Tennis is a simple game involving two or four players competing against each other. The aim of both (teams/players) is to hit the tennis ball within the tennis court in a manner that the opponent is unable to return it in anything more than one bounce. Sounds complicated? It really is not. Let abouttennis.com.au be your guide to explain you the basic tennis rules.
Rules for playing tennis
The International Tennis Federation is the guardian for the various rules of tennis, or lawn tennis as it is also popularly known. There are several rules that a player needs to be familiar with before he/she begins playing the game.
Tennis Game: Rules
Tennis is a game played out over 5 sets (3 for women's tennis), each of maximum 12 games followed by a tie breaker (if required). Players alternate between serving and receiving each game, and change sides after every two games when the total number of games is an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7).
Tennis has a peculiar way of scoring. At the beginning of game, both players start with 0 points (called “love”). The first point is called 15, the second 30 and the third 40. The first player to win 4 points wins the game. However, if both players are on 40 (having won 3 points each), to win the game any of the player needs to win two consecutive points.
The first player to win 6 games with a minimum difference of two games wins the set. If however, both players win 5 games each the player who wins the next two consecutive games wins the set. If this is not possible and each player ends up winning 6 games each, the set moves into a tie breaker.
A tie breaker is along the same lines, the only difference being points take place of games. So the first player to reach 7 points with a minimum difference of 2 wins the tie breaker. If however, the players are tied at 6 points each, the tie breaker continues till any one of them win 2 consecutive points. The player who wins the tie breaker wins the set.
he rules are same for both men's and women's tennis. The men's game is a “best of five sets” game, while women battle it out over three sets. Doubles tennis are 3 sets' affairs. However, the rules for counting points are same for all.