Beach tennis is a recreational sport which combines the playing techniques of both tennis and volleyball. The sport is widely popular in coastal areas. It is practised in more than 50 countries with almost half a million players from around the world.
The sport is widely played by many professional tennis players including the famous Roger Federer. It is conducted on a smaller court as compared to that of tennis with a depressurised tennis ball. The sport was originated in the 1970s in Lido degli Estensi (Ferrara).
Beach tennis is a team sport which is played on sand usually at beaches. The matches usually consist of singles and doubles events. The players are required to serve their tennis ball with their rackets through the volleyball net.
Their primary focus is to keep on passing the ball without letting it drop and aim to smash the ball in such a way that the other players may not hit it back. By continuing this way, the players earn more points, and at the end, the team with the maximum score wins the match.
History of Beach Tennis
The sport of beach tennis holds its roots from Italy, where it was developed in the year 1970 in Lido degli Estensi. In early 2000, the popularity of beach tennis started spreading globally and was widely accepted in the coastal regions.
Today, it is played in more than 53 countries, including France, Poland, Austria, the UK, and Switzerland etc. In 2008, it was introduced in Brazil, where 1/3 of the total beach courts are present. It alone consists of 50,000 beach tennis players.
In 2010, the sport received its recognition from the International Tennis Federation. The ITF manages and governs the sport on the international stage. Since 2013, regional as well as world championships has been organised by the ITF.
In 2015, the conducted 89 official beach tennis tournaments all over the world. The same year, 28 countries participated in the World Team Championship which included Brazil, Italy, Russia, France, Japan, Latvia, Cyprus, and Mauritius.
Variants
Beach Tennis USA
It is a variant of regular beach volleyball but, played with a tennis ball and racket. The rules are modified, derived from combining both tennis and volleyball. A point is scored by a team when the ball hits the sand on the opponent's side. The scoring format is the same as followed in tennis, i.e., 15-30-40 format.
Beach Paddleball
It is played in different countries and known by various names such as Matkot in Isreal and Frescobol in Brazil.
