Category: Tennis

Introduction

There are a lot of disputes concerning the origin of tennis. It is believed that Egyptians, Greek, and Romans are the inventors of this fascinating game. Although there are not any descriptions of this game, drawings, and other artifacts testifying to the fact that this game was invented by Egyptians, Greek and Romans, there are some Arabic words that serve as evidence of this fact (Cooper, n.d.). The name of the game refers to the Egyptian town Tinnis that is near the river Nile and the word racquet comes from the Arabic word rahat denoting the palm of a human hand. Despite these words, there is no other evidence of the introduction of this game among Egyptians, Greek, and Romans.

History of tennis

Most historians consider French monks to be the first who played this game nearly in the 10th or 11th centuries. It is believed that they played a crude handball against the wall or over the rope strung across the yard. The name of the game comes from the word jeu de paume that means ‘game of the hand’ (Cooper, n.d.). Other historians believe that the name of the game takes roots from the French word tenez denoting something that can be taken from one player to another. When the game became more popular, it began to be played indoors using the same equipment including the ball, the wall, or the rope. Playing with a crude ball was inconvenient with bare hands, and players started to use gloves to protect their hands, and further on a racquet got in use. The ball used in the game was modified later too, and it was done with the help of a wad of hair, cork, or wool wrapped in cloth or leather.

This game was considered to be the privilege of high classes as far as the first ones who played this game were monks. Despite the prohibitions of the Pope and Louis lV, this game spread all over the world and English kings Henry Vll and Henry Vlll were the ardent players of this game. The racquet was changed by 1500, and it was made of a wooden frame strung with sheep gut (Cooper, n.d.). This new racquet as well as a cork-cored ball made the game easier and more interesting. The ball weighed three ounces was more convenient to play with it. The tennis courts used by royal families differed from modern ones. The first tennis court that resembled the modern one was constructed in 1625 and it was England’s Hampton Court that is still used in our times (Cooper, n.d.). It is a narrow indoor court so that the ball may be played against the wall.

The popularity of this game faded away in 1700, but 1850 was considered to be the year of the peak of its popularity. Charles Goodyear’s invention of a vulcanization process for rubber made considerable changes in tennis. The ball that was played with became much lighter and this game started to be played outdoors on the grass. Outdoor tennis changed from the indoor one considerably, so that there were no walls to play against them and rules were changed completely.

1874 is considered to be the year of the birth of modern tennis, the same as we play in our time. Major Walter C. Wingfield is the creator of tennis rules and equipment (Cooper, n.d.). The first courts appeared in America in the same year. Further on, tennis equipment began to be sold to Canada, India, China, and Russia. Croquet that was very popular at that time was supplanted with tennis, and smooth courts used in croquet were very convenient for playing tennis. The first tennis tournament was organized by the All England Club in 1877, and it was known as the first Wimbledon tournament. It was the first tournament with the rules that are used in modern tennis.

Rules and benefits

The rules of this play are quite simple. It is a play for two or four persons or singles and doubles. The players should stand on opposite sides from the net. That player who is the first to deliver the ball is known as the Server, and the other player is called the Receiver. The right to be the Server or the Receiver as well as the choice of sides is decided by toss. The winner chooses one of these privileges whether he decides to be the Server or the Receiver or chooses the side. The opponent has left the other privilege. If the winner chooses the side, the opponent decides who the Receiver and the Server are, and if the winner chooses to decide it himself, the opponent is left to choose the side.

The Server should stand behind the baseline within the boundaries for singles playing single and within the double baseline playing doubles. Ordinary points are played on the deuce court, while from the advantage court odd number points are played. The Server should not start till the Receiver is ready. Serves made from the deuce court should be played on the opponent’s service court, while serves from the advantage court should be made to the opponent’s advantage box. If the Server fails to hit the target twice, the point is lost (Tennis Rules Simplified, 2001). If the ball touches the net but hits the correct box, another service should be done. If the Server goes over the boundaries when he serves, he has deemed a fault. The Receiver may stand where he wants, but he is obliged to let the ball bounce in the service box. If the ball is failed to bounce in the service box, another service should be done. If the receiver hits the ball before it touches the service box, he wins the point (Tennis Rules Simplified, 2001). If the ball touches the net or goes outside the boundaries, the player hitting the ball loses the points. A player may also lose his points if he touches the net, bounces the ball over the net, tries to distract his opponent deliberately, drops the racquet while hitting the ball, touches with the ball the surrounding parts such as trees, roofs, or other objects. Let is the notion used in the game when there is a distraction made by the opponent deliberately or a ball rolls on the court.

The Server is the first who starts the game. If he wins the first point, he has a score of 15. Scoring in tennis resembles the clock. Love denotes zero in this game. The second point is scored 30. The third point is 45 and the game is considered to be won when the score is love again. If there is a score of 40-40 that is known as the deuce, one side is given a possibility to win by two points. Advantage-In denotes the probable winner of the game if the next point is hit. Advantage-Out denotes an approaching win of the Receiver if he hits the next point (Tennis Rules Simplified, 2001).

Tennis has been known as the “sport for a lifetime” (Taori, 2009). This game may be played by people of any age. Tennis is not only a popular kind of sport; it is a popular kind of entertainment in our time. This game is very useful for health, strength, fitness, and agility. There are physical, mental, and emotional benefits of playing tennis. Tennis increases cardiovascular fitness, improves body strength, increases general body coordination, improves flexibility, and is an effective method of weight loss. Except for all these physical benefits, there are some mental ones. Tennis develops disciplines and plans strategies. More than that, playing tennis develops social skills, accommodates stress, and teaches sportsmanship (Taori, 2009).

Conclusion

Tennis has become one of the most popular games all over the world. Everyone may enjoy playing this game professionally or with friends in their free time. The rules of this game are not very complicated, and it does not need supernatural abilities to play tennis. This game is quite simple to be taught to play. There are not only benefits for your physical, mental, and emotional development, but this game makes fun, and it is the best way of spending free time with your friends. There is no wonder that tennis is enjoyed all over the world by people belonging to different cultures and different social classes. This game was the privilege of rich people in the past, and now it is available to everybody. Everyone should not neglect such a great opportunity to try to play tennis.

References

Cooper, Jeff. n.d. The Origins and Early History of Tennis. Web. 2012.

Taori, Ravish, 2009. Benefits of Tennis. Web. 2012.

Tennis Rules Simplified, 2001. Web. 2012.

Introduction

A data set containing 100 female tennis players and their earnings (in dollars) in 2010 was used to conduct an analysis, and the results were presented in tables, and figures. The country of origin of the players and their earnings were the main interest in this analysis as presented and interpreted in this paper. Tables, a pie chart and histograms have been used to present the findings with descriptive statistics and tests of normality (Kolmogorov-Smirnova and Shapiro-Wilk’s tests) being used to further check the normality of the earnings.

Country Distribution of the Top 100 Female Tennis Players

A pie chart display of the data (Figure 1) shows that the individual country which had the highest number of female tennis players in the 2010 chart of best female tennis players was Russia, with a 14 per cent of the players. The Czech Republic and the United States had the second largest proportion of 2010 top 100 best female tennis players, each with 8 per cent of all the players. While Italy had six players only, France and Australia each had five players on the list. Germany and Belgium had four players each in the top 100 list of female tennis players in 2010 while Romania and China had three players each. Almost half of the players (40 per cent) were from other countries in the world other than the ten countries indicated in the pie chart.

2010 Earning Distribution of the Top 100 Female Tennis Players

A histogram (Figure 2) of the 2010 earning distribution of the top 100 female tennis players show the highest peak (constituting 36 players) to be earning $25,000 to 50,000. The histogram shows that the earnings are skewed towards the left, i.e. between $0 and $75,000 as indicated by the three highest peaks within this margin of earning. The three highest peaks constitute 76 of the players (23+36+17) while the rest 24 players earned beyond $75,000 with the highest-earning player (1) getting an earning of between $500,000 and $525,000. Earnings of above $275,000 were sparsely distributed to the right of the histogram.

The histogram, therefore, indicates that the earnings of 2010 top 100 female tennis players were abnormally distributed (the data is somewhat exponentially distributed) and this can be confirmed by skewness and kurtosis statistics as well as the Kolmogorov-Smirnova and Shapiro-Wilk’s tests. The skewness for the earnings as presented in the descriptive statistics Table 1 is 3.034 with a standard error of.241 while the kurtosis is 10.003 +.478 SE.

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics for 2010 Earnings ($) Distribution for Top 100 Female Tennis Players.

The high range of earnings ($ 4,854,837) is also an indicator that the earnings lack normal distribution. The mean earnings for the 100 top players were $736571.50 with a very high standard deviation of 89243.69 thus further confirming that there is an abnormal distribution in the earnings (though means are not helpful in comparisons of data which does not assume normality in distribution).

The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (which is not only a non-parametric test but it is also distributed free) of normality for 2010 earnings for top tennis females players was significant, K-S D (df 100) =.267, p =.001. The Shapiro-Wilk statistic was also significant, W (df 100) =.603, p =.001 (Table 2). The fact that these statistics are significant indicates that the dataset or else the 2010 earnings were not normally distributed.

Table 2: Tests of Normality: K-S D and Shapiro-Wilk Tests.

From the normal Q-Q plot of 2010 earnings (Figure 3), the confirmation that the earnings are highly non-normally distributed is made as indicated by most of the points lying very far from the line y = x. It is only a few data points (earnings) that lie along the line of best fit with a majority of the earnings being very far away from the line, thus confirming that the earns lack normal distribution. Most data points are distributed between 0 observations and $2,000,000.

The detrended normal Q-Q plot of 2010 earnings also indicate most points to be lying far from the normal curve with some deviating to the positive side of the curve and others to the negative side. Only a few points lie on the line (Figure 4). The stem & leaf plot indicates the earnings as non-normally distributed by showing stem 2 and 3 to have the longest branches while from stem 7 to stem 14. The branches are very short (Figure 5).

A random sample of 15 female tennis players (taken without replacement) was taken from the 2010 population of the top 100 female tennis players and presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Random Sample of 15 Female Tennis Players (Taken from Top 100 Female Players Population).

Descriptive statistics were generated (Table 4) for the 15 random samples to aid in comparing the distribution of earnings with the total population. The mean earning for this sample was $1040997.80, with a standard deviation of $1222805.094. The skewness for the sample was 2.791, SE =.580, while the kurtosis was 8.870, SE 1.121. The range for the sample was $4849365. Despite this sample having a relatively higher mean than for the population, the standard deviation for the mean is equally large, thus indicating that the sample is also non-normally distribution. Furthermore, the skewness value is a positive value which far much from zero, just as the kurtosis is, thus implying that the data is non-normally distributed. It is no different from the characteristics of the whole population.

Table 4: Descriptive Statistics for the Random 15 of the 2010 Top 100 Female Tennis Players.

The histogram (Figure 6) for this sample also indicates that the earnings are skewed to the left, which was the same form of skewness in the entire population. The majority in the sample (11 players) earn between $0 and $1000000 while the rest four earning an amount beyond $1000000 but this is sparsely distributed in the right with a lone player earning between $5000000 and $5500000. Indeed, the sample has similar characteristics with the total population, indicating that the sample is representative and the data is suitable for this analysis.

Australian Open tournament can be described as a product. When referring to a product, we mean tangible products, i.e. goods (Antti & Anselmi, 2008). However, in the modern world, a product is also something very intangible, such as a piece of software or a piece of knowledge (Antti & Anselmi, 2008). A product is, therefore, something that can generate revenue to the firm and offer a service to the customer. Australian Open tournament is seen to generate revenues of $209.6 million to the economy from customer turnout of over 0.5 million in 2005. This trend continues to actively contribute to the economy of the country every year it is held.

It also provides its customers with an opportunity to participate actively as spectators of various tennis matches. It is promoted and marketed just like any other product, and the body tasked with this job is Tennis Australia. There is a CEO to oversee its operation; the team comes up with a marketing strategy for branding Australian Open which is similar to any tangible product in the market. Advertisements for the Australian Open are carried out to inform the consumers of the existence of such a product, and at one specific time, the cost of advertisement was recorded to be $31 million.

Tennis Australia has a large number of customers, and to maintain them and gain their trust, the managers have to offer substantial services to them. Winston identifies three dimensions of service provider behaviour that correlate highly with customer satisfaction, namely, concern, civility and congeniality (J.Walker, 2010).

The body has a mandate of ensuring that there are elite competition and mass participation that lead to the sports development. Hence it makes sure that sports in Australia go well by ensuring there is the active participation of all the interested parties in the field. Tennis Australia welcomes everyone willing to pursue the sport to the highest level possible, and this demonstrates concern and civility to its fans. It has to tackle challenges related to time and resources by ensuring sporting in Australia is on the highest level and hence demonstrates considerable dedication in offering their services.

Australian Open tennis tournament is viewed as a product in this discussion, and for it to sell well, it has to be accompanied by superior, innovative and customer-oriented services. As R. Bacal (2005) notes, if you provide services to customers, your words and behaviour are the tools you use to create a positive customer perception of your company. Tennis Australia has to showcase the value of the Australian Open, and doing so, resources have to be pulled together to cater for every need. Tennis Australia has the mandate to conduct Australian Open professional tournament as well as facilitate participation in tennis.

It should sell the event as a brand and be able to attract customers from all over the world. It is to provide customers with the best consumer experience and hence demonstrate expertise in its services. It provides cafes and functional areas for the spectators to watch the game in comfort. Tennis Australia is as well tasked in looking for and incorporating well-experienced persons in this arena that can soldier on and uphold the vision of the organization. This is clear when it decided to involve Mr. Steve Wood in rebranding Tennis Australia. It was a great move considering the enormous benefits from his participation in the game. Players’ development is highlighted as a major task for the firm in organizing Australian Opens.

References

Antti, S. & Anselmi, I. (2008). Product lifecycle management. Berlin: Springer publishers

Bacal, R. (2005): Perfect phrases for customer service: Hundreds of tools, techniques, and scripts for handling any situation. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers.

Walker ,J. (2010). Services satisfaction and climate perspectives on management in English. Bradford: Emerald Group Publishers.