Glossary of Tennis Terms - F

F

• fault: Serve that fails to land the ball in the correct area of play, therefore not starting the point.
• Fed Cup: International, annual women's tennis competition in which teams from participating countries compete in a single-elimination format tournament with matches occurring at several stages during the year
• first service: First of the two serves of a tennis ball a player is allowed at the beginning of a point.
• five: Number of games completed (e.g. "7–5" is spoken as "seven–five"), or a spoken abbreviation of "15" in points (e.g. a score of 40–15 is sometimes spoken as "forty–five").
• flat: Shot with relatively little spin.
• flatliner: Player who hits the ball flat with a very low trajectory with exceptional depth and accuracy so that the ball often strikes the line. Examples include Andre Agassi and Lindsay Davenport.
• follow through: Portion of a swing after the ball is hit.
• foot fault: Type of service fault in which a player, during the serve, steps on or over the baseline into the court before striking the ball. A foot fault may also occur if the player steps on or across the center hash mark and its imaginary perpendicular extension from the baseline to the net.
• forced error: Miss caused by an opponent's good play; contrasted with unforced error. Counting forced errors as well as unforced errors is partly subjective.
• forehand: Stroke in which the player hits the ball with the front of the racquet hand facing the ball; contrasted with backhand.
• fry: Winning (or losing) a set 6–1. The term is used in the Golden Bagel Award. See also breadstick.
• Futures: Series of men's tour tennis tournaments which comprise the ITF Men's Circuit, a tour two levels below the ATP World Tour and one level below the ATP Challenger Tour. Players compete in Futures events (generally when ranked below world no. 300 or so) to garner enough ranking points to gain entry into Challenger events.