Beach tennis combines sun and fun with fitness and great scenery. Like sand volleyball, most beach tennis matches take place on 8-by-16 meter courts. The International Tennis Federation allows a maximum court size of 20 meters long and 9 meters wide. Play can be singles or doubles. For singles, Beach Tennis USA requires a court size of 5 meters by 16 meters. Instead of typical tennis equipment, beach tennis uses paddle rackets and balls with half the pounds of pressure. The net is elevated, as in beach volleyball. Nylon tape, webbing or ropes mark the sidelines and baselines of sand courts.
Serving
Players determine who will serve and on which end by tossing a coin or spinning a paddle-racket. If the team that wins the toss decides who will serve first, the other team picks the end of the court. The server stands behind the baseline and hits the ball over the net into the opponents' side of the court. Under ITF rules, a server can stand wherever he chooses behind the court, and the server receives no second serve. It is against the rules for a server's feet to touch the baseline, go under the baseline or outside the sideline, or for the server to walk or run to a new position during the service motion.
A fault occurs if the player misses the ball when attempting to serve, serves a ball into a net post or other permanent fixture, or if the ball touches the player or her partner. Unlike regular tennis, in beach tennis no "let" occurs if the player serves into the net. Servers have 20 seconds between points to serve, except during changeovers, when they have 90 seconds. Under BTUSA rules, men serve underhanded when playing mixed doubles, and players get only one serve per point.
Scoring
Players score in beach tennis if the opposing team faults on a serve, hits the ball out of bounds, hits a permanent fixture or lets the ball hit the ground before returning it. As long as a ball touches part of a line, the ITF considers it good.
Keeping Score
Beach tennis uses a scoring system similar to regular tennis. Matches can be best of three sets or best of five sets. Players or teams take a set when they win six games by at least two more games then their opponents. Each game is divided into points: "love" for zero; 15, for the first point; 30, for the second point; and 40 for the third point. The fourth point wins the game. Beach tennis uses "no advantage" scoring. In regular scoring, when opponents both reach 40 points, it is called "deuce" because it takes two points--one advantage point and one game point--to win the game. In no-ad scoring, if opponents both reach 40 points, it takes only one more point to win.
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