Open – Andre Aggasi’s Autobiography teaches you so much about tennis and the life of a sportsman.
This autobiography interested me because There was so much to learn about the sport & about a personality who never liked Tennis. But played it anyway until he retired in 2006.
From the day he was born Andre’s Was born to be a tennis player, and at an age when you are still learning and enjoying your childhood.
Andre’s Father bet $10,000 on his son for a match against Jim Brown.
While the father went home to get the cash. A senior tennis club manager begged Jim Brown to lower his stakes…
The only thing Andre did was Play Tennis. A sport which he hated all his life. But, Became his life and became one of the few greats in Tennis we know today.
This blog ain’t about him personally, But on what do the different tournaments means, The different types of courts and the common terms that are used in tennis.
The first (and now oldest) tennis tournament was held at Wimbledon in 1877 and hence it’s called the Wimbledon and considered the prestigious Grand Slam. The Grand Slam tournaments are the four most important annual tennis events. The Grand Slam consists of the Australian Open in mid-January, the French Open in May and June, Wimbledon in June and July, and the US Open in August and September. Each tournament is played over a period of two weeks.
The matches in the Wimbledon
are known as Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s singles and doubles.
and not the men’s and women’s singles and doubles as known in the other tournaments.
Trivia on the Wimbledon:
1. An important Wimbledon Member Rufus the Hawak flies around the court each day to move on any trouble-making pigeons.
2.34,000kg of strawberries and 10,000 litres of cream are consumed at Wimbledon.- Strawberry & Cream
The Types of surfaces in tennis – There are mainly 4 types of surfaces. clay courts, hard courts, grass courts and carpet courts.
Wimbledon is the only tournament in tennis that still since 1877.uses the Grass courts. Grass courts are the fastest type of courts. And another reason why they aren’t used in any of the other Grand slams (Australian Open from 1905 to 1987, the US Open from 1881 to 1974) It’s because it is difficult to maintain and the cost of maintenance is very high.
The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament to use clay courts.
Clay courts slow down the ball and produce a high bounce.
hard courts have been in use at the Australian Open since 1988 and the US Open since 1978.
“Carpet” Yes that makes you wonder – What type of court would this be in fact in it tennis means any removable court covering. Since 2009, their use has been discontinued on the top tier of the ATP.
I am sure, you must have come across these terms, and for someone who doesn’t follow tennis, this is what the terms related to the term ‘Grand Slam‘ really mean.
* ‘Grand Slam’– Winning all 4 Grand Slams of the year
* ‘Golden Slam‘- Winning all 4 Grand Slams along with an Olympic gold medal in the same year
* ‘Super Slam’– Winning all 4 Grand Slams along with the ATP/WTA finals in the same year.
* ‘Calendar Slam‘- Winning the Slam in the same year or in a single year
* ‘Non-Calendar Slam’-Winning the slam in a period of 12 months
* ‘Career Slam‘- Winning the slam overall in the career i.e. winning all the events of a slam in the career once
They are each called “Grand Slam tournaments” because they are the tournaments that make up the “Grand Slam”.
A K H I L N A N D A 