The Rules of Tennis Tennis, is a game played as singles (whereone person plays against one person) or doubles (where two people play against two people).The object of the game is for you or your team to score more points and to win sets fasterthan the opposing player or team. In the women’s game you have to win 2 sets, and in the men’sgame, you must win 3 sets. To win a set, you must win at least 6 games,and be at least 2 games ahead. To win a game, you must win 4 points and beat least two points ahead. Hey, whoa … I’m confused already?!Okay, let’s start from the beginning … The tennis court is 78ft long by 36ft wide,and the net is 3.5 ft above the ground. These are some of the other dimensions ofthe court, and note that the area of play is different for both singles and doubles.The game starts with one player making a serve. To do this, they must stand behind the lineand hit the ball into this area of the opponent’s court.The opponent is allowed a maximum of one bounce to hit the ball back over the net onto theother players court. The idea is to hit the ball onto your opponentscourt and for your opponent not to be able to hit it back.If you manage to successfully hit the ball onto your opponents court without them returningthe favour, you score. If you score one point, you score ‘15’If you score two points, you score ‘30’ If you score three points, you score ‘40’And if you score four points, and are two points ahead, you win the game.The only time this is different is when the score is 40-40.This is known as deuce, and you now have to win two straight points to win the game.After a game is won, the other player or pair serves the ball from the other side to startthe next game. Once a player has won 6 games and is at least2 games ahead, they win a set. Winning 2 sets or 3 sets faster than youropponents, wins you the Match.So umm … is there anything you can’t do in Tennis?Ironically, yes! There’s a lot of things you cannot do in TennisYou cannot hit the ball outside the area of play.You cannot hit the ball into the net and for it to land on your side of the court.You cannot hit the ball twice in succession. You cannot touch the net.You cannot touch the ball with any part of your body except with the racketand you cannot commit a double fault. If you commit any of these infractions, thisresults in your opponents being awarded a point. Now that’s basically Tennis in a nutshell, but there’s a few things you’ll need tounderstand before playing or going to a game.For example … Fault/Double FaultDuring a serve, you have two chances to serve the ball legally.You must be behind the line and you must hit the ball onto this area of your opponentscourt. Should you fail to do either of those things, this is known as a fault and you mustserve the ball again. If you commit two faults in a row, this isa double fault, and your opponent is automatically awarded a point.Let If a legal serve hits the net before landingin the opponents area, this is known as a let, and the player is allowed to serve theball again without fault.AceIf a player serves the ball legally and the opponent cannot return the ball, this is knownas an ‘ace’. The serving player wins the point.Advantage During deuce, if you score one point – youare known to have an ‘advantage’. You only need one more point to win the game unlessyour opponent scores.Tie Breaker. If the games are tied at 6-6, a tiebreakeris used to determine who wins the set. Players take it in turns to serve and theaim is to score 7 points and be at least two points ahead. This carries on until someonewins the set.If you’re still into sure about the scoring system – be sure to watch a few games toget used to how it all works. It seems a little complicated, but once you watch or play Tennis,the rules will become clear.
