English
Etymology
From French tennisman. Equivalent to tennis + -man.
Noun
tennisman (plural tennismen)
- (non-native speakers' English) A male tennis player.
1996 January 31, baudry christophe, “Tennis Pictures ???? Where ???”, in news.newusers.questions[1] (Usenet), retrieved 17 April 2022:Im a tennisman who love playing tennis :-)
1999 August 7, Pierre Jelenc, “loanwords without source”, in sci.lang[2] (Usenet), retrieved 17 April 2022:René Lacoste was known as a tennisman in the late 20's or early 30's. Well before my time, but there are books and magazines.
2001 August 7, Carlos Klimann, “Which eyeware[sic] for hard contact wearer?”, in rec.bicycles.misc[3] (Usenet), retrieved 17 April 2022:For sweet[sic] in your eyes the best is a head band in towell[sic] tissue like the tennismen wear.
2010 May 28, Manuel aka Xax, “Men's Side - Matches Ups, Upsets?”, in rec.sport.tennis[4] (Usenet), retrieved 17 April 2022:Viktor has "captured" the most beatiful[sic] grilfriend I've ever seen for a tennisman.
French
Etymology
Pseudo-anglicism, from tennis + English man.
Pronunciation
Noun
tennisman m (plural tennismen or tennismans, feminine tenniswoman)
- a male tennis player
- Synonym: tennisseur
Further reading