Glossary of tennis terms

Glossary

* Ace – a service of a tennis ball that is not returned by an opponent and is deemed to be IN play by the umpire
* Ad court – the left side of the court of each player
* Advantage – when one player wins a point from a deuce and needs one more point to win the game
* Alley – the area of the court between the singles and doubles sidelines, also known as the tramlines
* Approach shot – a shot used as a setup as the player runs up to the net, often using underspin
* ATP – Association of Tennis Professionals, the men's professional circuit
* Backhand – a method of wielding a tennis racquet where the player hits the tennis ball with a stroke that comes across their body with the back of their racquet hand facing the ball
* Backswing – the portion of a swing before the ball is hit
* Bagel – winning a set 6-0. A double bagel is winning 6-0, 6-0.
* Ball Boy – a person, male or female, tasked with retrieving tennis balls from the court that have gone out of play, usually juniors at Atp events
* Baseline – the chalk line at the farthest ends of the court indicating the boundary of the area of play.
* Baseliner – a player who plays around the baseline during play and relies on the quality his or her ground strokes
* Big serve – a forceful serve, usually giving an advantage in the point for the server
* Block – a defensive shot with relatively little backswing, usually while returning a serve
* Bread stick – winning a set 6-1. See also bagel
* Break – to lose a game to an opponent when you are serving
* Break point – one point away from a break
* Closed stance – hitting the ball with the body facing between parallel to the baseline and backturned to the opponent; it is known as a classic technique.
* Chip – blocking a shot with underspin
* Chip and charge – an aggressive strategy to return the opponent's serve with underspin and move forward to the net
* Chop – a shot with extreme underspin
* Counterpuncher – a defensive baseliner. See tennis strategy
* Court – the area designated for playing a game of tennis
* Crosscourt – hitting the ball diagonally into the opponent's court
* Deep – a shot that lands near the baseline, as opposed to near the net
* Deuce – the score 40-40 in a game. A player must win two consecutive points from a deuce before winning the game. See advantage Deuce court – the right side of the court of each player
* Dink – hitting a shot with no pace
* Dirtballer – a clay court specialist
* Double Fault – two faults in a row in one point, causing the player serving to lose the Point
* Doubles – a tennis game played by four players, two per side of the court
* Down the line – hitting the ball straight ahead into the opponent's court
* Drop shot – a play in which the player hits the ball lightly enough to just go over the net; designed to catch a player off guard who is away from the net
* Drop volley – a drop shot executed from a volley
* Fault – an unsuccessful serve that fails to place the ball in the correct area of play therefore not starting the Point
* First Service – the first of the two serves of a tennis ball a player is allowed at the beginning of a Point.
* Flat – e.g. a flat serve; a shot with relatively no spin
* Follow through – the portion a swing after the ball is hit
* Foot fault – a fault caused by the server stepping into the tennis court
* Forehand – a method of wielding a tennis racquet where the player hits the tennis ball with a stroke that comes from behind their body with the front of their racquet hand facing the ball
* Game point – one point away to win the game.
* Golden set – winning a set without losing a point
* Golden Slam – winning the Grand Slam and the tennis Olympic gold medal in a calendar year
* Grand Slam – the four most prestigious tournaments in a year: the Australian Open, the French Open (or Roland Garros), Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Winning the Grand Slam is winning all four in a calendar year.
* Groundies – see Groundstroke
* Groundstroke – a forehand or backhand shot that is executed after the ball bounces once on the court
* Hail Mary – an extremely high lob, for defensive purposes
* Head – (racquet) the portion of the racket that contains the strings
* Hold – winning the game when serving
* I-formation – (in doubles) a formation where the server and his partner stand on the same side of the court (deuce- or ad-court) before starting the point
* Inside-out – running around one side (e.g. the backhand side) and hitting a crosscourt shot
* Inside-in – running around one side and hitting it down the line; less popular than the inside-out
* Jamming – to serve or return straight to the opponent's body
* Kick serve – a type of spin serve that bounces high
* Lawn Tennis – tennis played on a court laid out on a grass covered surface
* Let – when the ball from a serve touches the net but enters the opponent's half of the court within the play area. The point is replayed Line Judge – a person designated to observe the passage of tennis balls over the boundary lines of the court. A Line Judge can declare that a play was within or outside of the play area and cannot be overruled by the players. A line Judge must defer to an Umpire's decision, even when it contradicts their own observations.
* Lob – a stroke in tennis where the ball is lifted high above the net with the intention of it going over the opposing player in the case of him being close to the net, thus nearly guaranteeing the point
* Love – zero (score)
* Love game – a shutout game won without the other player scoring
* Match point – a situation when the player who is leading needs one more point to win the match
* Mini-break – to win a point from the opponent's serve in a tiebreak
* Mixed Doubles – a tennis game played by four players, two players are male, two are female, one of each player sex per side of the court
* Moonball – an extremely high lob
* No-Man's Land – the area between the service line and the baseline, where a player is most vulnerable
* Open stance – hitting the ball with the body facing between parallel to the baseline and facing the opponent; it is known as a modern technique.
* Out – any ball that lands outside the play area
* Overrule – reversing a call from the linesperson, done by the umpire
* Passing shot – A shot that passes by the opponent at the net, but not over him (see lob)
* Poaching – (in doubles) an aggressive move where the player at net moves to volley a shot intended for his/her partner
* Point – the period of play between the first successful service of a ball to the point at which that ball goes out of play
* Pusher – a player who does not try to hit winners, but only to return it safely
* Putaway – a shot to try to end the point from an advantageous situation
* Racquet – a bat with a long handle and a large looped head with a string mesh tautly stretched across it, made of wood, metal or some other synthetic material, that is used by a tennis player to hit the tennis ball during a game of tennis - (see also Racket)
* Rally – (Following the service of a tennis ball) – A series of return hits of the ball that ends when one or other player fails to return the ball within the court boundary or fails to return a ball that falls within the play area.
* Referee – a person in charge of enforcing the rules in a tournament, as opposed to a tennis match (see Umpire)
* Retriever – a defensive baseliner. See tennis strategy
* Set point – one point away from winning a set
* Singles – a tennis game played by two players
* Second Service – the second and final of the two serves of a tennis ball a player is allowed at the beginning of a Point
* Serve – to begin a point by hitting the ball into the opponents half of the court
* Serve and volley – a strategy to serve and immediately move forward to make a volley and hopefully a winner
* Slice – (rally) hitting a tennis ball with underspin; (service) serving with sidespin
* Spin – rotation of the ball as it moves through the air, affecting its trajectory and bounce. See Backspin & Topspin
* Split step – a footwork technique by doing a small hop just before the opponent is hitting the ball
* Straight sets – a match victory in which the victor never lost a set.
* Tanking – to purposely lose a match, because of poor mental game or others. Or, to simply purposely lose one unnecessary set, so as to focus energy and attention on the final and match-deciding set
* Tennis Ball – a soft, hollow, air filled rubber ball coated in a synthetic fur used in the game of tennis
* Tee – the centre of no-man's land, where the lines of the ad court and deuce court service boxes form a tee.
* Tiebreak – a special game at the score 6-6 in a set to decide the winner of the set; the winner is the first to reach at least 7 points with a difference of 2 from the opponent.
* Topspin – spin of a ball that goes forward over the top of the ball, causing the ball to dip and bounce higher
* Tramline – a line defining the limit of play on the side of a singles or doubles court.
* Underspin – spin of a ball that goes forward; the spin is underneath the ball, causing the ball to float and bounce lower
* Umpire – (during play) – an independent person designated to enforce the rules of the game in a match, usually sitting on a high chair beside the net
* Unforced error – during play, an error in a service or return shot that cannot be attributed to any factor other than poor judgement by the player.
* Walkover – an unopposed victory. A walkover may be awarded as a bye, or more commonly because the opponent defaulted by being disqualified or failing to attend the match—including after withdrawling due to injury.
* Wild card – a player let by organizers to play in a tournament, even if his/her rank is not adequate or does not register in time
* Winner – (rally) a forcing shot that can not be reached by the opponent and wins the point; (service) a forcing serve that is reached by the opponent, but is not returned properly, and wins the point
* WTA – Women's Tennis Association, the women's professional circuit