Soccer, basketball, or tennis?

Soccer (called football outside North America) is the world's most popular sport, with about 4 billion fans globally. Modern rules were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863. FIFA, founded in Paris in 1904, governs international play. The FIFA World Cup, held every four years since 1930 (except during WWII), is the most-watched sporting event: the 2022 final between Argentina and France drew 1.5 billion viewers. Lionel Messi (born 1987, Rosario, Argentina) and Cristiano Ronaldo (born 1985, Madeira, Portugal) have together won 13 Ballons d'Or. A standard soccer field measures 100 to 110 m long by 64 to 75 m wide. The English Premier League, Spain's La Liga, and the UEFA Champions League are the most lucrative club competitions, generating billions in broadcasting rights.

Basketball was invented in December 1891 by Canadian-American physical educator James Naismith at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, who nailed peach baskets to a gym wall to keep students active indoors during winter. The original 13 rules included no dribbling and used a soccer ball. The NBA formed in 1946 as the BAA, merging with the NBL in 1949. Legendary players include Michael Jordan (6 NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, 1990s), Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant (died January 26, 2020), and LeBron James (born 1984, all-time NBA scoring leader with 40,000+ points). A standard NBA court is 28.65 by 15.24 meters; the hoop sits 3.05 m high. The sport went global with the 1992 Dream Team's Olympic gold in Barcelona.

Tennis evolved from a 12th-century French handball game called jeu de paume. The modern lawn version was patented by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield in 1873 in England. The four Grand Slams are: the Australian Open (since 1905, January, Melbourne, hard court), the French Open or Roland Garros (since 1891, May to June, Paris, clay), Wimbledon (since 1877, June to July, London, grass, oldest tournament), and the US Open (since 1881, August to September, New York, hard court). All-time greats include Roger Federer (20 majors), Rafael Nadal (22 majors, 14 of them at Roland Garros, the King of Clay), Novak Djokovic (24+ majors, record), Serena Williams (23 majors), and Steffi Graf (golden slam, 1988). A tennis ball travels up to 263 km/h on serve.