Since 1873, tennis has been a popular sport. The sport has two variations: solo and doubles. So what are the rules of tennis in this two types? In singles matches, two players compete head to head in an effort to hit the ball inside the lines of the court on the opposite side from their opponent without having the other player return it before it bounces twice.
With the exception of the bounds, doubles play by the same rules. The borders are larger in doubles since there are two players on each team, giving the players additional space to strike the ball on the other team’s side. The following article help the beginners understand what are the rules of tennis.
What are the rules of tennis?
1. Serving Rules
In tennis, a serve always marks the start of a point. The goal is to hit the ball into the opponent’s service box by hitting it over the net. A player has two opportunities to serve the ball into the box. A double-fault results in a player losing the point if they fail to connect on both serves. A let happens if a player smashes the ball off the net and it lands in the proper service box. During the serve, a player’s feet must remain behind the service line; otherwise, the chair umpire will signal a foot fault.
A timed clock between serves in competitive matches makes guarantee that each point is played in 30 seconds. Prior to the implementation of this rule, certain players would take a long time to serve between points, frustrating both the opposition and the crowd. Typically, the clock begins to count down from 30 seconds at the end of a point.
2. Sets/Games
Matches are typically played to the best of two out of three sets in competitions. Women’s tennis matches are best two out of three sets in major events like the Australian Open, Wimbledon, French Open, and US Open, while men’s matches are best three out of five sets.
In tennis, a player needs to win six games with a margin of victory of at least two games to take the set. A tiebreaker is used to decide who wins the set if the scores are deadlocked after six games apiece. Because the set must be won by two games if each player receives five games, it’s not uncommon to see set scores of 7-5 or 5-7.
Unless the score reaches deuce, a player must score four points before the opposing player scores four in order to win the game. The numbers at each location are 0, 15, 30, and 40. “Love” in a game has a value of 0. When the score is 40-40, often known as “40-all,” the result is a deuce. A player who receives a deuce must win by a margin of two to prevail. The idea is referred to as an advantage, or “ad.” Occasionally, you’ll hear the terms “ad-in” or “ad-out,” which simply indicate which player is in a better position. “Ad-in” denotes that the server has the edge. “Ad-out” denotes that the returner is in the lead.
3. Coin Toss
The players convene at center court prior to the start of every tennis match to decide who will serve first and from which side of the court. Before asking the lower-ranked players to call heads or tails, the chair umpire will approach both players and shake their hands before entering the center of the court.
The umpire then flips a coin, and whoever wins has the option of receiving, serving, or choosing which side they wish to play on initially. The other players will choose whether they wish to serve or receive first if the coin toss winner chooses to pick a side. The majority decide to serve first since in tennis serving is a great advantage. Tennis players will occasionally use their rackets to spin a coin to indicate up or down if there isn’t a coin available (like heads or tails).
4. Doubles/Singles
Tennis competitions come in two flavors: singles and doubles. Tennis singles matches have just two players, whereas doubles matches feature four. Tennis is played according to what are the rules of tennis, but in doubles, the four players switch off serving, so the person who serves to start the match won’t serve again until the fifth game of the set. The court’s boundaries are also slightly varied. Players are permitted to hit the ball in the doubles alley during doubles matches. When there are multiple opponents on the other side of the court, there is less room for you to hit the ball past them, which is the source of this.
5. Ranking System
Tennis has an unusual rating system. Based on the number of skill points they accumulate throughout events held throughout the year, each player is assigned a ranking. A player receives more points the further they advance in a tournament. A contest’s winner earns the most points, whereas a loser in the opening round receives the least. The four major tournaments award the most points overall, however various tournaments have varied point systems.
In terms of points awarded, there are four levels of tournaments, with #1 being the highest and so on: Grand Slams are first, followed by the Masters 1000, ATP 500, and ATP 250. Grand slam winners receive 2,000 points, while the winners of the other three levels receive the same number of points as they do in the title. World rating is used to establish tournament seeding, so the higher your seed, the higher your global ranking. In order to earn as many points as they can throughout the season, players need compete frequently.
Conclusion
Above is some explaination about what are the rules of tennis beginners should discover before playing. We hope this article is useful and give you more information about tennis.
