Glossary of tennis terms explained

This page is a glossary of tennis terminology.

A

• Ace: Serve where the tennis ball lands inside the service box and is not touched by the receiver; thus, a shot that is both a serve and a winner is an ace. Aces are usually powerful and generally land on or near one of the corners at the back of the service box. Initially, the term was used to indicate the scoring of a point.
• Action: Synonym of spin.
• Ad court: Left side of the court of each player, so called because the ad (advantage) point immediately following a deuce is always served to this side of the court.
• Ad in: Advantage to the server.
• Ad out: Advantage to the receiver.
• Ad: Used by the chair umpire to announce the score when a player has the advantage, meaning they won the point immediately after a deuce. See scoring in tennis.
• Advantage set: Set won by a player or team having won at least six games with a two-game advantage over the opponent (as opposed to a tiebreak format). All advantage sets were used at the final set of matches at the Olympic tennis events (until 2012), Davis Cup (until 2015), Fed Cup (until 2015), Australian Open (until 2018), Wimbledon (until 2018) and French Open (until 2021) when they were all switched to tie breaks.
• Advantage: When one player wins the first point from a deuce and needs one more point to win the game; not applicable when using deciding points.
• All-Comers: Tournament in which all players took part except the reigning champion. The winner of the All-Comers event would play the title holder in the Challenge Round.
• All-court (or all-court game): Style of play that is a composite of all the different playing styles, which includes baseline, transition, and serve and volley styles.
• All-courter: Player with an all-court game.
• All: Used by the chair umpire to announce scores when both players have the same number of points or the same number of games. When both players are at 40, the preferred term is deuce.
• Alley: Area of the court between the singles and the doubles sidelines, which together are known as tramlines.
• Alternate: Player or team that gains acceptance into the main draw of a tournament when a main draw player or team withdraws. Such a player may be a lucky loser.
• American doubles (or American singles, Australian doubles and cut-throat tennis): Informal and unsanctioned variation of tennis played with three players—two on one side of the court and one on the other. The team of two players can only hit the ball within the single player's singles lines, whilst the single player can hit into the full doubles court on the doubles team's side. After each game, the players rotate such that each player plays in every position on court during the match. See also: Canadian doubles.
• Approach shot (or approach): A groundstroke shot used as a setup as the player approaches the net, often using underspin or topspin.
• ATP Finals: (formerly Masters Grand Prix, ATP Tour World Championship, Tennis Masters Cup and ATP World Tour Finals): Annual season-ending tournament of the ATP Tour featuring the eight top-ranked men in the world (plus two alternates).^[1]
• ATP Race (or ATP Race to Milan/Turin/London; formerly ATP Champions Race): ATP point ranking system that starts at the beginning of the year and by the end of the year mirrors the ATP entry system ranking. The top eight players at the end of the year qualify for the ATP Finals.
• ATP Tour (formerly ATP World Tour): Worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals.
• ATP: Abbreviation for Association of Tennis Professionals, the main organizing body of men's professional tennis; governs the ATP Tour with the largest tournaments for men.
• Australian doubles: See American doubles.
• Australian formation: In doubles, a formation where the server and partner stand on the same side of the court before starting the point.^[2]

B

• Backboard: Vertical wall, often with the image of a tennis net painted on it, that is used to practice hitting against such that the ball bounces back without the need for a partner.
• Backcourt: The area of the tennis court between the baseline and the service line.
• Backhand: Stroke in which the ball is hit with the back of the racket hand facing the ball at the moment of contact. A backhand is often hit by a right-handed player when the ball is on the left side of the court, and vice versa.
• Backhand smash: A type of smash played over the backhand side.
• Backspin: Shot that rotates the ball backwards after it is hit; also known as slice or underspin. The trajectory of the shot is affected by an upward force that lifts the ball. See Magnus effect.
• Backswing: Portion of a swing where the racket is swung backwards in preparation for the forward motion to hit the ball.
• Bagel: Colloquial term for winning or losing a set 6–0 (the shape of the zero being reminiscent of the round shape of a bagel). See also breadstick.^{[3] [4]}
• Bagnall-Wild: A method of draw which places all byes in the first round. Introduced in the 1880s by Ralph Bagnall Bagnall-Wild.^{[5] [6]}
• Ball boy (also ball girl or ballkid): a person, commonly a child, tasked with retrieving tennis balls from the court that have gone out of play and supplying the balls to the players before their service. Ball boys in net positions normally kneel near the net and run across the court to collect the ball, while ball boys in the back positions stand in the back along the perimeter of the arena. Ball boys in the back are responsible for giving the balls to the player serving.
• Ball toss: The action of throwing up the ball prior to the serve.
• Ball machine: Machine that shoots tennis balls onto the court at a similar speed and trajectory as a human player, allowing an individual to practice their strokes without the need for a partner.
• Banana shot or banana forehand: Forehand hit down the line with sufficient spin that it curves in the air outside over the tramline and then back into the court again. A signature shot of Rafael Nadal.^[7]
• Baseline: Line at the farthest ends of the court indicating the boundary of the area of play. If the ball goes over the baseline it will be the other player's point.
• Baseliner: Player who plays around the baseline during play and relies on the quality of their ground strokes.
• Big serve: Forceful serve, usually giving an advantage in the point for the server.
• Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup or Federation Cup): International, annual women's tennis competition in which teams from participating countries compete in a single-elimination format tournament with matches occurring at several stages during the year.
• Bisque: One stroke (point), which may be claimed by the receiver at any part of the set. Part of the handicapping odds and used during the early era of the sport. Abolished by the LTA in 1890.^[8]
• Block (or blocked shot, blocked return): Defensive shot with relatively little backswing and shortened action instead of a full swing, usually while returning a serve.
• Bounce: The upward movement of the ball after it has hit the ground. The trajectory of the bounce can be affected by the surface and weather, the amount and type of spin and the power of the shot.
• Boxed set: The career slam in singles, doubles, and mixed, i.e. winning at least one title in each discipline at all four of the slam venues. Has been completed only four times, by Doris Hart, Margaret Court (twice), and Martina Navratilova.
• Breadstick: Colloquial term for winning or losing a set 6–1, with the straight shape of the one supposedly being reminiscent of the straight shape of a breadstick. See also bagel.^[9]
• Break back: To win a game as the receiving player or team immediately after losing the previous game as the serving player or team.
• Break point: Point which, if won by the receiver, would result in a break of service; arises when the score is 30–40 or 40–ad. A double break point or two break points arises at 15–40; a triple break point or three break points arises at 0–40.
• Break: To win a game as the receiving player or team, thereby breaking serve. At high level of play the server is more likely to win a game, so breaks are often key moments of a match. Noun: break (service break) (e.g. "to be a break down" means "to have, in a set, one break fewer than the opponent", "to be a double break up" means "to have, in a set, two breaks more than the opponent").
• Breaker: Colloquial term for tiebreak.
• Brutaliser: Hitting the ball directly at the opponent.^[10]
• Buffalo Log: The population of unbiased spectators enqueued viva their exchange mechanism, in attendance at the field.
• Buggy whip: Forehand hit with a follow-through that does not go across the body and finish on the opposite side, but rather goes from low to high, crosses the opposite shoulder (optionally) and finishes on the same side (similar to the driver of a horse-drawn carriage whipping a horse). Used, for example, by Rafael Nadal (racket head crosses the opposite shoulder) and Maria Sharapova (racket head stays on the same shoulder).^[11]
• Bumper guard: A piece of plastic that protects the outside of the upper-half of the racket head.
• Bye: Automatic advancement of a player to the next round of a tournament without facing an opponent. Byes are often awarded in the first round to the top-seeded players in a tournament.
• Bunt: To use the power of the opponent's shot and hit it back with a short swing.

C

• Call: Verbal utterance by a line judge or chair umpire declaring that a ball landed outside the valid area of play.
• Canadian doubles: Informal and unsanctioned variation of tennis played with three players—two on one side of the court and one on the other. The team of two players can only hit the ball within the single player's singles lines, whilst the single player can hit into the full doubles court on the doubles team's side. See also: American doubles.
• Can opener: Serve hit by a right-handed player with slice, landing on or near the intersection of the singles tramline and service line in the deuce court (or in the ad court for a left-handed server).^{[12] [13]}
• Cannonball: Somewhat archaic term for a very fast, flat serve.
• Career Golden Slam: In addition to having won all four major titles in their career, a player that has also won an Olympic gold medal is said to have achieved a career Golden Slam. Only five players have ever achieved this in singles: Steffi Graf (1988), Andre Agassi (1996), Rafael Nadal (2010), Serena Williams (2012), and Novak Djokovic (2024). The term is rarely used in doubles, although the feat has been more common in that discipline. It has been achieved individually by nine wheelchair tennis players and four able-bodied players (Pam Shriver, Gigi Fernández, Daniel Nestor, Mate Pavić), and by three teams (The Woodies, the Williams sisters, and the Bryan brothers). Tennis at the Olympics was not played from 1928 to 1984.
• Career Grand Slam (or career slam): Players who have won all four Major championships over the course of their career (but not within the same calendar year) are said to have won a career Grand Slam.
• Carpet court: A surface for tennis courts consisting of textile or polymer materials supplied in rolls. Previously common for indoor professional events, the surface was dropped from major pro tournaments in 2009. See carpet court.
• Carve: To hit a groundstroke shot with a combination of sidespin and underspin.
• Centre mark: Small mark located at the centre of the baseline. When serving the player must stand on the correct side of the mark corresponding with the score.
• Chair umpire: See umpire.
• Challenge Round: Final round of a tournament, in which the winner of a single-elimination phase faces the previous year's champion, who plays only that one match. The challenge round was used in the early history of Wimbledon (from 1877 through 1921) and the US Open (from 1884 through 1911), and, until 1972, in the Davis Cup.
• Challenge: When a player requests an official review of the spot where the ball landed, using electronic ball tracking technology. See Hawk-Eye. Challenges are only available in some large tournaments.
• Challenger: A tour of tournaments one level below the top-tier ATP Tour. Currently, Challenger tournaments compose the ATP Challenger Tour. Players, generally ranked around world no. 80 to world no. 300, compete on the Challenger tour in an effort to gain ranking points which allow them to gain entry to tournaments on the ATP Tour.
• Champions tiebreak: See super tiebreak.
• Change-over (or change of ends): 90 second rest time after every odd-numbered game when the players change ends.^[14]
• Chip and charge: Type of approach shot which involves hitting a slice shot while rapidly moving forward and following the shot into the net. Aimed at putting the opponent under pressure.^[14]
• Chip: Blocking a shot with underspin, creating a low trajectory.
• Chop: Shot hit with extreme underspin, opposite of topspin.
• Circuit: The yearly group of sanctioned tennis tournaments.
• Clay (or clay court, claycourt): a natural surface made of crushed shale, stone, brick or clay on which tennis is played, most notably at the French Open. See: clay court.
• Claycourter (or clay-courter, clay courter): Player who is particularly proficient or a specialist on clay courts.
• Closed tournament: Entries to "closed" tournaments are restricted, normally by a requirement of residency within a specified geographic area.^[15]
• Closed stance: Classic technique in which the ball is hit while the hitter's body is facing at an angle between parallel to the baseline and with their back turned to the opponent.
• Code violation: a rule violation at a men's and women's professional tour match called by the chair umpire which results in a player receiving an official warning or a penalty. The first violation results in a warning; the second, a point penalty; the third and successive violations, a game penalty each. A code violation may also be judged severe enough to result in the player having to forfeit the match immediately (without having to go through the three or more automatic penalty stages). There often follows additional monetary fine for each code violation.
• Consolidate (a break): To hold serve in the game immediately following a break of serve.
• Continental grip: way of holding the racket in which the bottom knuckle of the index finger is in contact with the top of the handle and the heel of the hand with the bevel directly clockwise from it.^[14]
• Counterpuncher: Defensive baseliner. See tennis strategy.
• Court: Area designated for playing a game of tennis.^[16]
• Cross-over: Player crossing the net into the opponent's court. It can be done either in a friendly fashion, or maliciously, thereby invoking a code violation. The latter sometimes happens when it is uncertain whether the ball on a decisive point landed inside or outside the court when playing on clay, thus leaving a mark.
• Crosscourt shot: Hitting the ball diagonally into the opponent's court.
• Cut-throat tennis (or cutthroat tennis): see American doubles.
• Cyclops: Device formerly used at Wimbledon and other tournaments to detect a serve that landed long, past the service line. The device emitted an audible noise when the serve was long. Succeeded by Hawk-Eye.

D

• Dampener A small rubber device affixed to the strings of the racket to absorb some of the vibration caused by hitting the ball.
• Davis Cup: International, annual men's tennis competition in which teams from participating countries compete in a single-elimination format, with matches occurring at several stages during the year.
• Dead ball: An old ball which has lost its bounce, and is thus unusable. Dead balls have a distinct hollow noise when hit.
• Dead net (or dead net cord): Situation in which a player scores by inadvertently hitting the ball in such a way that it touches the upper cord of the net and rolls over to the other side; the player is said to have "gotten (caught) a dead net (dead net cord)" and considered to be lucky.
• Dead rubber: Davis/Fed Cup match which is played after the victor of the tie has already been decided. Dead rubbers may or may not be played, depending on the coaches' agreement to do so, and are usually best of three, instead of five, sets. Typically, players who play the dead rubber are lower-ranked members of the team looking to gain Davis/Fed Cup match experience.
• Deciding point: In doubles, the point played when the game score reaches deuce and there is no ad play; the game is decided in favor of whichever team wins the deuce point.
• Deep shot: Shot that lands near the baseline, as opposed to near the net or mid-court.
• Default: Disqualification of a player in a match by the chair umpire after the player has received four code violation warnings, generally for their conduct on court. A default can occur with less than four code violations warnings if the code violation is judged severe enough to warrant it. A double default occurs when both players are disqualified. Defaults also occur when a player misses a match with no valid excuse. Defaults are considered losses.
• Deuce court: Right side of the court of each player, so called because it is the area into which the ball is served when the score is deuce.
• Deuce: Score of 40–40 in a game. A player must win two consecutive points from a deuce to win the game, unless the tournament employs deciding points, as in the 2010 ATP World Tour Finals. A player who has won one point after deuce is said to have the advantage.
• Dig: A shot where the player hits the ball just before the second bounce. So named because the racket is positioned in a downward position, similar to a shovel digging a hole.
• Dink: Onomatopoetic term for a shot with little pace, usually hit close to the net.
• Direct acceptance ("DA"): The process followed for the bulk of players who enter and are selected for a tournament by ranking. The term "DA" may be used specifically where a player's ATP or WTA ranking would be insufficient to gain entry into a tournament, but they are selected based on an ITF ranking, top 500 national ranking, or randomly if the player is unranked but more direct entry spots are needed to fill the draw.^[17]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tournaments – ATP World Tour Finals. www.atpworldtour.com. Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
2. Web site: Kathleen Krajco. Australian Doubles Strategy. The Tennis Server.
3. Web site: BuzzWord – Bagel. www.macmillandictionary.com. Macmillan.
4. Web site: Peter Bodo. Bagel, Anyone?. Tennis.com. 26 July 2011.
5. Book: Wright & Ditson's Lawn Tennis Guide for 1893. Boston. Wright & Ditson. 124, 125. Joseph T. Whittelsey. 32300203. 1893.
6. Book: Gillmeister, Heiner. Tennis : A Cultural History. registration. 1998. Leicester University Press. London. 978-0718501952. 355. Repr..
7. Web site: Nathan . Giri . All Hail The Rafael Nadal Banana Shot . . 24 January 2019 . 22 February 2022.
8. News: Lawn Tennis Association. Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. British Newspaper Archive. 30 January 1890. subscription .
9. Web site: Carl Bialik. Radwanska's Bakery of Odd Results. The Wall Street Journal. 3 July 2013.
10. Web site: Why do we say love? And other tennis jargon . BBC.
11. Book: Hoskins. Tina. The Tennis Drill Book. 2003. Human Kinetics. Champaign, Ill. ;Leeds. 978-0736049122. 23. registration.
12. Web site: Tennis.com . Another Big Four: Legends play the Garden . 2023-10-05 . Tennis.com . en.
13. Web site: O'Shannessy . Craig . 2017-06-05 . You Are Facing A Nasty Can Opener... . 2023-10-05 . Brain Game Tennis . en-US.
14. Web site: Tennis words amongst those to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary . . 27 June 2017.
15. Web site: Adult Tournament Options: Tournament Formats . www.usta.com . USTA Mid Atlantic . 2 December 2022 . 1.
16. Web site: Court Rules. www.itftennis.com. International Tennis Federation (ITF).
17. https://www.itftennis.com/media/2178/world-tennis-tour-acceptance-lists.pdf