Basic Rules of Tennis
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The aim
1) Tennis is a game played on a rectangular court by either two players (singles) or four (doubles).
2) Players stand on opposite sides of a net and use a stringed racket to hit a ball back and forth to each
other.
3) Each player has a maximum of one bounce after it has been hit by their opponent to return the ball
over the net and within the boundaries of the court.
4) Once a player fails to do any of these three things, her opponent wins a point.
5) The aim is to win enough points to win a game and enough games to win a set and enough sets to
win a match.
6) The first person to win six games wins a set.
 Matches are usually the best of three or the best of five sets.
Singles
1) A two-player game is known as a singles match. Players use the narrower singles court.
2) The player who plays the ball first is the server and the person who returns it is the receiver.
3) Players swap serve every game and change ends every other game.
4) There is no penalty for serving out of turn but as soon as the mistake is discovered, the correct
player must begin serving.
5) The right to be server or receiver or the choice of ends is decided by tossing a coin or spinning a
racket.
6) The winner of the toss can choose one of four options:
 To serve, in which case the opponent can choose ends
 To receive, in which case the opponent can choose ends
 The end of the court at which he or she wishes to begin the match, in which case the opponent
can choose to serve or receive
 To ask the opponent to choose
Doubles
1) The game of doubles is exactly the same, except the wider court is used.
2) Players within a pair do not have to hit alternate shots.
3) However, the serve rotates so that each player serves once every fourth game.
4) For instance from Player A in Pair A, to Player B in pair B, back to Player C in Pair A and then to
Player D in Pair B.
5) Players can only change the order of serving and receiving at the end of a set.
6) The server's partner and the receiver's partner may stand anywhere they like on the court during
the serve, even if it obstructs play.
7) Traditionally however, each player takes one side of the court.
The Serve
A. Where to stand
1) The server starts each game serving behind the baseline of the right hand court.
2) He or she must put the ball into the service box diagonally opposite.
3) The server must stand between the centre mark and an imaginary continuation of the sideline
(the singles line in singles, the doubles line in doubles).
4) The server must swap sides after each point.
B.Faults
1) The server has two attempts to get the ball in.
2) If the ball lands outside the service box or does not clear the net or the net post, it is known as a
fault.
3) If any part of the ball touches the line, the ball is in, as shown above.
4) After one fault the server may try again. If both tries result in faults, a double fault is called and
the opponent wins the point.
With service speeds up to 220 km/hr, it can be extremely difficult for line judges to tell whether a
serve is in or out.
That is why the electronic eye has been introduced to championship
tennis, often called cyclops.
The eye consists of a series of horizontal light beams 4cm above the court
surface.
Find out more about cyclops
The way the ball breaks the beam allows the electronics to determine
exactly where the ball bounces.
The rules of tennis still allow the chair umpire to overrule the result of an
electronic eye, just as he or she can overrule a line judge.
C. Foot faults
1) The server must stand behind the baseline, between the centre mark and the sideline.
2) If her feet touch the ground inside the baseline, or the wrong side of the centre mark or the wrong side of
the imaginary extension of the sideline, before the ball is struck, a foot fault is called.
3) A foot fault is the same as a fault and the point is awarded to the opponent.
D. Let
1) A ball which clips the net and bounces inside the service box is known as a 'let'. If this happens
the player is allowed to serve again.
2) However if the ball hits the net and lands outside the service box, it is a fault.
3) A let can also be called during any point in the match if it seems fair for a point to be played
again - e.g. if there is a dispute over a line call.
4) If the server throws the ball in the air but does not attempt a shot it is a 'let'.
5) If the server throws the ball in the air, attempts a shot but misses, it is a fault.
E. Changing ends
1) The players change ends at the end of the first, third, fifth game and so on until the end of the
set.
2) If the set ends and the total number of games played is even, then the players play the first
game of the next set before changing ends.
3) If the number of games played in a set is uneven, the players change ends straight away.
4) They then carry on changing at the end of the first, third, fifth game as before.
Scoring
Tennis has an unusual scoring system.
The score does not go up in units of one or even in units of the same amount.
The first point in a game is called 15 and the next 30. So you'd think that the next point should be 45 but it isn't, it's 40.
And the score of a player who has not won any points is not 'nil' or 'zero', but 'love'.
This is said to come from the French word oeuf, which means egg and is shaped like a zero.
The server's score is always called first by the umpire.
So if Player A is serving to Player B and Player B wins the point, the score is love-15.
If Player A wins the next point the score is 15-all, and so on.
A. Games
1. The first player to win four points wins a game.
2. So if a player wins four points straight their scoring will go 15-0, 30-0, 40-0 then game.
3. The exception is if both players win three points each (i.e. 40-40) which is called deuce.
4. Then the winner is the first player to then win two points in a row.
B. Deuce
1. Once the score gets to 40-40, it is known as deuce.
2. Once at deuce, one player must win two consecutive points to take the game.
3. The word comes from the French phrase à deux - meaning 'at two', as in needing two more
points.
4. If Player A wins the next point the score is 'advantage server'.
5. This is commonly called 'advantage in', 'van in', or even 'your van'/'my van' depending on who is
calling the scores.
6. If Player B wins the point the score is 'advantage receiver', ('advantage out' or 'van out').
7. If the player at advantage wins the point, she wins the game. If she loses it, the score goes back
to deuce.
8. To shorten matches, players sometimes opt to play 'no-advantage', where the person to win the
first point after deuce, wins the game.
C. Sets
1. The maximum number of sets in a match is five for men and three for women.
2. The first player to win six games wins a set.
3. However, if the score becomes five-games-all, one player must be two games ahead to win the
set.
4. So a player must win the set 7-5 or 8-6 or 9-7 and so on.
5. Until the 1970s, this meant sets could potentially last indefinitely.
6. The highest recorded score in games for one set at Wimbledon was 32-30 in the match won by A
Olmedo and F Segura against G Forbes and A Segal in 1968.
7. Read about Andy Roddick's marathon match
8. But in 1971 the All England Club introduced the tiebreak rule.
Under this rule, once the score reaches six-games-all (it was originally eight-all but reduced to six in
1979), a tiebreak is played to decide who wins the set.
D. Tiebreak
1. The first player to reach seven points, wins the tiebreak and the set.
2. But if the score reaches six-points-all, the winner is the first player to win two points in a row.
3. The player whose turn it was to serve in the set serves the first point of the tiebreak.
4. His opponent serves the next two points and after that the serve rotates after every two further
points.
5. The players change ends after every six points, even if a player is between his two service points,
and at the end of the tie break.
6. A tiebreak is played in all sets except the last one (the third set in women's tennis and the fifth
set in the men's game).
7. In the last set, players continue until one secures a two-game lead.
E. Ways of losing a point
Apart from playing the ball into the net or out of court there are a number of ways of losing a point.
1. Throwing the racket at the ball. Letting go of the racket accidentally is not a fault, unless it hits a
permanent fixture such as the net before the ball is out of play.
2. Hitting the ball twice, carrying it or catching it on the racket.
3. Touching the net, posts, umpire or line judge chairs, ballgirls or the ground in your opponents
court while the ball is in play.
4. Hitting the ball before it crosses the net.
5. Returning a serve before it has bounced.
6. Catching or hitting the ball while it is outside the court before it has bounced.
If he volleys the ball outside the court and it lands in, the rally continues. If it lands out, he loses the
point.
1. The ball touches the player or anything he wears or carries (except his racket) while in play.
2. The ball hits a permanent fixture such as the umpire's chair, ballboy, line judge machine (but not
the net posts) - before it bounces - even if the ball appeared to be going in.
If the ball strikes the permanent fixture after it bounces and before the opponent can hit the ball, the
opponent loses the point.
The court and equipment
The Court
1. The singles court is 75ft long (23.77m) and divided in half by a net suspended over the tops of two
posts. The net should be 3ft high at its centre.
2. The singles court is 27ft wide (8.23m).
3. In doubles, the addition of 4.5ft (1.4m) 'tramlines' along either side court increases the width to
36ft (11m).
4. The court is edged by sidelines and a baseline at the end.
5. The service area is marked by a line 21ft (6.4m) from the net and parallel to it.
6. It's divided in half to form the two service boxes.
7. If any part of the ball hits the line, it's judged to be in or 'good'.
The Racquet
1. Tennis racquets were originally made of wood but most are now made of much stronger, lighter man-made
materials such as aluminium or graphite.
2. The only restrictions on the racquet are its size.
3. It must be no longer than 29 inches (73.66cms) including the handle, or 12.5 inches (31.75cms) in width.
4. The hitting surface must be a flat surface of criss-crossed strings.
How should I choose my racquet?
It should be no more than 15.5 inches long (39.37cms) or 11.5 inches wide (29.21cms).
Most rackets are strung with synthetic materials such as nylon or even titanium.
But the top players prefer to use 'gut' strings. Gut is made from the dried stomach lining of animals such as a
cow or cat.