Tennis

Tennis is a sport of human origin. First developed in Europe in the 19th century, the sport has remained popular over time.

In tennis, two teams consisting of one or two players each face each other on a court that is divided by a net. The players use rackets to serve a ball back and forth between each other. The rackets traditionally were flat circular devices with strings, but later rackets were developed that were made entirely of metal. Points are awarded to a team when the other team allows the ball to go out of play or hits the ball into the net.

As a young woman, Kathryn Janeway played tennis quite frequently, and competed with others. At the age of 12, Janeway walked home over several kilometers during a thunderstorm because she had lost a tennis match. (VOY episode Deadlock). Janeway gave up the game after playing on her high school's tennis team, and would not take up the sport again until 2373 when commanding USS Voyager (NCC-74656) - which was then stranded in the Delta Quadrant. (VOY episode Future's End).

Julian Bashir was also an accomplished tennis player in his youth, and seriously considered playing at the professional level, but would decide to instead prusue a career in medicine. (DS9 episode Melora).

As humans moved into the interstellar community, tennis became popular amongst other species as well, including Bajorans. The Bajoran Ibudan enjoyed playing tennis, and a calendar that odo later reviewed showed that he had scheduled himself for several tennis matches. (DS9 episode A Man Alone).