Soft tennis is a racket game played on a court of two halves, separated by a net. Soft tennis originated in Japan in 1884. Like regular tennis, it is played by individuals (singles) or pairs (doubles), whose objective is to hit the ball over the net, landing within the confines of the court, with the aim of preventing one's opponent from being able to hit it back. Matches are generally best-of-seven or best-of-nine. Soft tennis differs from regular tennis in that it uses soft rubber balls instead of hard yellow balls.
It is played primarily in Asia, especially in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Thailand, and the Philippines. In 2004, soft tennis was introduced into Europe. Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom all now have active soft tennis federations. All of them are also members of the European Soft Tennis Federation, and the International Federation JSTA.
History
Soft tennis originated in Japan in 1884. At the end of the 19th century, tennis was introduced to Japan by a Western missionary, and it was later modified to better suit Japanese tastes. A special racquet and ball were developed, and the game became known as . Soft tennis was included in the 1990 Asian Games as an exhibition game and later became an official event in the 1994 Asian Games, It continues to be an official event at the Asian Games.
