【明報專訊】Tennis is commonly believed to have originated from a crude courtyard ball game French monks played with their bare hands in the 11th or 12th century. The word "tennis" is said to have evolved from "tenez", a French word that means "to take". Some aristocrats then learned and modified the game. They played it on indoor courts and developed gloves to wear and bats to hit the ball with. People began playing tennis with rackets by 1500.

Candy and Pat are dominating the tennis match! This should come as no surprise as Candy is just too good. While Dr Panda is the chair umpire (主裁判), Eason can only be the ballboy because he can't play tennis.

Exercising regularly is essential for good health. Candy Wai (韋怡靜), a form 1 student at Diocesan Girls' School (拔萃女書院), started playing tennis when she attended W F Joseph Lee Primary School (和富慈善基金李宗德小學). She represented Hong Kong at the 2016 Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament in Paris last May. She is surely an up-and-coming tennis star in Hong Kong!

Following in her brother's footsteps, Candy started playing tennis when she was six. She loves playing competitive tennis because of what happened at a competition not long after she had picked up the sport. "I was very happy that I'd won the contest," she says. It was a mini tennis competition for competitors under seven. Candy's first victory in a competition filled her with confidence and inspired her to become better at tennis.

Candy is terribly busy. She has to attend tennis training sessions at the Hong Kong Tennis Association (HKTA) Tennis Centre at Kowloon Tsai Park (九龍仔公園香港網球總會網球中心) every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Each session lasts three hours. And she has to attend a physical training session every Tuesday. After training, she goes home to have dinner and do her homework.

Candy's coach once told her to take a two-week rest because excessive practice had caused some wear and tear in her right elbow. "I wanted to play even then. I played with my left hand (instead)", says Candy. Apparently, nothing stops this young girl from doing what she wants! Speaking of the future, she says she aims at taking part in all Grand Slams events.

■English highway: Grand Slam

Grand Slam refers to a very important sports event or contest or the winning of every part of a sports contest or all the main contests in a year in a particular sport. In tennis, the Grand Slams are the four most prestigious tournaments in the world: the Australian Open, Roland Garros (the French Open), Wimbledon (溫布頓) and the US Open.

e.g. Who has won the most tennis Grand Slam titles?

■Key words

racket 球拍

coach (對運動、工作或技能進行) 指導、訓練/運動教練

■Glossary

crude (adj) 粗糙的

aristocrat (n) 貴族

bat (n) 球棒/球拍/球板

excessive (adj) 過度的

wear and tear (idiom) 損耗

elbow (n) 肘部

apparently (adv) 顯然地

ambassador (n) 大使