In This Guide
Tennis
Once a simple medieval pastime called jeu de paume, involving a ball and the palm of one's hand, tennis has evolved into one of the most physically challenging sports, not to mention an immensely popular event for spectators around the world. Whether you are a parent looking to help your child start playing, a sofa spectator looking to learn more about your favorite professional players, or a college student looking to test your game in some stiffer competition, the Web provides a multitude of sites catering to every breed of tennis enthusiast.
Expand All Guide SectionsLearn About Tennis
Below we'll introduce a few sites that will get the beginner familiarized with the basics of ... read more »
Professional Tennis
The world of professional tennis is more than just popular spectator events around the world; it's an inspiration to players and would-be players. In this section are guidelines and sites that give you a better picture of the professional tennis world and keep you up to date with the players and tournaments.
Dulcinea's Insight
- In the United States, professional tennis is regulated by the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA). Internationally, the sport is overseen by the International Tennis Federation. The WTA, or Sony Ericsson Women's Tennis Association, organizes the women's pro tour circuit globally. The ATP is the Association of Tennis Professionals, which handles the men's pro tour circuit.
- Familiarize yourself with some of the governing bodies in the sport, because their Web sites are a great place to start finding statistics and other useful information about players and tournaments. The ATP and WTA Web sites also provide some insight and background into the decision-making processes in pro tennis. The sites offer information on rules and regulations, which tournaments are part of the tour, and some interesting statistics behind the players, events, and prizes. The USTA site is a good resource for finding professional tennis stats, tickets, and more.
- Television networks continue to spruce up their Web sites with on-demand video, user forums, breaking news, and other interactive features for sports fans. You're likely to find that the networks with the best coverage of the sport on television also have a wealth of information devoted to that sport online.
- The official sites of Grand Slam tournaments are all-encompassing resources with sections on the tournament history, archives of match scores, multimedia, and more.
Dulcinea's Picks
For tournament and TV schedules ...
The Tennis Channel
, the sport's premier cable television network, has a "Professional Tennis Tour Schedule" on their site that covers the year's tournaments. You'll find links to the tournaments' homepages, what groups compete (for example, ATP or WTA), the winner (if applicable), and prize money.
The USTA's TennisLink
site is a good resource for the tennis player as well as the fan. Narrow your search to find a chronological list of tennis tournaments happening in the next 12 months. Whether you're interested in visiting the tournaments or playing in them (USTA membership required), the coverage is complete and provides information on the entry dates, draws, cost, and contact information.
Tennis Week
is an online magazine covering professional tennis that has a useful, easy-to-read schedule showing television listings several months out. Included here are regular networks like NBC, as well as ESPN and the Tennis Channel.
For online coverage of tennis tournaments ...
NBC Sports
is a glossy, easy-to-navigate network site. NBC has had exclusive television rights to Wimbledon for several years, so you will find an extensive supply of free multimedia and original articles on the only grass court Grand Slam, as well as other perspectives on the pro field.
CBS SportsLine
has good free coverage of player interviews, news feeds, players featured in amusing spots on The Late Show with David Letterman, and more tidbits from around the tour circuit.
For statistics on professional tennis players ...
ATPtennis.com
, the site for the governing body of the men's pro tour, provides the most official and comprehensive stats on your favorite players including prize money, tournaments won, up-to-date news, free multimedia like video clips and photo galleries, a fantasy bracket section, and a shop (linked to the Tennis Warehouse, a specialty online retailer).
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour
is the official site of the women's tour, and is designed almost identically to the ATP Web site featuring brackets, multimedia, ranks, player stats, and bios. You'll also find a charity section and a shop with clothing, memorabilia, and literature.
For journalistic coverage of professional and college tennis ...
TENNIS Magazine
is widely considered the premier magazine on the sport. Its Web site, associated with ESPN, has up-to-date statistical information on players, articles and interviews, news, and special features on many aspects of the sport. The site's "Gear" section has articles on equipment, shoes and apparel, reviews of new products, as well as great bonuses like "What's in my Bag?", an article where the pros discuss their own gear.
TennisLife
is a great place to fill in the blanks from TENNIS. Though not as thorough in its online version, this magazine allows non-subscribers free access to special features on the major tournaments and interesting articles in the "Health and Fitness" section about improving your general fitness. The "Travel" section profiles dream destinations for tennis fans, and the "Instruction" section has useful tips.
ESPN.com
clearly conveys its superior television coverage of tennis with an entire site section devoted to the sport, where you can browse multimedia and get recent stats and scores. Check out the "Grand Slam History" section for a useful source of who's won the four Grand Slam tournaments. One of the best features is the "Players" section, an encyclopedic source that provides a profile page for hundreds of pro players.
Tennis-X
boasts an up-to-date feed that brings you the latest blog entries on pro tennis from around the Web. Often bloggers are the first sources of new information, and they're able to hand you news gathered from several other sources quickly and efficiently. It's also a great way to read others' opinions on the sport. Tennis-X brings you a myriad of recent entries from about a dozen bloggers to let you sift through only the headlines that interest you.
College Tennis Online
moderates NCAA championships and smaller regional tournaments and profiles the college teams and singles and doubles players who are standing out in the collegiate field.
Who knew?
The Guardian
published an article on 10 wacky moments in professional tennis spanning the entire championship era. Read about the male player who later became a woman, one of the ways John McEnroe earned the title of tennis's drama king, and several other surprising anecdotes about pros past and present.
Attend a Professional Tennis Tournament
The WTA and ATP tours participate in dozens of tournaments a year, many of which serve as ... read more »
Improve Your Tennis Game
Whether you're looking for lessons, injury advice, or simply want to take advantage of the ... read more »
Buy Tennis Equipment
There are plenty of tennis-specific online retailers carrying thousands of products, frequent price ... read more »
Connect with Other Tennis Enthusiasts
In this section are sites and suggestions that can help you connect with players and fans, whether ... read more »
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
