Abanda and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada to help

984-579: A disappointing start to the clay-court season, losing to former world No. 1, Victoria Azarenka, in her opening match in Stuttgart and Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova in the second round in Madrid . She rebounded, however, to win the biggest clay-court title of her career, and her second career Premier-5 title, at the Italian Open , avenging her previous defeat against Azarenka by defeating her in

1107-557: A doubles team. The single player gets to utilize the alleys normally reserved only for a doubles team. Conversely, the doubles team does not use the alleys when executing a shot. The scoring is the same as for a regular game. This format is not sanctioned by any official body. "Australian doubles", another informal and unsanctioned form of tennis, is played with similar rules to the Canadian doubles style, only in this version, players rotate court position after each game, each player taking

1230-522: A doubles title together on the tour. 2014 was a breakthrough year for Plíšková. After consecutive second-round finishes in Auckland and at the Australian Open , she reached her second career WTA tour final in Pattaya City , defeating top-50 players Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sorana Cîrstea before losing to Ekaterina Makarova in the final. She then reached the third round of Indian Wells ,

1353-724: A game that combined elements of racquets and the Basque ball game pelota , which they played on Perera's croquet lawn in Birmingham , England. In 1872, along with two local doctors, they founded the world's first tennis club on Avenue Road, Leamington Spa . This is where "lawn tennis" was used as the name of an activity by a club for the first time. In Tennis: A Cultural History , Heiner Gillmeister reveals that on 8 December 1874, British army officer Walter Clopton Wingfield wrote to Harry Gem, commenting that he (Wingfield) had been experimenting with his version of lawn tennis "for

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1476-571: A group of American and French tennis players playing exhibition matches to paying audiences. The most notable of these early professionals were the American Vinnie Richards and the Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen . Players turned pro would no longer be permitted to compete in the major (amateur) tournaments. In 1968, commercial pressures and rumours of some amateurs taking money under the table led to

1599-575: A match in which she hit a career-best 21 aces to beat the Slovakian for the first time. In the final, she beat Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets to win her eighth WTA Tour title. Plíšková lost in the second round to Kristina Mladenovic in Dubai . In the second round of the Indian Wells Open, she defeated Monica Puig in three sets in a match full of errors. Although Plíšková's performance

1722-399: A particularly exhausting game, Louis drank a large quantity of cooled wine and subsequently died of either pneumonia or pleurisy , although there was also suspicion of poisoning. Because of the contemporary accounts of his death, Louis X is history's first tennis player known by name. Another of the early enthusiasts of the game was King Charles V of France , who had a court set up at

1845-562: A player is unable to return the ball successfully, the opponent scores a point . Playable at all levels of society and at all ages, tennis can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users . The original forms of tennis developed in France during the late Middle Ages . The modern form of tennis originated in Birmingham , England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis . It had close connections to various field (lawn) games such as croquet and bowls as well as to

1968-405: A player to contest the line call of a point, a system known as Hawk-Eye . Tennis is played by millions of recreational players and is a popular worldwide spectator sport. The four Grand Slam tournaments (also referred to as the majors) are especially popular and are considered the highest level of competition for the sport. These tournaments are the Australian Open , played on hardcourts ;

2091-553: A rematch with Muguruza in the third round, before losing again to Halep. In Miami, Plíšková reached the quarterfinals where she lost to Andrea Petkovic . She was the top seed in her home tournament in Prague and reached the final by defeating Annika Beck , Tsvetana Pironkova , Denisa Allertová and Yanina Wickmayer , going to a third set in three of her four matches. In the final, she defeated fellow Czech Lucie Hradecká in another three-set battle to claim her fourth career title. At

2214-413: A sequence of games played with service alternating between games, ending when the count of games won meets certain criteria. Typically, a player wins a set by winning at least six games and at least two games more than the opponent. If one player has won six games and the opponent five, an additional game is played. If the leading player wins that game, the player wins the set 7–5. If the trailing player wins

2337-492: A sequence of sets. The outcome is determined through a best of three or five sets system. On the professional circuit, men play best-of-five-set matches at all four Grand Slam tournaments, Davis Cup, and the final of the Olympic Games and best-of-three-set matches at all other tournaments, while women play best-of-three-set matches at all tournaments. The first player to win two sets in a best-of-three, or three sets in

2460-516: A significant debate on how to standardise the rules. In the United States in 1874, Mary Ewing Outerbridge , a young socialite, returned from Bermuda with a sphairistikè set. She became fascinated by the game of tennis after watching British army officers play. She laid out a tennis court at the Staten Island Cricket Club at Camp Washington, Tompkinsville, Staten Island , New York. The first American National championship

2583-459: A turn at playing alone against the other two. As such, each player plays doubles and singles over the course of a match, with the singles player always serving. Scoring styles vary, but one popular method is to assign a value of 2 points to each game, with the server taking both points if he or she holds serve and the doubles team each taking one if they break serve. Wheelchair tennis can be played by able-bodied players as well as people who require

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2706-562: A wheelchair for mobility. An extra bounce is permitted. This rule makes it possible to have mixed wheelchair and able-bodied matches. It is possible for a doubles team to consist of a wheelchair player and an able-bodied player (referred to as "one-up, one-down"), or for a wheelchair player to play against an able-bodied player. In such cases, the extra bounce is permitted for the wheelchair users only. Karol%C3%ADna Pl%C3%AD%C5%A1kov%C3%A1 Karolína Plíšková ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈkaroliːna ˈpliːʃkovaː] ; born 21 March 1992)

2829-500: A year and a half". In December 1873, Wingfield designed and patented a game which he called sphairistikè ( Greek : σφαιριστική , meaning "ball-playing"), and which was soon known simply as "sticky" – for the amusement of guests at a garden party on his friend's estate of Nantclwyd Hall , in Llanelidan , Wales. According to R. D. C. Evans, turfgrass agronomist , "Sports historians all agree that [Wingfield] deserves much of

2952-405: Is a let or net service , which is void, and the server retakes that serve. The player can serve any number of let services in a point and they are always treated as voids and not as faults. A fault is a serve that falls long or wide of the service box, or does not clear the net. There is also a "foot fault" when a player's foot touches the baseline or an extension of the centre mark before the ball

3075-412: Is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles ) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles ). Each player uses a tennis racket strung with a cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court . The object is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. If

3198-507: Is a Czech professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the WTA rankings on 17 July 2017 and holding the position for eight weeks. On 31 October 2016, she peaked at world No. 11 in the doubles rankings. Known for her powerful serve and forehand, Plíšková has won 17 singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour , ten singles and six doubles titles on

3321-572: Is acknowledged that this stereotype still exists). In 1954, Van Alen founded the International Tennis Hall of Fame , a nonprofit museum in Newport, Rhode Island. The building contains a large collection of tennis memorabilia as well as a hall of fame honouring prominent members and tennis players from all over the world. Part of the appeal of tennis stems from the simplicity of equipment required for play. Beginners need only

3444-482: Is called the doubles alley, playable in doubles play. The line that runs across the centre of a player's side of the court is called the service line because the serve must be delivered into the area between the service line and the net on the receiving side. Despite its name, this is not where a player legally stands when making a serve. The line dividing the service line in two is called the centre line or centre service line. The boxes this centre line creates are called

3567-434: Is hit. If the second service, after a fault, is also a fault, the server double faults , and the receiver wins the point. However, if the serve is in, it is considered a legal service. A legal service starts a rally , in which the players alternate hitting the ball across the net. A legal return consists of a player hitting the ball so that it falls in the server's court, before it has bounced twice or hit any fixtures except

3690-519: Is not played, the set is referred to as an advantage set , where the set continues without limit until one player leads by a two-game margin. A "love set" means that the loser of the set won zero games, colloquially termed a "jam donut" in the US. In tournament play, the chair umpire announces the winner of the set and the overall score. The final score in sets is always read with the winning player's score first, e.g. "6–2, 4–6, 6–0, 7–5". A match consists of

3813-417: Is often the same width as the others. The players or teams start on opposite sides of the net. One player is designated the server , and the opposing player is the receiver . The choice to be server or receiver in the first game and the choice of ends is decided by a coin toss before the warm-up starts. Service alternates game by game between the two players or teams. For each point, the server starts behind

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3936-620: Is owned by Tennis Australia . In 1997, the Corel WTA Tour created a new event –played on outdoor hardcourts– in Gold Coast, Queensland . The Tier III Gold Coast Classic was added to the three preexisting tournaments of Auckland, Sydney and Hobart, and became one of the two events held in the first week of the women's calendar, parallel to the men's Adelaide tournament. Various players, among which Ai Sugiyama , Justine Henin , Patty Schnyder or Venus Williams found success over

4059-422: Is unusual in that it is played on a variety of surfaces. Grass , clay , and hard courts of concrete or asphalt topped with acrylic are the most common. Occasionally carpet is used for indoor play, with hardwood flooring having been historically used. Artificial turf courts can also be found. The lines that delineate the width of the court are called the baseline (farthest back) and the service line (middle of

4182-399: The 2017 Australian Open , she defeated easily Sara Sorribes Tormo and Anna Blinkova and beat Jeļena Ostapenko in three sets despite being down 2–5 in the third. In the fourth round she defeated Daria Gavrilova and reached her second straight Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she was defeated by unseeded Mirjana Lučić-Baroni, in three sets. Her ranking increased to a career-high of No. 3 in

4305-500: The Eastbourne International in the third round. At Wimbledon , Plíšková defeated Irina Falconi in three sets before losing to CoCo Vandeweghe in the second round. She made another final at Stanford Classic , losing once again to Angelique Kerber. Plíšková lost in the first round at Canadian Open to Mirjana Lučić-Baroni and in the third round of the Western & Southern Open to Jelena Janković and reached

4428-656: The French Championships date to 1891, although until 1925 they were open only to tennis players who were members of French clubs. Thus, Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open and the Australian Open (dating to 1905) became and have remained the most prestigious events in tennis. Together, these four events are called the Majors or Slams (a term borrowed from bridge rather than baseball ). In 1913,

4551-535: The French Open , played on red clay courts ; Wimbledon , played on grass courts ; and the US Open , also played on hardcourts. Additionally, tennis was one of the original Olympic sports , and has been consistently competed in the Summer Olympic Games since 1988 . Historians believe that the game's ancient origin lay in 12th-century northern France, where a ball was struck with the palm of

4674-636: The French Open . Plíšková won her first title of the year at the Nottingham Open . After a three set match with Anastasija Sevastova in the first round, she cruised to the final and beat Alison Riske for her first grass title. She then lost in the first round of the Birmingham Classic to Barbora Strýcová and reached the final of the Eastbourne International which she lost to Dominika Cibulková . At Wimbledon, Plíšková beat Yanina Wickmayer in three sets before losing to Misaki Doi in

4797-622: The ITF Circuit , and over $ 25 million in prize money. She has reached two singles finals at Grand Slam tournaments, at the 2016 US Open and the 2021 Wimbledon Championships . As a junior, Plíšková won the girls' singles event at the 2010 Australian Open . She has also played for the Czech Republic in Billie Jean King Cup competition where she has scored a win-loss record of 15–8 (as of September 2024). Plíšková

4920-572: The Louvre Palace . It was not until the 16th century that rackets came into use and the game began to be called "tennis", from the French term tenez , which can be translated as "hold!", "receive!" or "take!", an interjection used as a call from the server to his opponent. It was popular in England and France, although the game was only played indoors, where the ball could be hit off

5043-547: The Madrid Open she beat Sílvia Soler Espinosa in the first round, but lost to Caroline Garcia in the second. At the Italian Open she lost in the first round to Timea Bacsinszky in straight sets. She lost in the second round of French Open as 12th seed to unseeded Andreea Mitu in straight sets after beating Zhang Shuai in the first round. She reached another final at Birmingham Classic losing to Angelique Kerber, in three sets. She lost to Agnieszka Radwańska at

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5166-765: The Pan Pacific Open , she defeated Magda Linette before losing to Angelique Kerber . At the Wuhan Open, Plíšková reached the quarterfinal stage, before losing to Ashleigh Barty in three sets. At the China Open , she defeated Carla Suárez Navarro and Andrea Petkovic to reach the third round, where she lost to Sorana Cîrstea . At the WTA Finals, Plíšková defeated Venus Williams in straight sets, and then faced Garbiñe Muguruza whom she also defeated in straight sets. These victories ensured that she would reach

5289-493: The WTA 's website. Plíšková played as Czech No. 2 in the Fed Cup Finals, losing to Maria Sharapova on Saturday. The following day, she defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in singles and won the deciding doubles rubber with Barbora Strýcová , against Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina , to win her first Fed Cup title. Plíšková began her season at the 2016 Hopman Cup , where she partnered with Jiří Veselý to represent

5412-630: The World Covered Court Championships for indoor courts were awarded annually; Sweden, France, Great Britain, Denmark, Switzerland and Spain each hosted the tournament. At a meeting held on 16 March 1923 in Paris, the title "World Championship" was dropped and a new category of "Official Championship" was created for events in Great Britain, France, the US and Australia – today's Grand Slam events. The impact on

5535-741: The 2012 event the tournament was promoted to a premier event on the WTA tour. Following the 2019 edition, the tournament was no longer recognised as an ATP event, due to the creation of the ATP Cup (played at the same venue). The tournament continued as WTA-sanctioned event for female tennis players. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Brisbane International did not proceed, with the WTA Premier Event moved to Adelaide for

5658-485: The 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons. The Brisbane International returned in 2024, expanding to 48 players in WTA singles draw, 32 players in the ATP singles draw, and 24 pairs in both men's and women's doubles. In the men's singles Andy Murray and Grigor Dimitrov tie for the record with 2 titles each. In the women's singles, Karolína Plíšková (2017, 2019–20) owns the record for most titles with three. Tennis Tennis

5781-406: The 20th century until first metal and then composites of carbon graphite, ceramics, and lighter metals such as titanium were introduced. These stronger materials enabled the production of oversized rackets that yielded yet more power. Meanwhile, technology led to the use of synthetic strings that match the feel of gut yet with added durability. Under modern rules of tennis, the rackets must adhere to

5904-612: The 31st seed Petra Martić . At the Birmingham Classic in June, she and her sister Kristýna became the first identical twins in WTA history to play each other in a main-draw match. Karolina lost to her sister, who was ranked 112th. Plíšková's final grass-court warmup tournament before Wimbledon was at the Eastbourne International , where she defeated Margarita Gasparyan , Elise Mertens , Ekaterina Alexandrova , Kiki Bertens and Angelique Kerber all in straight sets to pick up her 14th career title and her second at Eastbourne. She reached

6027-688: The AAPT Championships in 1999, Next Generation Hardcourts in 2005, and Next Generation Adelaide International in 2006 had become one of the three stops of the calendar's first week, alongside the Qatar Open of Doha , and the Chennai Open in India. As both the men's and the women's tour calendars were to undergo important changes from 2008 to 2009, with the WTA inaugurating its new roadmap of International and Premier tournaments, and

6150-815: The ATP Tour becoming the ATP World Tour, with new Masters 1000 , 500 and 250 events, it was decided in 2006 to merge the Next Generation Adelaide International and the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts into a larger ATP-WTA joint tournament in Brisbane, leading, similarly to the joint Medibank International Sydney, to the Australian Open. Tennis Australia chief Steve Wood commented on

6273-509: The Croatian in straight sets and reached her first major semifinal, where she beat Serena Williams in straight sets to reach the final, where Serena was attempting to vie her seventh US Open title. In the final, she lost to incoming No. 1, Angelique Kerber, despite winning the second set and being 3–1 up in the final set. Plíšková continued the season with playing in Asia and the first tournament

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6396-568: The Czech Republic. She recorded singles wins over Jarmila Wolfe and Victoria Duval . She reached quarterfinals in Sydney by defeating Ana Ivanovic and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, both in straight sets, but lost to world No. 2, Simona Halep, in straight sets. At the Australian Open , Plíšková defeated Kimberly Birrell and Julia Görges (both in straight sets) in the first two rounds. However, she again lost to Makarova, who defeated her at

6519-643: The Czechs to a 4–0 win in Québec . As the eighth seed, Plíšková reached semifinals at Antwerp , before losing to eventual runner-up Carla Suárez Navarro. She then played at the 2015 Dubai Championships and reached the final as the 17th seed, along the way beating No. 4 seed Ana Ivanovic, fellow Czech Lucie Šafářová , and the rising Spaniard Garbiñe Muguruza . She lost in the final against top seed Simona Halep . Plíšková then played in Indian Wells where she won

6642-643: The IOC decided to reintroduce tennis as a full-medal sport at Seoul in 1988. The Davis Cup , an annual competition between men's national teams, dates to 1900. The analogous competition for women's national teams, the Fed Cup , was founded as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the ITF. In 1926, promoter C. C. Pyle established the first professional tennis tour with

6765-666: The International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), now the International Tennis Federation (ITF), was founded and established three official tournaments as the major championships of the day. The World Grass Court Championships were awarded to Great Britain. The World Hard Court Championships were awarded to France; the term "hard court" was used for clay courts at the time. Some tournaments were held in Belgium instead. And

6888-463: The Olympics after the 1924 Games , but returned 60 years later as a 21-and-under demonstration event in 1984. This reinstatement was credited by the efforts of then ITF president Philippe Chatrier , ITF general secretary David Gray and ITF vice president Pablo Llorens, with support from International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch . The success of the event was overwhelming, and

7011-693: The US Open with a big win over a former world No. 1, 2014 was a breakthrough year for Plíšková. She leaped from world No. 67 to No. 24. Plíšková began her year at the Brisbane International where she defeated former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion, Victoria Azarenka , in the first round before losing in the second. She reached her first WTA Premier-level final at the Sydney International defeating Carla Suárez Navarro and Angelique Kerber , before losing to fellow Czech, Petra Kvitová , in two tie-breaking sets. As

7134-624: The United States and Europe. Although the process of producing the balls has remained virtually unchanged for the past 100 years, the majority of manufacturing now takes place in the Far East . The relocation is due to cheaper labour costs and materials in the region. Tournaments that are played under the ITF Rules of Tennis must use balls that are approved by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and be named on

7257-452: The abandonment of this distinction, inaugurating the Open Era , in which all players could compete in all tournaments, and top players were able to make their living from tennis. With the beginning of the Open Era, the establishment of an international professional tennis circuit, and revenues from the sale of television rights, tennis's popularity has spread worldwide, and the sport has shed its middle-class English-speaking image (although it

7380-454: The arm than most strings. Most synthetic strings are made from monofilament or multifiliament nylon strings. Monofilament strings are cheap to buy, and are used widely by many recreational level players for their all round performance, while multifilament strings are created to mimic natural gut more closely by weaving together fibres, but are generally more expensive than their monofilament counterparts. Polyester strings allow for more spin on

7503-432: The ball than any other string, due to their firm strings, while keeping control of the ball, and this is why many players use them, especially higher player ones. Kevlar tennis strings are highly durable, and are mostly used by players that frequently break strings, because they maintain tension well, but these strings can be stiff on the arm. Hybrid stringing is when a tennis racket is strung with two different strings for

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7626-410: The baseline, between the centre mark and the sideline. The receiver may start anywhere on their side of the net. When the receiver is ready, the server will serve , although the receiver must play to the pace of the server. For a service to be legal, the ball must travel over the net without touching it into the diagonally opposite service box. If the ball hits the net but lands in the service box, this

7749-406: The baselines, dividing it into two equal ends. It is held up by either a cord or metal cable of diameter no greater than 0.8 cm ( 1 ⁄ 3  in). The net is 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) high at the posts and 3 feet (0.91 m) high in the centre. The net posts are 3 feet (0.91 m) outside the doubles court on each side or, for a singles net, 3 feet (0.91 m) outside

7872-442: The chair umpire in tournament play. A break point occurs if the receiver, not the server , has a chance to win the game with the next point. Break points are of particular importance because serving is generally considered advantageous, with servers being expected to win games in which they are serving. A receiver who has one (score of 30–40 or advantage), two (score of 15–40) or three (score of love–40) consecutive chances to win

7995-439: The clay-court season in Stuttgart , where she defeated CoCo Vandeweghe in straight sets, but then lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Laura Siegemund . She then lost in the first round of home tournament Prague to Camila Giorgi . She also reached her first quarterfinals in Rome . In the first round she beat Lauren Davis , then Timea Bacsinszky, before losing to eventual champion Elina Svitolina in straight sets which

8118-402: The clergy, the law profession, and the aristocracy and he sent thousands of sets out in the first year or so, in 1874." The world's oldest annual tennis tournament took place at Leamington Lawn Tennis Club in Birmingham in 1874. This was three years before the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club would hold its first championships at Wimbledon, in 1877. The first Championships culminated in

8241-494: The conclusion of the tournament. For the 2017 grass-court season, Plíšková attended the Eastbourne International as the third seed at the end of June and won the tournament after defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the final in straight sets. At Wimbledon , Plíšková was again regarded as one of the pre-tournament favourites following her Eastbourne victory, but she suffered an unexpected second-round exit after losing in three-sets to world No. 87 Magdaléna Rybáriková , which made her

8364-424: The court). The short mark in the centre of each baseline is referred to as either the hash mark or the centre mark. The outermost lines that make up the length are called the doubles sidelines; they are the boundaries for doubles matches. The lines to the inside of the doubles sidelines are the singles sidelines, and are the boundaries in singles play. The area between a doubles sideline and the nearest singles sideline

8487-399: The credit for the development of modern tennis." According to Honor Godfrey, museum curator at Wimbledon, Wingfield "popularized this game enormously. He produced a boxed set which included a net, poles, rackets, balls for playing the game – and most importantly you had his rules. He was absolutely terrific at marketing and he sent his game all over the world. He had very good connections with

8610-402: The final to take her second career title. In October, she won her third title and second of the year in Linz . As an alternate , Plíšková made a round-robin appearance at the season-closing Tournament of Champions , in lieu of top seed Ekaterina Makarova, losing her sole match against Flavia Pennetta . After reaching five finals and winning two of them, and appearing to a broader public at

8733-526: The final. Her victory denied Kerber the opportunity to take over the world No. 1 ranking from Serena Williams and enabled Williams to tie Steffi Graf 's record of 186 consecutive weeks at No. 1. At the US Open , Plíšková beat wildcard Sofia Kenin , qualifier Montserrat González and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova en route to her first major round of 16, where she defeated sixth seed and two-time champion, Venus Williams , in three sets and ensured her first ever major quarterfinal where she faced Ana Konjuh . She beat

8856-467: The first lawn mower in Britain in 1830 is believed to have been a catalyst for the preparation of modern-style grass courts, sporting ovals, playing fields, pitches, greens, etc. This in turn led to the codification of modern rules for many sports, including lawn tennis, most football codes, lawn bowls and others. Between 1859 and 1865, Harry Gem , a solicitor, and his friend Augurio Perera developed

8979-550: The first round of the Qatar Ladies Open . After receiving a first-round bye in Indian Wells , Plíšková defeated Shelby Rogers and Ana Ivanovic, both in straight sets. She then defeated Johanna Konta in three sets and earned another straight sets win over rising star Daria Kasatkina , before losing in three sets to eventual champion Victoria Azarenka. Despite her good campaign in Indian Wells, Plíšková lost in

9102-604: The first round she lost to the third seed, Sara Errani . Plíšková won her maiden WTA Tour title at the Malaysian Open . She defeated several seeded players to reach the final against Bethanie Mattek-Sands , defeating her in three sets. At the Generali Ladies Linz in October, Plíšková won her first career title in doubles alongside sister Kristýna, becoming the first set of twins in history to win

9225-411: The first round, and outlasted American Nicole Gibbs after dropping the first set. In the third round she made a furious comeback after being a set down and facing match point in the second set to defeat 27th seed Zhang Shuai. She defeated Jennifer Brady by dropping just one game and advanced to the quarterfinals. Plíšková lost to CoCo Vandeweghe in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the US Open. At

9348-560: The first singles rubber, which saw the third set end in a score of 14–12. This was the longest rubber in a Fed Cup Final, in terms of games played. In the next singles rubber against Caroline Garcia, Plíšková lost in three sets. The tie was even after the four singles rubbers, setting up a decisive doubles contest in which Plíšková partnered with Barbora Strýcová to defeat the WTA No. 1 ranked doubles team of Mladenovic/Garcia. With this victory over France, Plíšková and her Czech teammates completed

9471-413: The first three rounds. However, she would lose in straight sets to Lucie Šafářová in the semifinals. Plíšková lost in the second round of the Madrid Open to Madison Keys in straight sets and fell in the first round of the Italian Open to Daria Kasatkina. Her clay-court season would come to a disappointing end as she would lose to the 108th ranked player in the world, Shelby Rogers, in the first round of

9594-497: The following guidelines; The rules regarding rackets have changed over time, as material and engineering advances have been made. For example, the maximum length of the frame had been 32 inches (81 cm) until 1997, when it was shortened to 29 inches (74 cm). Many companies manufacture and distribute tennis rackets. Wilson, Head and Babolat are three of the most commonly used brands; however, many more companies exist. The same companies sponsor players to use these rackets in

9717-533: The four recipient nations to replace the "world championships" with "official championships" was simple in a general sense: each became a major nation of the federation with enhanced voting power, and each now operated a major event. The comprehensive rules promulgated in 1924 by the ILTF have remained largely stable in the ensuing 80 years, the one major change being the addition of the tiebreak system designed by Jimmy Van Alen . That same year, tennis withdrew from

9840-404: The game (tying the set 6–6) a tiebreak is played. A tiebreak, played under a separate set of rules, allows one player to win one more game and thus the set, to give a final set score of 7–6. A tiebreak game can be won by scoring at least seven points and at least two points more than the opponent. In a tiebreak, two players serve by 'ABBA' system which has been proven to be fair. If a tiebreak

9963-411: The game has break point , double break point or triple break point , respectively. If the receiver does, in fact, win their break point, the game is awarded to the receiver, and the receiver is said to have converted their break point. If the receiver fails to win their break point it is called a failure to convert. Winning break points, and thus the game, is also referred to as breaking serve , as

10086-534: The girls' final. Plíšková played her first senior Grand Slam tournament main draw at the 2012 French Open . To qualify, she defeated Dia Evtimova , Tamaryn Hendler and Laura Robson . She lost in the first round to world No. 8, Marion Bartoli , in straight sets. Plíšková started the year in Brisbane International . She however lost to Olga Puchkova in the first round in two sets. Then in her next tournament in Sydney she qualified, beating Alexandra Panova , Irina Falconi and Estrella Cabeza Candela . In

10209-501: The hand. Louis X of France was a keen player of jeu de paume ("game of the palm"), which evolved into real tennis , and became notable as the first person to construct indoor tennis courts in the modern style. Louis was unhappy with playing tennis outdoors and accordingly had indoor, enclosed courts made in Paris "around the end of the 13th century". In due course this design spread across royal palaces all over Europe. In June 1316 at Vincennes , Val-de-Marne, and following

10332-490: The highest-ranked player to exit the draw at that point. However, on 17 July, after Simona Halep lost in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, Plíšková reached the world No. 1 ranking for the first time in her career. She became the sixth player to reach the No. 1 position without having won a major and the first female player representing the Czech Republic to achieve the feat. Czechoslovakian-born Martina Navratilova had also achieved

10455-565: The hopes that the company name will become better known by the public. There are multiple types of tennis strings, including natural gut and synthetic stings made from materials such as nylon , kevlar , or polyester . The first type of tennis strings available were natural gut strings, introduced by Babolat. They were the only type used until synthetic strings were introduced in the 1950s. Natural gut strings are still used frequently by players such as Roger Federer. They are made from cow intestines, and provide increased power, and are easier on

10578-444: The last 16 at Wimbledon, but was upset by the unseeded Karolína Muchová, with the match going to 13–11 in the final set. At Brisbane , Plíšková defeated Ajla Tomljanović , Alison Riske , Naomi Osaka, and Madison Keys to successfully defend her title, and set a record for the most Brisbane International titles. At the Australian Open , she defeated Kristina Mladenovic and Laura Siegemund, before falling to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in

10701-553: The mains (the vertical strings) and the crosses (the horizontal strings). This is most commonly done with two different strings that are made of different materials, but can also be done with two different types of the same string. A notable example of a player using hybrid strings is Roger Federer, using natural gut strings in his mains and polyester strings in his crosses. Tennis balls were originally made of cloth strips stitched together with thread and stuffed with feathers. Modern tennis balls are made of hollow vulcanized rubber with

10824-399: The net. A player or team cannot hit the ball twice in a row. The ball must travel over or round the net into the other players' court. A ball that hits the net during a rally is considered a legal return as long as it crosses into the opposite side of the court. The first player or team to fail to make a legal return loses the point. The server then moves to the other side of the service line at

10947-500: The next day to fourth seed Naomi Osaka, in three sets. Plíšková managed to carry her momentum through the early hardcourt season, making the quarterfinals in both Dubai and Indian Wells . She then managed to reach her first career Premier Mandatory final at the Miami Open , after beating reigning French Open champion Halep in the semifinals. However, she was defeated in the final by Ash Barty in straight sets. Plíšková got off to

11070-408: The official ITF list of approved tennis balls. Tennis is played on a rectangular, flat surface. The court is 78 feet (23.77 m) long, and 27 feet (8.2 m) wide for singles matches and 36 ft (11 m) for doubles matches. Additional clear space around the court is required in order for players to reach overrun balls. A net is stretched across the full width of the court, parallel with

11193-411: The older racket sport today called real tennis . The rules of modern tennis have changed little since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that until 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tiebreak in the 1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point-challenge system, which allows

11316-488: The player who is in the lead in the game needs only one more point to win the game. The terminology is extended to sets (set point), matches (match point), and even championships (championship point). For example, if the player who is serving has a score of 40–love, the player has a triple game point (triple set point, etc.) as the player has three consecutive chances to win the game. Game points, set points, and match points are not part of official scoring and are not announced by

11439-410: The player's scores equal at 40 apiece, the score is not called out as "40–40", but rather as "deuce". If at least three points have been scored by each side and a player has one more point than his opponent, the score of the game is "advantage" for the player in the lead. During informal games, advantage can also be called "ad in" or "van in" when the serving player is ahead, and "ad out" or "van out" when

11562-629: The quarterfinals in New York, Plíšková defeated the newly crowned US Open champion Naomi Osaka to take Pan Pacific Open , her eleventh career title. Plíšková opened her season at the Brisbane International , seeded fifth. She defeated Yulia Putintseva, Marie Bouzková , Ajla Tomljanović , Donna Vekić , and Lesia Tsurenko to win the title. Plíšková was seeded seventh at the 2019 Australian Open . She defeated qualifier Karolína Muchová , Madison Brengle, 27th seed Camila Giorgi, and 18th seed Garbiñe Muguruza to reach her third consecutive quarterfinal at

11685-491: The quarterfinals of the Connecticut Open , losing to Lesia Tsurenko . Seeded eighth at the US Open , Plíšková suffered a shocking loss to Anna Tatishvili in the first round. She made another two quarterfinals at Pan Pacific Open and Wuhan Open , losing to Agnieszka Radwańska and Roberta Vinci , respectively, but lost in the first round of China Open to Sloane Stephens , in straight sets. Her next tournament

11808-916: The quarterfinals of the Monterrey Open and the semifinals in Kuala Lumpur between March and April. In May, she reached her third career final in Nuremberg , losing to second seed Eugenie Bouchard in three sets. She broke into the top-50 in July and defeated world No. 9, Ana Ivanovic , in the second round of the US Open . After playing in America, she reached two finals in two consecutive weeks – in Hong Kong , where she lost to Sabine Lisicki , and in Seoul , which she won, defeating Varvara Lepchenko in

11931-598: The quarterfinals where she lost to eventual champion, Naomi Osaka. At the following tournament, the Miami Open, Plíšková was defeated by wildcard and former champion Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals. Then Plíšková reached the quarterfinals in Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami. In April, she won the Stuttgart Open , defeating CoCo Vandeweghe in the final. She played also in the semifinals of Madrid. After reaching

12054-409: The quarterfinals, before beating Maria Sakkari in the semifinals and a resurgent Johanna Konta in the final. Plíšková rose back up to No. 2 in the rankings following her victory. At the French Open , she was seeded second and had an opportunity to take over the world No. 1 ranking from Osaka if she reached the final. However, despite being labeled a heavy favorite, she was upset in the third round by

12177-449: The receiver has disrupted, or broken the natural advantage of the server. If in the following game the previous server also wins a break point it is referred to as breaking back . Except where tiebreaks apply, at least one break of serve is required to win a set (otherwise a two-game lead would never occur). Another, however informal, tennis format is called Canadian doubles . This involves three players, with one person playing against

12300-414: The receiving player is ahead; alternatively, either player may simply call out "my ad" or "your ad". The score of a tennis game during play is always read with the serving player's score first. In tournament play, the chair umpire calls the point count (e.g., "15–love") after each point. At the end of a game, the chair umpire also announces the winner of the game and the overall score. A set consists of

12423-576: The same round at last year's Australian Open. After the tournament, she competed in Fed Cup and earned important wins over Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu in Czech Republic's tie against Romania. Her next tournament was the Dubai Tennis Championships , where she was defending the previous year's points as a finalist; however, she fell to CoCo Vandeweghe, in straight sets. Struggles continued as she lost to Margarita Gasparyan in

12546-626: The second round of the Miami Open to Tímea Babos after another first-round bye. Plíšková opened her clay-court season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix . She defeated the 2015 French Open finalist Lucie Šafářová in the first round in three sets and Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. However, she would fall to the top seed Agnieszka Radwańska in the third round. She next competed at the Prague Open . She cruised by Stefanie Vögele , Kateřina Siniaková , and Camila Giorgi in

12669-528: The second round. Plíšková began her hardcourt season at the Rogers Cup , where she beat Kateryna Bondarenko and Sara Errani (who had to withdraw from the match) before losing in straight sets to eventual champion Simona Halep. She then pulled out of the Olympics . Plíšková won her maiden WTA Premier tournament at the Western & Southern Open , defeating Germany's Angelique Kerber in straight sets in

12792-419: The semifinals of the WTA Finals for the first time. She then lost to Wozniacki in straight sets. In Brisbane , Plíšková lost in the semifinals to Elina Svitolina. At the Australian Open , she reached quarterfinals for the second time, having defeated Verónica Cepede Royg, Beatriz Haddad Maia , Lucie Šafářová and Barbora Strýcová. In the quarterfinals, she lost to Halep in straight sets. In Doha, she reached

12915-404: The service boxes; depending on a player's position, they have to hit the ball into one of these when serving. A ball is out only if none of it has hit the area inside the lines, or the line, upon its first bounce. All lines are required to be between 1 and 2 inches (25 and 51 mm) in width, with the exception of the baseline which can be up to 4 inches (100 mm) wide, although in practice it

13038-562: The shift: "One of the reasons we are doing this is that there's a rise of more lucrative overseas tournaments in the lead-up to the Australian Open offering increasingly attractive alternatives to the top players looking to prepare for the first Grand Slam. [...] So we really wanted them to invest in having them continue to prepare here in Australia, on the road to the Australian Open." The first Brisbane International took place in Brisbane's newly built Tennyson Tennis Centre – and its Patrick Rafter -named Centre Court – in January 2009. In time for

13161-417: The singles court on each side. The modern tennis court owes its design to Major Walter Clopton Wingfield . In 1873, Wingfield patented a court much the same as the current one for his stické tennis (sphairistike). This template was modified in 1875 to the court design that exists today, with markings similar to Wingfield's version, but with the hourglass shape of his court changed to a rectangle. Tennis

13284-468: The start of a new point. A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving. A game is won by the first player to have won at least four points in total and at least two points more than the opponent. The running score of each game is described in a manner peculiar to tennis: scores from zero to three points are described as "love", "15", "30", and "40", respectively. If at least three points have been scored by each player, making

13407-415: The suspension was the Western & Southern Open where, as the top seed, she lost to Veronika Kudermetova in the second round. At the US Open , she defeated Anhelina Kalinina , before losing to Caroline Garcia in the second round. She reached the final at Rome , where she was the defending champion, defeating Barbora Strýcová, Anna Blinkova, Elise Mertens, and Markéta Vondroušová, before retiring in

13530-438: The third round, after receiving a first-round bye and defeating Alizé Cornet in second round in straight sets. In round three, she fell to American teenager Cici Bellis in straight sets, thus failing to defend her title. In Dubai, after receiving first round bye, she defeated Suárez Navarro in three sets in the second round. In the quarterfinals, she was defeated by Angelique Kerber in straight sets. In Indian Wells, Plisková reached

13653-515: The third round. At Dubai , Plíšková defeated Kristina Mladenovic, losing just three games, before losing in the quarterfinals to eventual finalist Elena Rybakina . She next competed at Doha , where she defeated Bernarda Pera before losing to Ons Jabeur . Before the suspension of the WTA Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic , Plíšková was ranked No. 3 in the world. Her first tournament following

13776-479: The tournament. There, she faced 16th seed Serena Williams, who had defeated top seed Simona Halep in the previous round. After going up a set and a break, Plíšková lost ground to Serena and found herself facing match point at five games to one in the third set. However, she pulled off a stunning comeback, winning six consecutive games and saving three additional match points at 5–4 to win the set 7–5. She thus advanced to her first Australian Open semifinal, which she lost

13899-536: The wall. Henry VIII of England was a big fan of this game, which is now known as real tennis . An epitaph in St Michael's Church, Coventry , written c.  1705 , read, in part: Here lyes an old toss'd Tennis Ball: Was racketted, from spring to fall, With so much heat and so much hast, Time's arm for shame grew tyred at last. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, as real tennis declined, new racket sports emerged in England. The invention of

14022-823: The world was formed, the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (now the United States Tennis Association ) in order to standardize the rules and organize competitions. The US National Men's Singles Championship, now the US Open , was first held in 1881 at the Newport Casino , Newport, Rhode Island . The US National Women's Singles Championships were first held in 1887 in Philadelphia . Tennis also became popular in France, where

14145-660: The world. In February, Plíšková played first round of Fed Cup against Spain in Ostrava . She defeated Lara Arruabarrena and Garbiñe Muguruza, both in straight sets. Her next tournament was Doha , where she had a bye in the first round. She played against Caroline Garcia in the second round and revenged the loss from the end of 2016 with a straight sets win. Then she played two matches in one day due to rain and won both of them. The quarterfinal against Zhang Shuai lasted overall about 7 hours. However, she outlasted Shuai in two sets before edging No. 5 Dominika Cibulková in three sets,

14268-674: The years at the low tier tune-up event for the Australian Open. The Gold Coast Classic became the Thalgo Australian Women's Hardcourts in 1998, took the sponsorship of Uncle Tobys in 2003, becoming Uncle Tobys Hardcourts, and changed names again in 2006 to Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts. Meanwhile, the ATP International Series Australian Hard Court Championships in Adelaide, which had evolved into

14391-405: Was also her first defeat to Svitolina in her career. At the 2017 French Open , she beat Zheng Saisai , Ekaterina Alexandrova , and Carina Witthöft before winning a close fourth-round match against Verónica Cepede Royg . She then defeated Caroline Garcia to set up a semifinal encounter with Simona Halep, which she lost in three sets. The defeat prevented her from claiming the world No. 1 ranking at

14514-559: Was born in Louny to Radek Plíšek and Martina Plíšková, and has an identical twin sister, Kristýna , who is two minutes older and is also a tennis player. She currently lives in Monte Carlo . In 2018, she married Michal Hrdlička and subsequently changed her name to Karolína Hrdličková ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈkaroliːna ˈɦr̩dlitʃkovaː] ). Karolína Plíšková won the Australian Open junior title, defeating Laura Robson in

14637-703: Was in Tokyo , however she lost in the first match to qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich . In the next tournament in Wuhan she had bye in the first round, and in the second round she defeated countrywoman Lucie Šafářová and then easily lost to Dominika Cibulková. Her run ended in the third round in Beijing . In the first round, she met Šafářová again and beat her in three sets and then won over Daria Kasatkina by winning 9–7 in tie-break third set. Then she lost to Johanna Konta in three sets. Plíšková qualified for 2016 WTA Finals and

14760-540: Was in the group with Agnieszka Radwańska, Garbiñe Muguruza and Svetlana Kuznetsova . The first match was against Muguruza, which Plíšková won and had to face Muguruza's matchpoints. In other matches the opponents were more successful and Plíšková ended the tournament in Singapore with one win and two losses. Plíšková played her final matches of 2016 in the Fed Cup Final in France. She beat Kristina Mladenovic in

14883-517: Was not so confident, she defeated Irina-Camelia Begu in two sets, Timea Bacsinszky, who retired at the end of the sixth game, and Garbiñe Muguruza in two tie-breaks. In the semifinal against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Plíšková fell in straight tie-breaks. She reached the semifinals of the Miami Open, recording straight-set victories against qualifier Madison Brengle , Yulia Putintseva, countrywoman Barbora Strýcová, and Mirjana Lučić-Baroni before falling to Caroline Wozniacki in three sets. Plíšková kicked off

15006-509: Was played there in September 1880. An Englishman named O.E. Woodhouse won the singles title, and a silver cup worth $ 100, by defeating Canadian I. F. Hellmuth . There was also a doubles match which was won by a local pair. There were different rules at each club. The ball in Boston was larger than the one normally used in New York. On 21 May 1881, the oldest nationwide tennis organization in

15129-585: Was the Tianjin Open where she reached the semifinals, losing to Radwańska for the third time in 2015. She lost in the second round of the Kremlin Cup to Anastasija Sevastova . She reached a tour-leading sixth final at the WTA Elite Trophy but lost to Venus Williams in straight sets. She ended the year ranked No. 11 in singles and was the 13th most popular player of the year according to

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