tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

backboard is a simple wall usually made from some kind of

fiberboard Fiberboard (American English) or fibreboard (British English) is a type of engineered wood product that is made out of wood fibers. Types of fiberboard (in order of increasing density) include particle board or low-density fiberboard (LDF), medi ...

and located at a

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

. It should have a tennis net either drawn or painted at the proper height of 3 ft 6 in. It is designed to allow a single person to practice by hitting a

tennis ball A tennis ball is a ball designed for the sport of tennis. Tennis balls are fluorescent yellow in organised competitions, but in recreational play can be virtually any color. Tennis balls are covered in a fibrous felt which modifies their aerodyna ...

against the wall so the ball is returned, much like a second player would return it. Its invention is credited to tennis player

Mary Browne Mary Kendall Browne (June 3, 1891 – August 19, 1971) was an American professional tennis player and an amateur golfer. She was born in Ventura County, California. Biography According to A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Ma ...

in 1926 during her tenure as a coach at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. The main advantage of the backboard is that it provides a realistic and challenging emulation of regulation tennis, while also being more enjoyable. In 1938 a restraining line was added so that players would not stand unrealistically close to the wall. Many players are said to have been given their first basic strokes by playing for hours at public courts backboards. Though the backboard's death has been touted more than once, many still believe that it is an important tool to basic skill and stroke development. Including

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...

himself, with a "Backboard Challenge".

References

External links

Original Patent: Most Recent: Tennis equipment {{tennis-stub

See also

References

External links