Tennis Rules

Unlike other sports, the rules and equipment in tennis have not changed dramatically over the years since the USTA was established in the 1880s.

Tennis is one of the easiest sports to pick up and play, as the equipment is fairly basic: tennis racquet, tennis balls, and a regulation sized court.

A regulation sized court is the same size for singles and doubles: 78 feet long by 36 feet wide, but there is a pair of sidelines that are considered out of bounds in singles and in-bounds for doubles matches. Therefore, singles matches are played in 78 feet long by 27 feet wide dimensions.

To start the match, players stand on opposite sides of the court and stand on opposite sides. Therefore, if the server is standing on the left, the receiver will stand on the right side of the court, and vice versa. Players will alternate who serves after games, and some even switch halves to do so.

Most experienced players serve overhand, though you may want to serve underhand as you begin to play the game. The fastest serve on record is Andy Roddick, a professional in the United States, who was recorded at 155 miles per hour in a tournament in 2004.

The scoring in tennis, while strange, is fairly easy to follow. Simply put, points are scored when the other player fails to return the ball successfully to the other side of the court, whether that is hitting it out of bounds, letting the ball get by or just hitting the ball into the net.

If you win a point in tennis, you are not leading 1-0. Instead, you are up 15-0. The next point you win puts you to 30, then 40 before finally winning the ‘game’. If your opponent ties you at 40-40, that is called a deuce, and you have to win by two points.

After you win the first point, you hold the advantage. If your opponent wins the next point, it is back to deuce; if you win the next point, you win the game. While aces are scored the same, it is typical that the player who finishes with the most aces will eventually win the match.

Unfortunately, you do not play tennis to one game, so do not start celebrating too early! You must win six games – by at least a two game margin – to win a set, and you must win two sets to win the whole match.

As for the game play itself, there are several different types of shots, and which shot you choose will depend on how the ball comes to you. The two most popular shots are the forehand, where your palm faces your opponent, and the backhand, where the back of your hand faces your opponent.

If your opponent is playing close to the net, some players will play a lob, hoping to send the ball over the opponent’s head while keeping the ball in-bounds. This pushes the other player to the back of their half of the court, hoping to prevent an easy slam to end the point.

Likewise, if you are close to the net and your opponent is far away, you may want to slice the ball, or hit it gently toward the sidelines hoping the other player will not reach the ball in time. If you are serving and your opponent cannot successfully return the ball back to you, that is considered an ace.