Understanding the rules of tennis helps you avoid losing points unnecessarily and can help you plan strategy. Understanding the science of tennis, including aspects of physics, geometry and biomechanics, will also help you improve your shots. Brush up on your knowledge of the game to help you play like an ace.
Serving Rules
In order for a serve to be considered good, you must put your serve in play from the proper area of the court, which is from behind the baseline, or line at the far end of the court; from the right or left of the center service mark on the baseline; and from inside the singles or doubles sideline, depending on which game you are playing.
Your serve must land in the service box opposite the side of the center service mark from which you are serving. For example, if you are serving the first point of a game, you stand to the right of the center service mark and serve to the service box on the left side of the opposite court. Your serve must land in the service box without touching the net or ground first.
Serving Skill
Take a tip from the serving rule that requires your serve to land in the service box on a fly. In order to get the ball into the service box from the baseline, you'll need to hit your serve up, not down. While it may seem that you'd want to hit a ball that's tossed above your head down, physics dictate that you actually hit the ball with your racket traveling in an upward motion, striking the ball on its bottom, not its top. This will help create the spin that, working with gravity, brings the ball down in the court.
Volley Rules
When you are close to the net, you'll likely hit the ball out of the air, or make a volley. You may not hit an incoming ball until it has crossed the net and come into your side the court. After you hit the ball, you may follow through over the net, but you may not touch the net with your racket at any time during the point.
Volley Skill
Like the serve, a volley is best hit with an upward motion. Once again, it may seem as if swinging downward will send your ball downward, but doing so will close the face of your racket and increase your chance of hitting the ball in the net. If you are receiving a ball that has been hit from the baseline, the ball may already have reached its apex and have a downward arc when it gets to you. This means, based on the angle of incidence and reflection, the ball will rebound off your strings in a downward direction. Hitting your volleys with an upward racket path will keep most balls out of the net and deeper into your opponent's court.
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