Beach tennis
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For another sport called "beach paddleball", see Matkot. For other sports called "paddleball", see Paddleball (sport).
Beach Tennis is a game combining elements of tennis and volleyball and played on a beach.
Contents
Forms
Beach Tennis USA
Beach tennis was formalized in 2005 in New York City by Marc Altheim.[1] He discovered beach tennis on a trip to Aruba in 2003.[1] The sport had been played in Aruba since 2000,[1] having been introduced by a Dutchman.[2] As of 2007, beach tennis has made progress toward acceptance as a mainstream sport with an official standards organization known as Beach Tennis USA (BT USA). In 2007, BT USA signed two television deals: one with SNY in New York City and one with the Tennis Channel. The Tennis Channel agreed to televise three major BTUSA or National Beach Tennis / Beach Paddle Ball Association tournaments.[2] The Miami BT USA open featured 40 teams including several formerly highly ranked pro tennis players including Jay Berger and Pablo Arraya. In 2007, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf played the sport.[2]
Beach tennis merges the world of beach volleyball and tennis.
It is related to beach volleyball but played with a tennis ball and paddle or racket. The court is a standard beach volleyball court that is 30 feet wide and 60 feet long. There is a center line that splits the court lengthwise. At the center of the court, there is a 5-foot-10-inch-high (1.78 m) net. A standard tennis racquet or a paddle and a slightly depressurized tennis ball (6 oz instead of 12 oz) are used.
Sanctioned Beach Tennis USA events are different depending upon the number of entrants, number of courts available and time. Typically, the preliminary rounds are round-robin, or pool-play. This means that there is a pool of four, one would play all the other teams in your pool (3 matches). The top 1 or 2 teams from each pool advance to the elimination rounds (single-elimination).
The rules are a mix of tennis and volleyball rules. Ball that hit the sand result in a point. Scoring is similar to tennis with scores of 0 - 15 - 30 - 40 and no-ad at deuce. There is only one contact per side. Balls that hit the net remain in play. At deuce, the receiving team chooses which player will receive.
In BT USA sanctioned events, each match consists of one eight-game set. The match must be won by two games. If the match score is tied at 8–8, a 12-point tennis tiebreaker is played to determine the winner.
Beach tennis was one of the attractions at the Family Circle Cup, in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 2007.[3] Beach Tennis USA organized its first professional tournament there.[3]
The BT USA 2008 tour commenced in Key Biscayne, Florida on the grounds of the Sony Ericcson Open.[4] The 2008 season saw tournaments held nationwide, and a network of events under the BT USA banner will help foster the growth of the sport, which has increased ever since.
In 2008 the exposure to the sport of beach tennis increased, with new broadcast agreements with Fox Sports Net (FSN) in California and Florida and from coverage on TV shows like NBC's Today Show.[2]
Beach tennis with paddle racquet
In other countries beach tennis is called beach paddle Ball or nation-specific names like matkot in Israel and Racchettoni in Italy. It was first played in Romagna near Ravenna and Rimini in 1978.[4] Later, in 1996, it was formalized by Italian Gianni Bellettini,[5] president of International Federation Beach Tennis-IFBT.[5] The best players in the world are from Ravenna Italy: Alex Mingozzi and Matteo Marighella, two times USA National Champions and four times world champions.[5]
In popular culture
In the "Spring Clean" episode of Bananas In Pyjamas, the bananas played beach tennis.
References
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- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- IFBT-International federation of beach tennis or beach paddle tennis(Italian and English languages)
