Overview

The earliest recognisable relative to tennis, as we know it, was "jeu de paume", played in 11th century France. Played in a monastery courtyard, the game used the walls and sloping roofs as part of the court and the palm of the hand to hit the ball.

Tennis made its debut at the inaugural modern Olympic Games in 1896. It withdrew from the Olympic programme after 1924 and did not return as a medal sport until 1988. Today, Olympic competition includes men’s and women’s singles and doubles, and professionals are now welcome to compete.

As with most tournaments, Olympic tennis is a knockout competition. All matches are played best of three sets except the men’s singles and doubles finals, which are best of five. In all four divisions, the semi-final winners play to decide the gold and silver medals, and the semi-final losers play for the bronze.

Qatar has hosted the Qatar Open ATP World Tour tournament since 1993 and the Qatar Ladies Open WTA Tour event since 2001 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha. Both events attract the world’s best tennis players