Tennis is a sport that requires participants to be in top condition. Both participants are on the move throughout the game, often sprinting from one side of the court to the other. Players try to hit the ball where their opponents will not be able to return it. The game requires athletic talent, physical coordination, a strategic mind and knowledge of the rules.
Serving
Players will take turns serving in a match. Player A will serve one game until completion and then player B will serve the next game. On each point, the player will get two attempts to serve the ball in the service box. To do this correctly, he will toss the ball straight overhead and hit it with a sweeping motion. If the ball flies over the net and lands in the service box, the opponent must return the ball. If the ball does not make it over the net or does not go in the service box, the first serve is declared a fault. The server gets another opportunity to put the ball in play. If that serve does not go in the box, the opponent gets the point.
Scoring Within a Game
In tennis, the players try to win points and games no matter who is serving. It is widely acknowledged that the player serving the ball has the advantage because he controls the speed and direction of the ball on the first shot. If the server wins the first point, he is ahead by a score of "15-love." If he wins the next point, the score is 30-love. The point after that would make the score 40-love and the following point would be game point. However, if the server is ahead 40-30, then loses the next point, the score becomes "deuce." Whenever the score is deuce, no player can win the game until he wins two points in a row.
Match Format
Most matches are in a best-of-three set format. To win a set, you have to win six games and be ahead by two games. If players are tied at six games each, they play a tiebreaker game to determine who wins the set. In a tiebreaker, players alternate serves within the game to determine the tiebreaker winner. The tiebreaker is used in nearly all tennis tournaments. One notable exception is Wimbledon, which is considered the most important tennis tournament in the world and is played in England. In men's matches, a tiebreaker is not used if the match is tied at two sets each and goes to a fifth set.
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