Tennis Facts
* The French Open, Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open tournaments make up tennis's “Grand Slam.” If a player wins all for Grand Slams, it is called a golden slam.
* In 1985, Germany's Boris Becker won the Wimbledon tournament at the young age of 17.
* As an amateur in 1962, Australia's Rod Laver won all four men's Grand Slam titles . He became the only player to accomplish the feat twice when he did it again in 1969 as a professional.
* Maureen Connolly (in 1953), Margaret Smith Court (in 1970), and Steffi Graf (in 198
are the only three women's tennis players to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year.
* Pete Sampras is tennis's all-time biggest money winner with over $40 million in career earnings.
* Helen Wills Moody, whose serious demeanor on the court earned her the nickname “Little Miss Poker Face”, finished the year as the no. 1 ranked women's tennis player nine times, including seven years straight from 1927 to 1933.
* At the age of 16, in 1997, Martina Hingis became the youngest women's tennis player to be ranked number 1 in the world since the rankings originatedin 1975.
* The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island.
* The first Wimbledon Championship took place in 1877 when it was watched by only 200 spectators. In 1999 it was broadcast to a toal of 174 countries, with an estimated audience of over 1 billion people.
* British Player Greg Rusedski has the world's fastest serve, clocked at a staggering 149 mph. In 1999 he served 685 aces, accounting for 79% of his points.
* Slazenger has provided all the tennis ball for Wimbledon tournament since 1902.
* Tennis Equipment has changed over the years. Early wooden tennis rackets were replaced with graphite rackets.
