People have played tennis for hundreds of years, and the rules have changed many times. Today, you can play tennis using mini-courts and special balls and rackets, you can play on a Team Tennis team, you get a ranking by playing in tournaments and you can try out for your middle school or high school tennis team.
Step 1
Start your match by flipping a coin or spinning your racket to see who serves first. If you win the toss or spin, you can choose to serve or receive, or pick the side of the court on which you wish to start. You can also make your opponent choose one of those options, while you take the second pick.
Step 2
Warm up by hitting a rally, which is when the ball bounces before you hit it. Practice volleys, which are balls hit before they touch they ground and which are commonly used near the net. Practice serves and overheads. During a warm-up, hit the ball to your opponent so he can keep the rally going, rather than trying to hit winners or practice your smashes.
Step 3
Start the match by serving. You hit a serve from one side of the court into the service box on the opposite side of the court. Your serve must land in the correct service box on a fly, without touching the net. If the serve goes into the net or doesn't land in the correct service box, a fault is assessed. Two faults means you lose the point. If your serve hits the net and goes into the correct service box, you make a let, and you get a do-over. No limit exists on the number of lets you can have.
Step 4
The easiest way to start serving is to start with the racket on your shoulder or touching your back, then toss the ball in front of you and swing up, hitting the ball in the air. The ball can't land once it leaves your hand, or you must do the serve over. If you swing at the ball and miss, it's a fault.
Step 5
Call the score before every point if you are the server. This is a courtesy to the other player and helps you prevent getting the score wrong and having to argue about who has what score.
Step 6
Once someone serves a good serve, the point starts. You must let the serve bounce before you hit it, but from that point on, you can either hit the ball after a bounce or out of the air, once it crosses the net. You can only let the ball bounce once before you hit it, or you lose the point. To get most balls over the net, you should swing your racket from low to high.
Step 7
Call the ball out as soon as it lands outside the boundary lines. Do not call the ball good if it lands in--just keep playing. If you are not sure if the ball is good, the benefit of the doubt to your opponent.
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