OYAK AUTOMOBILE and CEMENT GROUPS TENNIS TOURNAMENT

A Tennis Tournament is being organised since 2007 to create team spirit, to discover the individual talents and to unite the personnel of Adana Cement, Bolu Cement, Ünye Cement, Mardin Cement, Oyak Concrete, Oyka Paper Packing, Oytaş Domestic and International Trade, Renault Mais and Erenco, the companies that take place under the roof of OYAK Automobile and Cement Groups.

The titles in men singles, women singles and mixed double categories receive the following awards:
. Champions: 1.000 TL and Championship Cup
. Seconds:  750 TL and Second Rank Cup
. Thirds: 500 TL and Third Rank Cup

History of Tennis
Many cave drawings show men playing target games. In the prehistoric tablets, it is stated that there are games in which men throw ball to each other. By time, players and the games they played developed and became complicated. Real tennis goes back to one thousand years. In 1874, Major Walter Clapton Wingfield felt that he could make money out of this game and got the patent of this game under the title, "Sphairistike" and later on the name turned into "Lawn Tennis". In 1872, the first tennis club of the history was established by Major Harry Gem and Augurio Pereira in the region of Spa.

Lawn tennis became popular in a very short time since it is one of the rare sports that both men and women can play together. It was played not only on lawn but on all kinds of surfaces and also in indoors. That is why the name of the game was lawn tennis, until 1970's, no matter what the surface it was played on. In the 1970's the countries threw away the word lawn and started to call it tennis but the International Tennis Federation did not change the name until 1977. The British Tennis Federation still addresses itself as Lawn Tennis Association.

In the Middle Ages the game that can be assumed to be one of the first versions of tennis was played with hands and by time the game tactics depended on strength and the ball started to hurt the hands. Then the players started to wrap their hands but could not provide enough protection and wooden rackets started to be used. These rackets cut the pain, reduced and eliminated the vibrations transferred from the ball.    

The first tennis book known, "Trattato del Givoco della Palla di Messer" (On the Principles of the Ball Game) was written by Antonio Scaino da Salo in 1555 in Venice. The same person, 13 years before this date, made rackets with two strings that resemble the rackets of 1970's. 

Following the promotion activities of Major Wingfield the lawn tennis started to flower. However, there were not any standards for the rules and the game field. The first tennis tournament was organised in 1877 in Wimbledon. The Tournament Committee decided that the rules did not meet the needs and asked three members of the cricket club (Messrs Julian Marshall, Henry Jones, C. G. Hethcote) to designate the rules. These people did their jobs so well that the rules they had set are still used as the basis.

Physical benefits of playing Tennis:

1. Helps to burn body fat and increases energy level.
2. Provides the efficient use of the oxygen by the muscles.
3. Gives agility.
4. Gives speed since it requires ball follow up.
5. Strengthen the muscles of the legs.
6. Develops body coordination.
7. Gives a dynamic balance.
8. Strengthen bones.
9. Gives the correct nutrition habit, as you have to be careful in what you eat before games.
10. Gives flexibility to the body with the manoeuvres you have to make throughout the game.

Psychological benefits of playing tennis:

1. Gives the habit of regular practice.
2. Develops working discipline notion.
3. Gives the concept of responsibility.
4. Teaches continuous struggling and not to get demoralised.
5. Gives you the power to resist physical difficulties (as wind, sun etc.).
6. Teaches you to handle stress in different environments since the game gives you physical, mental and emotional stress.
7. Teaches you to make plans and develop different strategies to overcome your opponents.
8. Teaches you to be a sportsman.
9. Shows you the importance of team game (in matches).
10. Ensures that you entertain yourself and have good time while running your muscles and your mind.