Court is a foreign word that refers to a stadium in tennis, basketball, and volleyball. It is written as ‘court’ in English. Originally ‘court’ means court in England. Even today, ‘court’ is used to mean a courtroom, such as a tennis court.
According to the English Glossary, ‘court’ is derived from the ancient Greek word ‘χόρτος (khortos)’ meaning garden. It was derived from Old French ‘cort’ and ‘courtoyer’ through Latin ‘cohors’ and ‘cohort’, and began to be used in English from the 12th century. Since 1510, it has also been used to refer to tennis matches. It is presumed that the word court was used in tennis in the sense that a winner is determined according to various rules, like a court that upholds the law. This is also the reason why ‘judge’, which means a judge in addition to the court as a sports term in English, is used to mean referee.
In Korea, the word ‘coat’ has been used since the days of Japanese colonial rule. Influenced by Japan, it seems that the word court was used a lot in tennis and tennis. The Chosun Ilbo, November 22, 1921, article ‘Nongjam 슬롯사이트School Courtyard Match (農蠶學校庭球試合)’ said, ‘Sangju Nongjam School (尙州農蠶學校) Escher was a Geosip Sixty-One Siksan Bank (去十六日殖產銀行) Courtesy said, “When we had a tennis match, we had a great success (Sangju).”
The tennis court is 23.78m wide, 10.97m long for doubles and 8.23m long for singles. The area is 271m2. The outermost sidelines on both sides of the tennis court are used for doubles matches and the inner sidelines for singles matches.
Courts are divided into three types, clay courts, hard courts and grass courts, depending on the surface material. Indoor courts with other surface materials (carpet, rubber, or wood) may be used if life sports or the environment are not suitable. However, unlike the standard, the court material is not regulated by the tennis rules, so as long as the standard is met, it does not matter whether it is on concrete or asphalt marble. However, in the professional game, the game is divided into clay courts, hard courts, and grass courts. Wimbledon, which has the longest tradition, is famous for being played on grass courts, and the French Open being played on clay courts.
Originally, traditional tennis was played only on grass courts. However, modern tennis is dominated by hard courts that are very easy to manage and have moderate bounce speeds. Next, many courts are clay courts, which are less prone to injuries to players.
Depending on the material of the court, the players’ performance may vary. The characteristics of the court caused by the difference in surface friction force change the ball that changes after bouncing, and there are players who are particularly good at certain courts. Rafael Nadal has won 14 championships at Roland Garros, where the French Open is held, and has the nickname ‘God of Dirt’, meaning that he is strong on clay courts. Novak Djokovic is known as a man who is strong on hard courts as he won the Australian Open 10 times on hard courts. However, after Roger Federer’s retirement, Djokovic has won consecutive championships since 2018 at Wimbledon, which is held on natural grass, and has maintained the world number one in name and reality.