BASIC TENNIS RULES FOR BEGINNERS

Basic Tennis Instructions

Hello Tennis Fans and possible future tennis fans,

  I’m going to do my best to explain some of the rules and regulations of tennis to hopefully help you new comers to the sport have an understanding of how to play, and inspire you to play more and even help your friends have a better under-standing of the sport.

I’m going to explain how you decide who serves first and from what side, how to keep score, and some of the many rules you’ll need to follow.  I think once you get a clearer explanation of how the game is played you’ll find it’s not only great fun to play but also to watch when some of the Majors are on T.V.  I just hope I do a good job of explaining the game for you.

Okay here we go!

HOW TO CHOOSE WHO SERVES FIRST.

Who should serve and receive first?  To determine this players can either flip a coin, or spin thier racket.  At the bottom of a player’s racket on the handle should be the company’s logo. Such as W for Wilson, P for Prince, or Head Rackets have kind of an arrow symbol.  The player that decides to toss a coin or in most cases use their racket will say to their opponent (if for example if they have a Wilson racket) “M” or “W” or Prince racket “P” or “d” the opponent has one of three options to choose from if they when the toss.

1)   I’ll Serve 2) I’ll receive or 3) You choose

If they lose the toss than the person spinning the racket gets one of the three choices.

If the person that won the toss chooses, “I’ll Serve” then the Receiver chooses what side of the court he or she wants to receive from.  Tennis courts run North to South, and the wind might be coming out of the South and the receiver may decide he/she wants the advantage of the wind so than chooses to receive from the South side of the court.

If the person that won the toss chooses, “I’ll Receive” than the Server gets to choose which side he or she would like to serve from.

Finally the winner of the toss my say, “You Choose” Than the loser of the toss makes his or her choice of Serving or Receiving leaving the winner of the toss with the choice of which side of the court they want to begin the game.  It all amounts to strategy if you are taking the game very seriously.

HOW HIGH SHOULD THE NET BE?

Again if players are an intermediate to very good tennis player the height of the net will be important to them.  The net should measure from top to bottom in the middle  (or at the strap) 36 inches (3 feet), and at the posts the net should measure 3 feet 6 inches or 42 inches.

Basic Court Design and Layout:

The court is laid out into four quadrants.  The Server has a DEUCE SIDE and an AD  or ADVANTAGE SIDE.  The Receiver also has a DEUCE SIDE and an AD or ADVANTAGE SIDE. 

If you play doubles with a friend or with people you might meet at a Tennis Club, you might ask them what side they want to return from and their response might be, “I like the back hand side”- they are usually referring to the Deuce Side, or they might say, “I like the forehand side” - than they are probably talking about the AD SIDE.

Just a little more court layout information.  The BASELINE is at the far ends of the court.  There is a short line at the baseline that continues from the center line of the service courts.   There are also four service court boxes (two for the server and two for the Receiver).  There is a Double’s Allay on each side of the court, they are long rectangle boxes on the outside of the tennis court (the outside line is used during doubles and the inside line is used during singles).

REMEMBER – If a ball touches any part of a line EVEN just the VERY EDGE of the outside of a line that ball is called IN.   Since most players are calling their own lines,  a player may have trouble telling for sure if the ball hit out, than that player must call the ball IN (or GOOD).  Players when calling lines just calls the lines on their side of the court, a player may not agree with the way his/her opponent is calling their side but it is on the “honor system” so hopefully both players are calling their lines fairly. If a player isn’t being fair with their line rulings they may find people would prefer not to play with them next time they call to play.

The area between the BASELINE and the Service Court boxes is usually referred to as “NO MAN’S LAND”, because this area is low percentage place to be during a point in tennis. 

How to Score:

This  might be a little difficult to explain.  I’m going to try and break it down for you. I’ll give you the Point terms we use and break down how the point system works.
SERVER SCORE IS ALWAYS ANNOUNCED FIRST.

Love = Zero
Advantage In (Ad In) = Advantage to server

Advantage Out (Ad Out) – Advantage to receiver

Game  is called when the final point of that game is won either by the Server or Receiver

In Tennis we have a strange way to score you’ll hear players say, Love – Love which translates Zero to Zero, or 15 – Love which is really 1 to zero and so forth.  To win a game a player must when by two points.  So think of the scoring this way:

15 = 1

30 = 2

40 = 3

If the server and receiver are at 40 to 40 that is called DEUCE, which could be thought of as 3 to 3.  Depending on who wins the next point the SERVER will announce Advantage In (Advantage to Server) or Advantage Out (Advantage to Receiver).  Let’s say for this scenario that the score is Advantage In, if the Server wins the next point than that would be Game; if however the Server loses the point than we go back to DEUCE and the battle continues until either the Server wins the final point or the Receiver wins the final point (or Game point).

Note also – All Even scores a Served from the DEUCE SIDE of the court and all Odd scores start from the AD SIDE of the court.

Here are some possible points played during each game if it helps:

1^st possibility:

Love – Love

15 – Love

30 – Love

40 – Love

GAME

2^nd possibility:

Love - Love

Love – 15

Love – 30

Love – 40

GAME

3^rd:

Love – Love

15 – Love

15 – 15 (Also called as 15 All)

30 – 15

30 – 30  (Could be called 30 All)

40 – 30

40 – 40 (DEUCE)

ADVANATAGE IN (AD IN)

BACK TO DEUCE

ADVANTAGE OUT  (AD OUT)

BACK TO DEUCE

(this could go on forever)

Finally in this Scenario

Advantage IN

GAME

Hopefully you get the point ( no pun intended)

Number of Games Played in a Set and a Number of Sets Played in a Match.

-Players can choose to play a  Match different ways.  Players can choose to play a Best of Eight - for example: This means one player has to win at least Eight games over their opponent who has won only (we’ll say) 6 Games (that of course means these two players played a total of 14 Games and one player won 8 out of those 14 games played).  Side note here:  Player must when by two games.

If you both however win 8 games than you can choose to play a Tie Break which I have not explained to you yet.  That will come later in these instructions).  Players can also choose to keep playing games until one or the other wins 2 games over their opponent.

--Players can choose to play the Best of 2 out of 3 sets.  So here’s how that works:  Players will play a Set  which means the person that Wins 6 games (2 games over their opponent Wins that set).  So possibilities here are (6,1) or (6,2), or (6,3), or (6,4), or (1,6), or (2,6), or (3,6), or (4,6) – if (6,5) or (5,6) another game will have to be played to WIN the Set - either (7,5) or  (5,7).  If the game count gets to (6,6) Than either a Tie Break will have to be played or players can agree to play until someone gets 2 games over the other. 

After someone has Won the First Set than a Second set will be played.  If the Same person who won the First Set also Wins the Second Set  than that is MATCH.  If of course the opposite person Wins the Second Set than a Third Set will be played.

There are other options but I think you get the idea.

CHANGING ENDS OF COURTS ON ODD GAMES.

Earlier I talked about players choosing who would serve first and the other player choosing which end to receive from.   That information will come in handy now.

After odd games, opponents will change sides of courts to Serve and Receive from – this keeps it fair for both players.  For example players might be dealing with windy conditions, or the sun might get in the player’s eyes from the opposite side of the court.  Rather than one player always being at a disadvantage both players will have to deal with these variety of conditions. 

After the first game the players will trade ends.  After 3 games are played (a total of three games not one person winning 3 games) again the players will switch ends.  5 games played switch again.  If a set is won on an odd numbered game the players will switch ends before starting the next set.

Tie Break (7 point tie break)

There are different Tie Breaks.  I’m just going to teach you one.  Normal scoring is used here so that is one thing that makes it easier to understand.

If players have to play a Tie Break whichever opponent (or team) that just got through serving will hand the balls over to the other player (or team) to start the TIE BREAK.  The 1st point will be served from the DEUCE COURT.  Than the server that started that first point regardless of whether they won or lost that point will than hand the balls over to their opponent so they can serve the 2nd point of the Tie break.  That Server will serve both the 2^nd point and than the 3^rd point  regardless of who wins each point (2^ND point will be served from AD COURT, 3^RD point from DEUCE COURT).  Than that opponent (who served point 2 & 3) will hand the balls back over to the Server  who started the very first point of the Tie break and they will than serve both the 4^th and 5^th points.  Now the balls will be handed back over to their opponent who will serve the 6^th point – PLAYERS will SWITCH ENDS after 6^TH POINT PLAYED.  7^TH point will now be played (player who wins Tie break must win by 2 points over opponent). 

Scoring for a Tie Break will go something like this:  (0,0)…(1,0)…(1,1)…(2,1)….(7,5)
NOTE ALSO:  Scores that add up to Odd Numbers will be served from Ad Court
ex: (1,0) = 1, (2,1) = 3 etc.  these points will be served from Ad Court Side.

NOTE ON TIE BREAK – Many players are confused who starts the next set after TIE BREAK.  The player who started the Tie break will hand the balls to their opponent to start the NEXT SET because the TIE BREAK was considered that person’s SERVICE GAME. 

WHERE TO SERVE FROM  ON THE COURT.

The Serve will start the FIRST POINT from the DEUCE SIDE OF THE COURT and will serve into the DEUCE SIDE on the RECEIVERS SIDE.  The ball must land somewhere inside the appropriate serving box.  That means DEUCE SIDE OF COURT TO DEUCE SIDE OF COURT and ADVANTAGE  SIDE OF COURT TO ADVANTAGE SIDE OF COURT.

Ball can land on OUTSIDE EDGE OF BOX – Either down the MIDDLE, BACK OF SERVICE BOX LINE or OUTSIDE EDGE OF THE INSIDE SIDE LINE AT DOUBLES ALLEY and the ball is still GOOD.

BALL CAN BE 99.9 % OUT but it is still 100% IN even if a fraction of the ball hits the line. 

NOTE this same SITUATION is true when the ball is in play – AS LONG AS THE BALL HITS the OUTSIDE OF A LINE it is GOOD!!!!

out ball

If the SERVERS FIRST SERVE is called OUT.  Than the server has a second chance, if the second serve is OUT than the server loses that point and moves to serve the 2^nd point from the Ad Court. 

FOOT FAULT

I’m not going to spend much time on the Foot Fault Rule, as you become a better player you will hear more about that rule especially if you watch the pros play on T.V.  However, I will give you a quick overview. 

The Server is required to serve behind the baseline of the court.  If the Server is serving the first point of the game the Server will serve from the DEUCE COURT side.  So on the DEUCE COURT side the Server will stay between the center line baseline mark (this mark actually extends past the court into the OUT part of the court as an invisible baseline.  The Singles or Doubles baseline also extends to the out part of the court as an invisible line.  The server is allowed to be near these lines but not over them (or touching them) during the service motion.

A lot of players at the BEGINNING LEVEL don’t worry about FOOT FAULTS unless maybe if they are EXTREME.  But if a FOOT FAULT IS CALLED on the First Serve than the server loses their first serve opportunity and must play a second serve.  If the Server Foot Faults on their Second serve than they lose that point.

Not a Fault   Clear Foot Fault

LET SERVICE.

During Serve if the ball hits any part of the NET and still falls IN the proper box.  Server gets what is called a LET SERVE.  That means if you are on your FIRST SERVE and the ball HITS THE NET and FALLS IN you get to REPEAT your FIRST SERVE until you get a successful serve or server hits the ball out.  SERVER  can get SEVERAL FIRST serves if they KEEP HITTING THE NET AND FALLING IN THE CORRECT SERVICE BOX. 

This LET SERVICE RULE IS ALSO TRUE on SECOND SERVICES as well.

Note:  A LET call can be made by any player that heard the ball hit the net, but only the Receiver (or receiving team) can declare whether the Server’s ball was good (or fell into the proper server box or not).  If for example the Server was on their 1^st Serve and a LET was called then the opponent(s) rule if the ball fell into the proper box or not, if ruled good, they should say, “Take your First Serve” or if they declare the ball fell out or fault then they should say to Server, “ball was out take your Second Serve” and so on.

Hinderance:

A hinderance can be several things:  The player directly or in directly distracts the player by making hand motions or loud noises that may cause the opposing player to lose concentration – that will be an immediate loss of point to player that caused the distraction.  Other hinderances can be personal items falling off of a player, such as a hat or jewelry, or an extra ball may fall out of their pocket.  If this is the case the player that lost the item will first get a warning, but if any of the previous mentioned happens to that player again, they will lose a point.  Another hinderance could be a ball coming into players court during play this is remedied by simply replaying the point.

Other things to Note:

If playing Doubles the only things that changes is that you will serve a game and when it’s your teams turn to serve again your partner will serve that game.  You or your partner will choose whether to return from the Ad Side or the Deuce side and you will have to keep the sides you or your partner chose to return from until the next set where one or both of you may decide to switch the sides you where returning from.  Since you are playing doubles the doubles alley will now be available and the very outside line is now the boarder of the court rather than the inside line.  Also note that when you start a new set that you and your partner may want to change order of who serves first. Another Note:  Serving boxes don’t extend out to the doubles line just the court size changes to a larger court for doubles play.

--Neither player or racket can touch the net while the ball is in play.

--If a ball hits the opponent(s) during serve the  point  goes to the serving player or team.

--If a ball in play hits a player (even if  the ball hits the hand of the player that is holding the racket) the point goes to the opposite player or team.

--If a player catches the ball before the ball actually goes out, the point goes to the opposite player or team.

--If a player hits a ball and decides later that the ball was going out they must continue play of the point because that player has put the ball back into play by hitting the ball.

--A player has to hit a ball on their side of the court but once they have hit the ball player is allowed to let the racket break the plain of the net only after making contact with the ball on their own side first.

--The only time a player is allowed to reach over the net to hit ball is when the ball has first hit their side of the court and is bouncing back over to the opponent’s court.

Player must make contact with the ball before it bounces on the opponent’s side.

--A player is allowed to hit around the net and ball is good as long as ball lands in the opponents  court or the opponent takes ball out of the air.

I hope this helps you get started and have fun!

Here’s also a little side note.  All tennis rackets are legal on the court:  Oversize, mid-size, cheap as well as expensive rackets.  As long as the racket was made for tennis it’s a legal racket.  Of course the better the equipment the easier it makes it for the player to be successful. 

If any body notices any typing mistakes or anything I’ve not explained well or whatever please let me know.  I’ll be glad to correct any mistake. 

stjoetennis@gmail.com

If you find these rules helpful you can download it here.