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Tennis Tips & Instruction: The Tennis Court and Tennis Rules - Beginner's Getting Started Guide |
Contents
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The diagram below shows the parts of a tennis court.
The alleys are out-of-bounds for singles play. You sometimes still see dedicated singles courts without alleys, but usually the court is bounded for doubles and uses singles sticks to mark where the net post would be in singles. The area designated as "no man's land" is not an official designation. This is just a commonly used term for the service-line area of the court. It's hard to play effectively in no man's land, because here shots are bouncing at your feet.
The diagram below identifies each line by name.
The Rules of Tennis
Here is a simplified version of the rules that will serve beginners well. After you play for awhile, get your copy of the official rules straight from the source: Download you copy of The Rules of Tennis here.
Whoever wins the toss gets to choose who will serve first or which side of the net the players will take. The choice not taken is left up to the loser of the coin toss.
The receiver must let the serve bounce before touching it. In doubles, the receiver's partner may not touch the ball.
The serve is a fault if the server swings and misses the ball. The server may, however, abort the serve by catching the ball and starting over. The server may serve underhanded, but he or she may not bounce the ball off the ground before striking it. The server may not serve before the receiver is ready. If a served ball touches the net but lands in, it is replayed because the net interfered.
On any other shot in the game, however, if the ball touches the net and lands in, it remains in play.
You lose the point if you fail to return an opponent's good shot before the second bounce. You lose the point if your shot lands outside the lines. A shot landing on a line is good. Each player or team calls the lines on their side of the net, so your shots are called by your opponents. You may question their calls but must abide by them.
You lose the point if your shot hits the ground or a permanent fixture outside the lines. You lose the point if you hit the ball twice (accidental double hits caused by racket wobble don't count). You lose the point if you or anything you wear or carry (at the beginning of the point) touches the net or the court on your opponent's side. You lose the point if the ball hits you or anything you wear or carry. You lose the point if you hit the ball before it has crossed to your side of the net. You lose the point if you let the ball go back by itself (e.g., in a heavy wind or due to heavy backspin). In other words, you must RETURN the ball.
Your follow-through may pass over the net. If the ball is going back on its own, having already been on your side, you may even make contact with it on your opponent's side of the net. But in neither case may you touch the net or the opponent's court.
If unintentional inference occurs, play a let, starting the point over. If a player hinders his or her opponent's shot by some voluntary act, that player loses the point.
In doubles, the teams set up their serving order and receiving side at the beginning of each set. They can switch their serving order or receiving side at the beginning of each set.
If anything gets mixed up, like serving order or receiving side, you simply correct the situation as soon as you discover the error. But you do not replay any finished points. They stand as played, even if the wrong person served them or served them into the wrong court.
The principal unwritten rule of tennis is that, in calling lines, give the benefit of any doubt to your opponent. In other words, if you aren't sure the ball was out, judge it in.
How to Keep Score in Tennis
To win a game, you must win four points and be ahead by at least two. The points are numbered this way...
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0
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love
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1
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15
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2
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30
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3
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40
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If the score becomes tied at 40-all, you call it "deuce." One player or team must now win two points in a row to win the game. Whoever wins the next point will have the "ad," or "advantage." If the server or serving teams wins it, we say the score as "ad in." If the receiver or receiving team wins it, we say the score as "ad out."
If the score is "ad out" and the receiving player or team wins the next point, the game is over. If the server or serving teams wins it, the score goes back to "deuce."
To win a set, you must win 6 games and be ahead by at least 2 (unless tiebreaking rules are in effect). So, you can win a set by a score of 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, or 6-0, but not 6-5. If the score reaches 6-5, additional games are played till one player or team is ahead by two games, as in 7-5, 8-6, or 18-16.
Tiebreak games prevent sets and matches from continuing indefinitely. Usually opponents play a 12-point tiebreaker if the score becomes tied at 6 games all. In this tiebreaker, the first player or team to win 7 points, if ahead by at least 2 points, wins the set. The set score then ends up to be 7-6.
Matches are usually the best of three sets, though men still sometimes play the best of five sets.
In a best-of-three set match, the first player or team to win two sets wins the match. If Team A wins the first set and Team B wins the second set, then a third set is played to determine the winner. If Team A wins the two sets in a row, no third set is played.
A best-of-five set match works the same way. The first player or team to win three sets wins the match. Unnecessary sets are not played.
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Tennis Beginner's Getting Started Guide
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How to Play Tennis - Beginner's Getting Started Guide
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Is tennis the right sport for me?
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What are the benefits of tennis as exercise?
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Tennis Equipment, Choosing a Racket & Getting Instruction
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Learning How to Play Tennis
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Tennis Court, Tennis Rules & Tennis Scoring
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This page was last updated on 3/25/2008.
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