SSC
What is the maximum length of a tennis racket allowed in professional play?
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Answer: Option C — 29 inches
Detailed Solution
According to the rules of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the frame of a tennis racket, including the handle, must not be more than 29 inches (73.7 cm) long for professional play.
Other racket rules (ITF Rules of Tennis):
- The overall width must not be more than 12.5 inches (31.7 cm).
- The hitting surface (strung area) must not be more than 15.5 inches (39.4 cm) long and 11.5 inches (29.2 cm) wide.
- The strings must be interlaced or bonded where they cross, in a generally uniform pattern.
- There must be no device that changes the shape of the racket during play.
History of the racket:
- Early tennis rackets were made of wood.
- Metal rackets appeared in the 1960s and 1970s, and modern rackets are made of graphite, carbon fibre and other composite materials, making them lighter and more powerful.
The 29-inch limit was introduced in 1997 for professional play to stop rackets becoming longer and giving too much advantage to servers. (Junior players use shorter rackets.)
Other tennis measurements:
- Court length: 78 feet; width: 27 feet (singles) and 36 feet (doubles).
- Net height: 3 feet at the centre.
- Ball diameter: about 6.54-6.86 cm; weight 56.0-59.4 g.
Comparison with other sports:
- Badminton racket: maximum 680 mm long.
- Squash racket: maximum 686 mm long.
- Table tennis bat: no size limit, but the blade must be at least 85% natural wood.
- Cricket bat: maximum 38 inches long and 4.25 inches wide.
Why not the other options?
- ✗27 inches is a common standard length for adult rackets, but it is not the maximum allowed.
- ✗32 inches is longer than the legal limit.
- ✗25 inches is the length of a junior racket.
Quick tip
Remember: Tennis racket max = 29 inches long (since 1997) and 12.5 inches wide; standard adult racket = 27 inches; cricket bat max = 38 inches.
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Sports — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Sports, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers sports GK: major tournaments and their venues, trophies and cups associated with each sport, sports terms, the number of players in a team, sports awards in India, Olympic and Asian Games facts, and famous sportspersons and their achievements. Common questions ask which sport a trophy belongs to (such as the Durand Cup for football or the Ranji Trophy for cricket), which term is used in which sport, and where a tournament was held. Records and results change after every season, so pair static facts such as team sizes and terms with recent results from current affairs. Practise the sports questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.