touchtennis
touchtennis is a modified version of tennis played on a compact court with foam balls and shorter (21 inch) rackets. It is regularly featured on Sky Sports and is growing in popularity and acceptance as an alternative form of the full size game.
| First played | 2002, London, UK |
|---|---|
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | No |
| Team members | Single or doubles |
| Mixed gender | Yes, separate singles and doubles & mixed doubles |
| Type | Racquet sport |
| Equipment | touchtennis ball, 21" tennis racket |
| Venue | Indoor or outdoor 12m x 6m court with a tennis net |
| Presence | |
| Country or region | UK United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, Brazil, France, Belgium, New Zealand |
| Olympic | No |
| Paralympic | No |
Former and current ATP Players include Marcus Willis, Jeff Tarango and Chris Eaton. TV personality Bear Grylls plays tournaments and is a vocal supporter as is comedian Miranda Hart.
It is also used as a tool by the Lawn Tennis Association in the United Kingdom to increase the number of people playing an adaptation of tennis.[1]
History
touchtennis was created by Rashid Ahmad as a means of entertaining his young daughter in the back garden. It was developed to include a tour, complete with rankings, 4 major Grand Slams as well as Masters events and other smaller tournaments that offer a lower value of ranking points.
Equipment
Rackets
The official touchtennis rackets must be no shorter than 20.9 inches (53.0 cm) and no longer than 21.1 inches (53.6 cm). Most manufacturers "21 inch" rackets fall within this variation despite being labelled as 21 inches in length. The rackets head size may be no greater than 107 square inches.
Balls
Special foam balls have been developed to withstand heavy hitting. The official ball of touchtennis is 8 cm in diameter and made from cut foam. The official ball has the touchtennis trademarked logo on it.[2]
Court
The dimensions of an official touchtennis court are 12 m × 5 m for singles and 12 m × 6 m for doubles. However, variances of up to a metre are tolerated on all lines in order to make the game more accessible and varied. Mini red/10 and Under Tennis dimensions are perfectly suitable. Players can also utilize a badminton court by lowering the net and taping a new service line 1 metre away from the badminton service line towards the baseline.
References
- https://www.lta.org.uk/play/types-of-tennis/touchtennis
- "The Official touchtennis Ball : touchtennis". www.touchtennis.com. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
External links
- touchtennis website touchtennis.
- Transworld Sport Film
- BBC film about touchtennis