tennis

noun

ten·nis ˈte-nəs

often attributive

: an indoor or outdoor game that is played with rackets and a light elastic ball by two players or pairs of players on a level court (as of clay or grass) divided by a low net

: court tennis

Examples of tennis in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Sabalenka jumped ahead of her rival Iga Świątek to capture tennis’ No. 1 ranking and claimed the WTA Player of the Year Award after winning the Australian Open and the U.S. Open, along with two other tournaments. —

Brett Knight, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024 Netflix and Skydance Sports have unveiled plans to release a documentary series focusing on the final season of Spanish tennis champion Rafael Nadal. —

Jack Dunn, Variety, 18 Dec. 2024 The best tennis bags aren’t exclusive to those on the grand slam circuit. —

Kristina Rutkowski, Vogue, 17 Dec. 2024 The tennis icon shared a brief peek into a day in her busy life — via a hilarious video posted to Instagram in which she is seen conducting business on the phone while lying down on a dining room table. —

Danielle Jennings, People.com, 17 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for tennis

Word History

Etymology

Middle English tenetz, tenys, perhaps borrowed from Anglo-French tenez, 2nd person plural imperative of tenir "to hold" — more at tenant entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler

The first known use of tennis was in the 15th century

See more words from the same century