one of the people involved in playing a game, e.g. tennis player or football player

a two-player game

a four-player game

a point begins with a player serving the ball. This means one player hits the ball towards the other player. (The serve must be played from behind the baseline and must land in the service box. Players get two attempts to make a good serve.)

the player who hits the ball first for each point in a game

the player who hits the ball back after a serve

each side of the court (that begins with a baseline)

the line marking the front and back of a tennis court

the piece of material across the middle of the tennis court that divides the court in half

the left and right edges of a tennis court

when a tennis ball hits the ground, it goes back into the air - the ball has bounced. During a match, the ball often becomes less bouncy and needs changing for a new ball

professional tournaments use young boys or girls to collect tennis balls during a game

in tournaments the balls are changed after a certain number of games to ensure they stay as bouncy as possible

the area where players serve into

a player wins a game if, generally, they are the first player to win four points

Generally, the first player to win six games wins a set

Usually, in men's tennis, the first player to win three sets wins the match. In women's tennis, the first player to win two sets wins the match

if a score gets to 40-40, the score is called deuce - at this stage, the winner of the game is the first player to now win two points in a row

if both players win 6 games each then there is a tie-break. In a tiebreak, the first player to win seven points, wins the tiebreak (note: like deuce, if both players get to six points, then the winner is the player who now wins two points in a row)

a score of zero points in a game or zero games in a set

a player who only needs one more point to win the match is said to be at match point

indicates the scores are level. For example, '15 all' means that both players have a score of 15

a serve which hits the net and / or lands outside the service box

this happens when a server's foot touches the ground in front of the baseline or the wrong side of the centre mark (on the baseline) before the player hits the ball

when a serve hits the top of the net and lands within the service box, it is known as a 'let' and the server must serve again

a shot that travels parallel to and along the sideline

a hard, straight shot often used to pass an opponent at the net

a gently played shot that just gets over the net so the other player can't reach it

a shot that is made after the ball has bounced

a shot hit just as the ball bounces

a shot played deliberately high into the air to land at the back of the opponent's court

the exchange of shots between players. A rally starts when the receiver returns serve and ends when the point is won

an overhead shot hit very hard, usually before the ball has bounced

a shot that slows the ball down a lot and makes it drop just over the net with very little bounce

this means that a player has won their first match

this means that the player won that point

this means the tennis balls did not travel as fast after they hit the ground

a player thinks he has a good chance of winning a match against an opponent

the player that is expected to lose

continued to win points to stay in the match even though it looked like the player should lose

if you say this you think that the player really wants to win the title

the person you really wanted to win has lost their match and is out of the tournament

if you say a player is at their peak, you mean they are playing at their very best

you think this player is very, very good

you think that a player still has a chance of winning, even if they are not playing well

this means that the player only has to play against easy opponents to get to the final

that player is not playing well