The sport of tennis is a great way to stay in shape and give your body a good cardiovascular workout.  The game can be played either outdoors or in, and can be played on a grass, clay, or paved court.  The object of the game is to hit the ball over the net in a way the opposing player cannot return it.  Tennis is played either as singles with two people playing on opposite ends of the court, or with four players as partners.  The tennis court is about 78 feet long and 46 feet wide.

To fully enjoy the sport of tennis you need to know the terms used and how score is kept.  It is not hard but just takes a little time to learn.  It is rules are considered simple but the game itself is complex.  The set is the first player to win six games.  The exception is the winning player must win two more games than their opponent.  If they are tied they then play a tiebreaker.  Men play the best of five and women play the best of three sets.

The tiebreak game is played a little different.  Each side only serves once so neither player will have the advantage of serving.  The tiebreaker game is played until one player has two points more than the other player and has seven points.  The players continue to play until one of the players is two points ahead. 

Players change ends after each odd number of games.  This insures that neither player has an advantage because of sun, wind, or other weather.  The rule still applies in an indoor venue, even though it may look silly.  This rule gives each player a chance to rest and in the tiebreak game the end change is after every six points.  The rules say that you must be in continuous and you may not take longer than 30 seconds before playing the next point.  When the players are changing ends, the rest time is one minute.  This means after the last point of the game is played there is ninety seconds until you need to start the next point.

Line calls are often disputed but the rule is that only a tiny portion of the ball has to hit the line to be considered in.  Ninety-nine percent of the ball can be outside the line, but the one percent is the part that matters.  TV broadcasters will often show a replay of the ball and a computerized image showing exactly where the ball landed.  The line judge can make a ruling on whether the ball is in or outside the line.

Here is a simplified list of the rules of tennis.

Opposing players stand on each end of the court.  The player who delivers the ball is the server and the other player is the receiver.  The players are crosscourt from each other when a ball is served.

You choice to decide which end of the court you begin on, serve, or receive is given to the player that is the winner of a coin toss. The winner of the coin toss chooses to be either receiver or server, and the other player chooses which side they will start on.

The server stands behind the baseline on the deuce court and serves the ball when the receiver is ready.  If the server does not get the ball in the proper place two times he loses the point.  The server should not step on the baseline; if they do it is called a fault.

A receiver can stand where he wants but must let the ball drop in the service box.

The server always calls his score first when calling out the score.

If the ball goes into the net or outside the boundaries the player who hit the ball loses the point.  A player can also lose the point if they touch the net, drops his racquet while hitting the ball, hitting a part of the surroundings, or if the ball touches him.

Tennis is a great way to keep fit and work off stress.  Even if you don’t know the rules, you can still enjoy hitting the ball back and forth across the net with friends.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS