The International Tennis Federation (ITF) functions as the governing body for the sport of tennis and suggests using mini tennis to introduce the sport to young players. Mini tennis follows a progression through several different court sizes and adheres to the same rules as traditional tennis, with a few exceptions.
Phases of Mini Tennis
Most mini tennis progressions follow three phases. Players ages 5 to 7 begin with quarter-court or half-court mini tennis. Players ages 7 to 9 move on to three-quarter-court mini tennis, and players ages 8 to 10 can progress to full-court tennis. Each one of these phases has specific racquet sizes and balls associated with it.
Court Size
In half-court mini tennis, the standard service lines located 21 feet behind the net serve as the end lines for the court. The Special Olympics also uses this half-court size for short court tennis. Players ages 5 to 7 can also play on an even smaller quarter-court in mini tennis. To make a quarter court, you need a mini tennis net. You can set the net up perpendicular to the court's real net and use the service line and the net as sidelines and the full-size court's singles or doubles sidelines as the end lines. Three-quarter-courts for phase two players require special tape or temporary lines. The standard three-quarter size court measures 59 feet long and 21.3 feet wide.
Racquet Size
For phase one mini tennis, players use 19- to 21-inch long racquets. For phase two mini tennis, players use 23-inch racquets. For stage three mini tennis, players use 23- to 25-inch racquets.
Ball
Phase one mini tennis uses a soft red foam ball that moves and bounces much more slowly than a regular tennis ball. Phase two mini tennis uses a low-compression, orange tennis ball that does not bounce as high as a regular tennis ball. Phase three mini tennis uses a low-compression green ball that bounces higher than the orange mini-tennis ball but still not quite as high as a standard tennis ball.
Scoring
Depending on the player's age and ability, you can follow different scoring systems in mini tennis. You can play matches to 11, 15 or 21 points with 5 to 7 year olds. With 7 to 10 year olds in phases two and three mini tennis, you can play matches to 8 games, or you can play best of three set matches in which players must win only four games to win a set.
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