There are 99 articles linked to the portal with 39 in the Tennis Category Tennis is a sport played between either two players (singles) or two teams of two players each (doubles). Players use a stringed racquet to strike a ball, a hollow rubber sphere covered in felt, over a net into the opponent's court. In some places tennis is still called lawn tennis to distinguish it from real tennis (also known as royal tennis, court tennis or jeu de paume), an older form of the game that is played indoors on a very different kind of a court. Originating in England in the late 19th century AD, the game spread first throughout the English-speaking world, particularly among the upper classes. Tennis is now played in the Summer Olympic Games and at all levels of society, by individuals of all ages many countries around the world. Its rules have remained remarkably unchanged since the early 1900s. Along with its millions of players, tennis claims millions of people who follow the sport as spectators, being particularly interested in the four Grand Slam tournaments. Upcoming tournaments in November In tennis, an official is a person who insures that a match or tournament is conducted according to the International Tennis Federation(ITF) Rules of Tennis [1] and other competition regulations. At the highest levels of the sport a team of up to ten officials may be on court at any given time.[1] These officials are broken up in to categories based on their responsibility during the match. Contrastingly, many tennis matches are conducted with no officials present. The Chair Umpire "is the final authority on all questions of fact during the match."[2] Questions of fact include whether or not a ball was in, the calling of a service let or the calling of a foot-fault. The Line Umpire "calls all shots relating to the assigned lines."[3] Line umpires work on court as part of a team of between three and nine line umpires. Each line umpire is assigned by the chair umpire to one line or, in the case of a short handed crew, a position in a system. For example, a line umpire on the receiver's side may have to cover the center service line then, following the serve, move to one of the sidelines.  Andre Agassi and Jim Courier on a clay court in Houston, Texas.
Kim Clijsters ( IPA: [kɪm klɛistərs],  listen (help·info); born June 8, 1983 in Bilzen, Limburg) is a retired Belgian tennis player. She is a former World No. 1 ranked player in singles and in doubles. During her professional career, Clijsters won 34 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. She won the U.S. Open singles title in 2005 and the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002 and 2003. In doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. Clijsters was twice a singles runner-up at the French Open and a one-time runner-up at the Australian Open, also reaching two Wimbledon singles semifinals. She announced her retirement with immediate effect on May 6, 2007.[4] Clijsters is recognized for her deep, powerful, well-placed groundstrokes, as well as her court-wide defense, characterized by speed and athleticism. Clijsters, along with Jelena Jankovic, is among the few tennis players on either the ATP or WTA tours who can slide (known as the straddle) on all surfaces. [5] After being defeated by Clijsters in the 2005 Nasdaq-100 Open, Maria Sharapova implied that Clijsters's strength lies in how she always forces her opponent to hit an extra shot, that "you just have to expect that she's going to get every ball back". [6] | “ | He's like a cat with seven lives...Nine lives? How many do they have? [Questioner: Nine.]. Yeah, I thought so. Seven would have been easy. | ” | | —Roger Federer, on Lleyton Hewitt after his semfinal win at Cincinnati Masters, 2007 | - Juan Martin del Potro upsets Roger Federer to take the 2009 US Open crown and become the tallest player ever to win a Grand Slam title.
- Roger Federer snatches 2009 Cincinnati Title beating Novak Djokovic in the final 6-1, 7-5
- Juan Martin Del Potro wins Washington final for second straight year. Beating 2009 Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick in three sets.
- Jul 5: Roger Federer wins his 6th Wimbledon title at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. This win was an epic against Andy Roddick, which the last set (5th set decider) went 30 games, and Federer won it in 16-14 fashion. This win allowed Federer to join Borg and Nadal as the only two to capture the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. In addition, Federer became the all-time winner in men's slam titles with 15 overall besting Pete Sampras's 14 titles.
- Jul 4: Serena Williams beats her sister Venus Williams in the final of Wimbledon, which was her third title after her wins in 2002 and 2003.
- Jun 7: Roger Federer beats Robin Soderling in the 2009 French Open final, which allowed him to capture the career grand slam, and he is the third man in the open era to do so after Rod Laver and Andre Agassi. This tournament also marked the first time Rafael Nadal lost in his French Open career, which he lost to eventual finalist Robin Soderling in the fourth round.
- Jun 6: Svetlana Kuznetsova won her first French Open over Dinara Safina, which was her second slam title after the 2004 US Open.
- ...that both Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi had losing records in doubles play?
- ...that Roger Federer leads Andy Roddick in head-to-head matches 19-2 (as of July 6 2009)?
- ...German Steffi Graf is the only player with at least 4 singles titles at each of the Grand Slams?
- ...Martina Navratilova had a 74 match winning streak in 1984?
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