Check out your local park and you can often find kids who are barely bigger than their tennis rackets running around the courts. The rules of tennis can be picked up easily, and children and seniors alike play the game. But while the rules of tennis may be simple and straightforward, it can take a lifetime--or longer--to master the sport.
Players and Equipment
Tennis is either played one-on-one, called singles, or two-on-two, called doubles. When each doubles team consists of one boy and one girl, it is called mixed doubles. Each player is allowed to use one racket to hit the ball. For singles, the court measures 78 feet long and 27 feet wide. In doubles, two alleys are added to the sides, making it 78 feet long and 36 feet wide. The court is divided in half by a net that is 3 feet 6 inches high on the sides and dips to 3 feet high in the middle.
In addition to the baselines and sidelines, the court also has two servicelines, which are 21 feet from the net and run parallel to it. They end at the singles sidelines. The servicelines are divided in half by the center serviceline, which makes up the service box. The only other lines on the court are the center marks, which divide each baseline in half.
Scoring
While the origins of the tennis scoring terms are open to debate, nobody disputes that they are unconventional. "Love" in tennis means zero, so a match begins at "love-all." If you win one point, you get 15. If you win another, you get 30. The third point your win is called 40. If you win a fourth point, you win the game, unless it is tied 40-40, which is called "deuce." In most scoring systems, you have to win two consecutive points to win the game once it goes to deuce. The first point after deuce gives a player an "advantage," commonly called "ad-in" if you, as the server, win the point and "ad-out" if the receiver wins the point. The first player to win six games leading by two games wins the set. If a set is tied 6-6, a tiebreaker is often played. The most common type of tiebreaker awards the set to the first person who scores seven points leading by two points. Most matches are played to best-of-three sets, and some are best of five. If you're the server, you should announce the score of the game prior to each point. To balance the impact of sun and wind, players switch sides of the court after every odd-numbered game.
Serving
The first shot in every tennis match is a serve, and you and your opponent alternate serving between games. Start serving each game on the right side of the center mark and hit the ball diagonally over the net into the service box. In order for your serve to be good, you have to toss the ball and hit it before it bounces, and the ball has to clear the net and land in the service box. Your feet cannot touch the baseline before contact and you cannot be walking or running. You get two chances to put the ball in play each point. The first miss is called a fault and the second one is a double-fault, which gives a point to the receiver. If the ball hits the top of the net and falls into the correct service box, a "let" or a do-over is called. A "let" on your first serve means you still have two chances to get the serve in. A "let" on your second serve means you only have one chance to put the ball in play.
Playing
The returner plays the second shot, called the return-of-serve, in a tennis point. As the returner, you must let the ball bounce once before hitting the return. After that, you can hit hit the ball before it bounces.
You cannot intentionally hit the ball more than once on a single shot. If the ball bounces twice, you lose the point. After the serve, you can hit the ball anywhere on the court. In matches where there are no officials, players make the line calls on their own side of the court. A ball that touches any part of the line is valid.
Other Considerations
You cannot touch the net with any part of your body or racket while the ball is in play. If you do, your opponent wins a point. You must not hit the ball before it crosses the net; if you do, you lose the point. Finally, you are not allowed to touch the ball with anything other than your racket. If a ball hits you or any part of your clothing, the point is awarded to your opponent.
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