TennisLucrare de atestat

CandidatTrocan IonutC.N. Spiru Haret 12C

IndrumatorProf. Enciu Dorina

CONTENT

• I. History of tennis• II.Rules of tennis• III.Biography of Andre Agassi• IV.Moments to remember in tennis• V.Bibliography

Chapter I History of tennis

History of Tennis – Ancient Origins

If you turn back the pages of the history of tennis, you will discover that ball games have been played since ancient times and the first depictions can be seen in Egyptian temple carvings that date from 1500 BC. It issaid that ball gameactually formed a part of the religious ceremonies of the ancient Egyptians. This tradition was taken to Europe by the Moors in the 8th century, by which time their empire had spread to southern France. In fact, it was this meeting of cultures, between the Moors’ religious rites and Christian monks, which in due course gave birth to tennis.

It was these Christian monks, influenced by the Moors’ religious customs, who would be the very first Europeans to play the ball game that would become tennis. In the earliest version of this game, which was known as ‘La Soule’, the players hit the ball across to each other either with their bare hands or by using a stick.

The game grew in popularity in monasteries all across Europe, to the extent that the Church even contemplated forbidding the game.

This early form of the game, wherein the ball was usually hit against the walls of a courtyard, soon began to be played outside the monasteries, with it developing further in the 12th and 13th centuries. Players soon discovered that they could control the ball better with just their hands, which soon led to the creation of a leather glove. It wasn’t much longer before the glove began to be affixed with a wooden handle, thus creating the first tennis racket. The balls too underwent several refinements, changing from being of solid wood to far softer versions with bran being stuffed into leather. The game soon grew very popular, especially in France where it was taken up by the royalty.

Tennis History - The Growth of Real Tennis

The game, as it is known by us today, actually came into being in France. Named ‘Jeu de paumme’, or ‘the game of the palm’, it became a highly fashionable sport played by the kings and the aristocracy, in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. In those days, the French players would call out ‘Tenez’, or ‘Play’, at the start of a game, and it soon came to be referred to as Royal, i.e. Real Tennis.

Real Tennis was in fact quite different from the game that is played today. It used to be an indoor game, played in large galleries that had jutting roofs. Players won points according to how they played the ball off the walls of the gallery. Another way in which Real Tennis was different from today’s game is a system of chases that were used. In the game that is played today, the ball is considered dead if it bounces twice.

However, in Real Tennis, the point where the ball would bounce a second time would be marked by a marker, which was referred to as the chase. Therefore, apart from playing for points, the players would compete by attempting to place their chase as close to their opponent’s back wall as possible. Hence, a player who had scored fewer points could actually win the match by using the chase more skillfully.

After its popularity with the French aristocracy, tennis began spreading all across Europe, getting especially popular in England. Here too, the game was quickly adopted by the royalty, thus becoming known as the sport of kings. Henry VIII, who was a keen enthusiast of the game, had a tennis court built at Hampton Court, his palace, which is still in use today by the aficionados of Real Tennis. But, tennis did not remain confined to England and France, soon spreading to Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Italy and Spain. However, with the Napoleonic wars and the French Revolution, the game was almost eliminated across practically all of Europe in the 18th century.

• History of Tennis - The Emergence of Lawn Tennis

But, by the 19th century, with the advent of Victorian prosperity which came about in England, the game was revived again. Several notable country houses had courts built in their premises along with the first appearance of tennis clubs that provided facilities for their members being made. It was in this period that saw the emergence of Lawn Tennis. The enthusiasts of the game, in fact, had been trying to modify the game into an open-air sport for quite a while, which was finally facilitated with the advent of vulcanized rubber. This made it possible to produce balls which were soft enough not to cause damage to the grass, and yet retain the liveliness and elasticity of rubber.

Another contributing factor for the revival of the game was the simplicity and ease of Lawn Tennis. A grassy, flat surface was all that was required, and soon it became a commonplace feature to have Lawn Tennis courts in the estates of the rich. While Real Tennis had been a sport of the royalty and the aristocracy, in Victorian England, it was the upper classes that embraced this sport in the form of Lawn Tennis.

It was Arthur Balfour, who was a British statesman, who coined the term ‘Lawn Tennis’, and soon various other turf derivatives began replacing lawn surfaces, eventually leading to concrete and clay surfaces. Soon, Lawn Tennis began replacing croquet as the sport played in summer. However, it was in 1875 that tennis got its biggest boost. This came about because the All England Croquet Club, which had been formed in 1869, had not succeeded in attracting enough visitors, and hence, the club decided to provide Lawn Tennis as an additional attraction. This new game was a success immediately, to such an extent that the club’s name was changed, becoming the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, in 1877. With the increasing rents at the four-acre site, located in Wimbledon, a suburb of London, however, entailed the club having to raise more funds. Hence, that led to the first Lawn Tennis tournament ever being organized, later that year. A committee was set up to devise a set of rules, and the first tournament was held with 22 players participating, with 200 spectators watching the games. Thus was born the Wimbledon Championship.

History of Tennis - The Wimbledon Championship

One of the most important developments in tennis history was the birth of the Wimbledon Championship. The tournament caught the public’s imagination and before long the first champions began emerging, the first of them being William Renshaw. He won the title eight times from 1881 to 1889, being the runner-up in 1887, which is a record that has remained unbeaten to date.

In the following years, the sport became tremendously popular, not only in England bu all across the world. May Sutton of the US became the first international player of the tournament in 1905, which was the year that Wimbledon drew in 71 players.

The tournament continued to grow with the game becoming highly fashionable in the 1930s, led by British players like Don Budge and Fred Perry and international stars like Henri Lacoste. The photographs of the tournaments held in those days reveal tennis fashions that seem quaint to us these days, with men wearing long trousers and women playing with long dresses worn over stockings.

The Championship not only became a center of the sport of tennis but also of tennis fashion, with Bunny Austin of the US shocking the spectators in 1933 by stepping out on to center court with shorts on. The 1930s were boom time for Wimbledon, with the championship being broadcast for the first time on radio in 1937. This marked an important event in the history of tennis, with the game being truly introduced to a worldwide audience.

However, there was a sudden end to all this with the outbreak of World War II in 1939, which saw the closing of the championships until 1946. The sport went on to be transformed by the post war generation, with technical improvements added to it, turning it into a sophisticated recreation for the increasingly prosperous middle classes. Australian players like Roy Emerson and Rod Laver dominated the sport in the 1960s. And with the increasing spread of television, the game was introduced to an even wider audience, making tennis a money-spinning international sport. Wimbledon was first televised in color in 1967.

Throughout the 70s and 80s the sport came to be dominated by a new legion of players of international fame, and the crowds were captivated by tennis greats like the graceful Bjorn Borg, the brattish antics of Jimmy Connors, and the tempestuous tantrums of John McEnroe. The women’s tournaments produced stars like Sue Barker, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, and Martina Navratilova. Virginia Wade was Britain’s foremost women’s player, who was the last British who won the championships in 1977. The prize money of the tournament kept going up along with the hemlines of the players’ costumes. In 1986, yellow tennis balls were adopted for the first time, so that the speeding ball could be more easily visible for TV cameras.

The Championship not only became a center of the sport of tennis but also of tennis fashion, with Bunny Austin of the US shocking the spectators in 1933 by stepping out on to center court with shorts on. The 1930s were boom time for Wimbledon, with the championship being broadcast for the first time on radio in 1937. This marked an important event in the history of tennis, with the game being truly introduced to a worldwide audience.

However, there was a sudden end to all this with the outbreak of World War II in 1939, which saw the closing of the championships until 1946. The sport went on to be transformed by the post war generation, with technical improvements added to it, turning it into a sophisticated recreation for the increasingly prosperous middle classes. Australian players like Roy Emerson and Rod Laver dominated the sport in the 1960s. And with the increasing spread of television, the game was introduced to an even wider audience, making tennis a money-spinning international sport. Wimbledon was first televised in color in 1967.

Throughout the 70s and 80s the sport came to be dominated by a new legion of players of international fame, and the crowds were captivated by tennis greats like the graceful Bjorn Borg, the brattish antics of Jimmy Connors, and the tempestuous tantrums of John McEnroe. The women’s tournaments produced stars like Sue Barker, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, and Martina Navratilova. Virginia Wade was Britain’s foremost women’s player, who was the last British who won the championships in 1977. The prize money of the tournament kept going up along with the hemlines of the players’ costumes. In 1986, yellow tennis balls were adopted for the first time, so that the speeding ball could be more easily

visible for TV cameras.

Tennis History - The US Open Tennis Championship

The US Open tennis tournament is considered the richest in the world, with the biggest in prize money. The idea about creating the US Open tennis championship came about when the US Lawn Tennis Association, which was established in May 1881, offered to conduct a national championship.

The introductory contest, which took place in Newport Island, Rhode Island, had 26 players, and it was known as the US National Singles Championship. In order to be eligible to play in the competition, the player had to be a member of the US National Lawn Tennis Association. Richard Sears was the first winner of the championship, and he continued be the reigning winner for the following six years.

Since the championship began moving all over the country, with 9 places holding the event, it gave rise to the men’s doubles event, which was split into a West and East competition. W.F. Taylor and Clarence Clark won the first doubles title in 1900.

The establishment of the ‘open era’ in 1968, which meant that the players could participate in all the tournaments, resulted in the creation of the modern championship that we are familiar with at present. Five different tournaments were combined into a single US Open Championship, which was held in New York, at the Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens. The prize money amount was $100,000, which was shared by 63 women and 96 men who took part in the event. The tie-breaker system was first introduced by the US Open, in 1970. The tournament was moved to its present home, the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, in 1978.

Tennis History - The Sport Today

Tennis today has become a highly competitive, world-class sport which captivates thousands of players as well as fans all over the world. There is a continuous program of events and tournaments that takes place all through the year and top tennis stars have become the game’s icons for the new generation. A game that used to be the pastime of royalty once has turned into a sport enjoyed by all today.

Chapter II Rules of tennis

Although the basic rules of playing tennis are the same around the world, the name for the game varies country to country. For example, it is called court tennis and in Great Britain the game is referred to as royal tennis, real tennis, or lawn tennis. In Australia it is called Royal Tennis. The rules of tennis are fairly simple. One player hits, or serves, the ball from a corner of a marked out area called a court that is divided down the middle with a three foot (0.9 meters) net. The opposite player’s goal is to return the ball bouncing it no more than once aiming for the other player to not be able to hit it. A score is made when a player is not able to return the ball at all or with more than one bounce.

Official tennis rulesThe overall goal of tennis is to gain point to win, games, sets and matches. Sets include the highest score out of three games for women and for men, the highest score out of five for men. A set is won only if a player leads by two clear games or more.

EquipmentThe tennis court - The basic rules of tennis call for a regulation size tennis court. This means that it is 78 feet long (or 23.8 meters) and has a three foot (0.9 meter) net dividing it down the center. For doubles play the tennis court is 36 feet wide (11 m) (this is gotten by including the 4.5 ft alleys that run the length of the court) and for singles it is 27 feet (8.2 meters). The court floor varies; it is sometimes asphalt, clay, concrete, grass, artificial grass or even wood or other synthetic materials. There is a server line that is marked 21 feet from and parallel from the net.

Tennis Rackets - the usual tournament size racket is 32 inches long and 11 1/2 inches in width.

Tennis Balls- These vary in color, but for official tournaments the ball must be yellow or white in color.

SinglesServer/receiver-The server is chosen by a coin toss or by spinning the racket. The one who wins the toss can give the choice to other person, choose which end to play and let the other person serve or choose to serve and let the other person choose the end they wish to play. The server (person playing first) is changed every game and the ends are changed every other game.

DoublesServing is alternated from team to team and from player to player so that each player serves every fourth game. Bother partners (of receivers and servers) can stand anywhere they want, however it is traditional for partners to stand side by side.

ScoringIn tennis scoring is unusual- the scores do not increase by single digits, they begin at 15 and go up 30 (2) then 40. When a person has no score it is called "love". So if player A gets 15 first the score is 15-"love". When the score gets to 40-40 it is known as deuce and the next player to get two points wins. If they get only one point it is known as "Advantage server" (or receiver) and then loose the next point it goes back to deuce. There are times when players both agree to skip the advantage acknowledgment and only play to one point after deuce for the winning point.

OfficialsOnly during professional tournaments are there officials. One watches the lines to call whether the ball is in or not. The senior umpire is in a very high chair on one end of the court and calls the scores. The senior umpire has the power to overrule all other judges. There is also a match referee who sits in the stands and watches there and he can be consulted should there be any major conflicts. Disputing with the judges cost points and even disqualification from the game.

PenaltiesThere are certain penalties while playing tennis, these usually result in several points lost for various things. These are: 1. Touching opponents ground, the net or posts or any other person or official in the game.2. Carrying the ball or catching it in the racket. 3. Hitting the ball two times or before it has crossed the net.4. If the ball hits or touches anything on (clothes) or carried by the player (with the exception of the racket).5. Throwing the racket or other kinds of racket abuse.

•

PLAN OF THE COURT

Chapter III Biography of Andre

Agassi

Andre Kirk Agassi (born April 29 1970, in LasVegas, Nevada is a former WorldNo. 1 professional tennis player from the UnitedStates. During his career, he has won eight GrandSlam (tennis)Grand Slam singles titles. He is oneof only five players in tennis history to have wonthe men's singles titles at all four of the GrandSlam events over the course of his career.

Background Agassi, whose father is half Armenian and half Assyrian, was born andraised in Las Vegas, Nevada, and lives there whennot on tour. His father, Emmanuel "Mike" Agassi,was a boxing boxer for Iran at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games, before emigrating to the UnitedStates. Mike Agassi was a tennis fanatic and wasdetermined to turn at least one of his four children into a world-class player. He hung tennisballs over Andre's crib and gave him a full-sizedracket at

age two. Growing up, Andre and hissiblings would hit 3,000 balls a day, seven days aweek. Mike had Andre practice with Ilie Nastaseand Jimmy Connors. Andre's sister, Rita, finallyrebelled and moved in with, and later married,tennis great Pancho Gonzales (their son, Skylar,played on Bishop-Gorman High School's tennisteam). When he was 14, Andre was enrolled in theNick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. NickBollettieri would be Agassi's coach through July1993.

Tennis career Agassi turned professional in 1986 at the age of16, and won his first top-level singles title in 1987 at Itaparica. He won six further tournamentsin 1988, and by December that year he had surpassed US$2 million in career prize money afterplaying in just 43 tournaments – thequickest player in

history to do so.

Agassi quickly developed a reputation on the tourfor exceptional fitness and conditioning, allowing him to outlast most players over the course of along match, even the best counterpunchers. He typically employs a baseline style of play,however he often makes contact with the ballinside the baseline (unlike most baseliners, who make 4-8 feet behind the baseline their home). Hisserve is not the fastest on the tour, but has very

good placement. His return-of-serve is his strongest weapon. Many observers agree that Agassiis the best

service returner in the history ofprofessional tennis. He was the target of one ofthe fastest serves on record – a 149-mph

(240 km/h) blast from Andy Roddick – andreturned it into play. As a young up-and-coming player, Agassi embraced arebel

image. He grew his hair to rock-star length,sported an earring, and wore colorful shirts thatpushed tennis' still-strict sartorial boundaries.He boasted of a cheeseburger-heavy diet andendorsed the Canon Rebel camera. "Image iseverything" was the ads's tag line, and it becameAgassi's as well.

Strong performances on the tour meant that Agassiwas quickly

tipped as a future Grand Slam champion. But he began the 1990s with a series ofnear-misses.

He reached his first Grand Slam finalin 1990 at the French Open, where he lost in four sets to the seasoned veteran player AndrésGómez. Later that year he lost in the final ofthe U.S. Open to anotherup-and-coming teenaged star, Pete Sampras. Therivalry between the two American players was tobecome the dominant rivalry in tennis over therest the of the decade. In 1991, Agassi reached his second consecutive French Open final where hefaced his former Bollettieri Academy-mate JimCourier. Courier emerged the victory in a dramatic rain-interrupted five-set final.

Agassi chose not to play at Wimbledon from 1988-90, and publicly stated that he did not wish to play there becauseof the event's traditionalism, particularly its"predominantly-white" dress code which players at the event are required to conform to. Manyobservers at the time speculated that Agassi'sreal motivation was that his strong baseline gamewould not be suited to Wimbledon's grass courtsurface. He decided to play there in 1991, leadingto weeks of speculation in the media about what hewould wear – he eventually emerged for thefirst round in a completely white outfit. Hereached the quarter-finals on that occasion. To

the surprise of many, Agassi's Grand Slam breakthrough came at Wimbledon in 1992 when he beat Goran Ivanisevic in atight five-set final.

Following wrist surgery in 1993, Agassi came backstrongly in 1994 and captured the US Open, beatingMichael Stich in the final. He then captured hisfirst Australian Open title in 1995, beatingSampras in a four-set final. He won a career-highseven titles that year and he reached the WorldNo. 1 ranking for the first time that April. He held it for 30 weeks on that occasion through toNovember. He compiled a career-best 26-matchwinning streak during the summer hardcourtcircuit, which ended when he lost in the US Openfinal to Sampras. In 1996, Agassi won the men's singles Gold Medal at the Olympic Games inAtlanta, beating Sergi Bruguera of Spain in straight sets in the final.

1997 was a poor year for Agassi. He won no top-level titles and his ranking sank to World No.141 in November. His form was perhaps affected bythe intense publicity surrounding his high-profileand turbulent relationship and marriage to actress Brooke Shields. Following this, he made a decision to rededicate himself to tennis. He shaved his balding head, began a rigorous conditioning program, and worked his way back up the rankings

by playing in Challenger Series tournaments (a circuit for professional players ranked out side the world's top 50). Perhaps most remarkably, the one-time rebel emerged as a gracious and thoughtful athlete, and looked up to by younger players. After winning matches, he took to bowing and blowing a two-handed kisses to spectators on each side of the court, a gesture seen as a ratherhumble acknowledgment of their support for him and for tennis. In 1998, Agassi won five titles and lept from No.122 on the rankings at the start of the year, to No. 6 at the end of it,

making it the highest jump into the Top 10 made by any player in tennis. Hewon five titles in ten finals, and finishedrunner-up at the Miami Masters. Agassi entered the history books in 1999 when he beat Andrei Medvedev in a five-set French Openfinal to become only the fifth male player to havewon all four Grand Slam singles titles (a featlast achieved in the 1960s by Roy Emerson). He followed that up by reaching the Wimbledon final,where he lost to Sampras. He then won the US Open,beating Todd Martin in five sets in the final, and finished the year ranked the World No. 1.

Agassi began 2000 by capturing his second Australian Open title, beating Yevgeny Kafelnikovin a four-set final. He was

the first male playerto have reached four consecutive Grand Slam finals since Rod Laver achieved the Grand Slam in 1969.2000 also saw Agassi reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon, where he lost in five sets to Patrick Rafter in a very high quality battle considered by many to be one of the best matches ever played atWimbledon. Agassi entered the year-endTennis Masters Cup locked in a tight fight for theWorld No. 1 spot with Gustavo Kuerten and Marat Safin. Safin needed only three match wins in the tournament to become the year end number one. However, Safin lost to Agassi in the semi-finals;Safin only won two matches. He was out of the running. Agassi then met Kuerten in the final,which would determine not only who would win thetitle but also who would finish the year as theNo. 1 player. In the end it was Kuerten whoe mereged victorious with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 score.(Agassi won the tour's year-end championship oncein 1990, and was runner-up in 1999, 2000 and2003.)

Agassi opened 2001 by sucessfully defending hisAustralian Open title with a straight-sets final win over Arnaud Clement. At Wimbledon, he battled Rafter again in the semi-finals and lost 8-6 in the fifth set. At the US Open he lost in the quarter-finals to Sampras in what is conisdered to be one of tournament's all-time greatest matches.Sampras won 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 in a match with no breaks of serve.

Agassi and Sampras' last duel came in the final ofthe US Open in 2002. The battle between the

twoveterans saw Sampras emerge victorious in foursets, and left Sampras with a 20-14 edge in their34 career meetings. (The match in fact proved tobe the last of Sampras' career. He did not play in an event on the professional tour again, andofficially announced his retirement in 2003.)Agassi's US Open finish, along with his victoriesat the Miami Masters, Rome Masters, and Madrid Masters, helped him become the oldest year-end No.2 at 32 years and 8 months.

In 2003, Agassi won the eighth Grand Slam title ofhis career at the Australian Open, where he beat

Rainer Schüttler in straight sets in the final.On May 11, Agassi won the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, making him the oldest No. 1 ranked male tennis player in history at 33years and 13 days. He would hold the position for 13 weeks. At the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston,Agassi made it to the final, losing to Roger

Federer, making him the oldest player to everfinish the year in the Top 5 (fourth) since Jimmy Connors finished fourth in 1987 when he was 35.

In 2004, the 34-year-old Agassi won the Tennis Masters Series event at Cincinnati to bring his career total to 59 top-level singles titles. Withstrong finishes at the Australian Open (SF),

Indian Wells Masters (SF), Cincinnati Masters(WON), US Open (QF), Madrid Masters (SF) and Stockholm Open (F), Agassi finished the year ranked eighth, making him the oldest player to finish the year in the Top 10 (at age 34) since Jimmy Connors finished seventh in 1988 when he was36.

Agassi has also won one doubles title (at Cincinnati in 1993, partnering Petr Korda). He is one of only five male players to have won all theGrand Slams – along with legends Don Budge,Roy Emerson, Rod Laver

and Fred Perry. He is infact the first male tennis player to win the fourGrand Slams on four different surfaces. Theprevious players won the Australian Open,Wimbledon, and the US Open on grass courts and theFrench Open on clay courts; whereas Agassi won theAustralian Open on Rebound Ace, the French Open onclay, Wimbledon on grass, and the US Open onhardcourts. By winning the Olympic Gold Medal at

the 1996 Olympics, Agassi became the first maletennis player to win the Career Golden Slam. Agassi also helped the United States win the DavisCup in 1990 and 1992. He was named the BBC SportsPersonality of the Year in 1992.Agassi has earned over US$25 million inprize-money throughout his career, second only toSampras. In addition to this, he also earns overUS$25 million a year through endorsements, themost by any tennis player and fourth in all sports(first place is Tiger Woods at US$70 million ayear). In 2005, Agassi left Nike after 17 years

Personal and family life After a four-year courtship, Agassi married actress Brooke Shields in a lavish ceremony on April 19 1997. That February, they had filed suit against The National Enquirer claiming it printed "false and fabricated" statements: Brooke was undergoing counseling, binge-eating and taking pills; Agassi "lashed into" Brooke and he and Brooke's mother "tangled like wildcats“ when she demanded a prenuptial agreement. The casewas dismissed, but the headlines were indicative of the union. Agassi filed for divorce, which wasgranted on April 9, 1999. By the time the divorce was final, Agassi wasdating the German tennis legend Steffi Graf. With only their mothers as

witnesses, they were married at his home on October 22 2001. Their son, Jaden Gil, was born 6 weeks prematurely on October 26that year. Their daughter, Jaz Elle, was born onOctober 3 2003.

In 1995, when Agassi's former brother-in-law,Pancho Gonzales, died broke and nearly friendless in Las Vegas, it was

Andre Agassi who paid for his funeral.

Chapter IV Moments to

remember in tennis

The best matches in sports aren’t always about the best versus second-best; the greatest competitions are about both opponents being equally paired.

In tennis, certain foes seem to bring the best out of each other. From John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, there have been plenty of classic pairings where the two adversaries push each other to their limits.

The results have provided fans with some great spectatorship and some memorable tennis matches.

In the Wimbledon Championships, McEnroe reached the 1980 Wimbledon Men's Singles final – his first final at the Championships – where he faced Björn Borg, who was gunning for his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title. At the start of the final, McEnroe was booed by the crowd as he entered Centre Court following heated exchanges with officials during his semifinal victory over Jimmy Connors. In a fourth-set tiebreaker that lasted 20 minutes, McEnroe saved five match points and eventually won 18-16. McEnroe, however, could not break Borg's serve in the fifth set, which the Swede won 8–6. This match was called the best Wimbledon final by ESPN's countdown show "Who's Number One?"

Sampras reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in early 2000 (falling to the eventual champion Agassi in a five-set match) and won the Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida for the third time in March. He then won a record-breaking 13th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, battling through tendonitis in his right shin and a painful back injury in the process. This victory was his eighth consecutive win in a Grand Slam final (starting at 1995 Wimbledon), which remains a record. After this victory, Sampras did not win another title for more than two years. He lost in the finals of the 2000 and 2001 US Open to Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt, respectively, leading many to speculate that Sampras would never capture another major title. At the 2001 Wimbledon Championships, Sampras lost to Roger Federer, who was 19 at the time, 6–7(7), 7–5, 4–6, 7–6(2), 5–7 in the fourth round, ending Sampras's 31-match winning streak at Wimbledon. The match also marked the first and only time that the two men ever played each other on the ATP tour.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are professional tennis

p players engaged in a storied rivalry, which many consider the g greatest in the game's history.

At the 2010 Wimbledon ChampionshipsJohn Isner (left)

defeated defeated Nicolas Mahut (right) 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7), 7–6(3), 70– 68 68 in the world's longest tennis match. The match lasted 11 h hours, 5 minutes.

Peter Sampras Roger Federer

Rafael Nadal

Chapter V Bibliography

• →buzzle.com (article from Rita Putatunda and Jayashree Pakhare)• →itftennis.com• →askmen.com• →short-biographies.com• →wikipedia

• This do not include photoes which were taken from a variety of sources.NOTE: video source - youtube