Tennis Basic Rules – First Tennis Lessons to Understand

The tennis basic rules must be first tennis lessons to be learned and understood by a beginner tennis player. A  person who is unfamiliar with tennis may believe that sport is very easy to learn and simple to play.  The ball essentially just needs to go from one player to the other with the use of a racket. But if he wants to find out how to play tennis and enjoy the fun of playing, he would find out that it is rather complicated. The strokes and techniques necessary to make it difficult for his opponent to hit the ball back make the sport somewhat hard to do.

The tennis basic rules – (applies to both singles and doubles):

At the start of the game, players position themselves on opposite sides of the court. They settle which player/s serve first, receive or opt the side of the court by tossing a coin or twirling a racket. The winner of the toss or twirl has the option of serving or receiving the ball first while the loser chooses which side of the court to start.

Tennis basic rules – Serving:

The server begins to deliver the ball to start the point while the receiver stands opposite and cross-court from the server. He stands behind the baseline on the deuce court within the borders of the singles court when playing singles. He stands and inside the double sidelines when playing doubles. Even points are played from the deuce court (the service court on the player’s right). And the odd number points are played from the advantage court (the service court on the left).

The server must not serve until the receiver is set. Serves are made from the server’s deuce court to the opponent’s service box, or from the advantage court to advantage box. The server loses a point if the target is missed twice. If the ball hits the net but goes to the correct service box, the server is granted another serve. The server should not step on the baseline before the ball is hit otherwise the service will be deemed a fault.

Tennis basic rules – the receiver:

The receiver is considered and believed to be set if an effort is made to return the server’s ball. The receiver is allowed anywhere but must let the ball bounce in the service box first before hitting. The server wins the point if the receiver hits the ball before it bounces. It is a fault if the ball does not land in the service box when a second serve is given.

If the server wins the first point, he gets a score of 15. The second point is called 30. The third point is called 40. The game is won when
the score is 40-0, also called LOVE in tennis, meaning zero. The score 40-40 is identified as the deuce, one player must win by two points. If the server wins the next point, he wins the game, this is called Advantage-In. It is called Advantage-Out if the receiver has a chance to win the game on the next point.

The opponent serves the subsequent game. To win a set you have to win six games, but you also have to get two or more games than your opponent. If you get 6-6 first, you play a tiebreaker. The first player to get seven points or more wins the tiebreaker and the set.

Tennis basic rules – Scoring:

When a player hits a ball that goes to the net or lands outside the boundaries of the court that player loses a point. A point is also lost:

• if he touches the net
• bounces the ball over the net
• drops his racket as he’s hitting the ball
• the ball touches him or his partner
• hits a part of the surroundings, or
• purposely attempts to distract the opposition.

The initial point or game will stand in the event of a player serving out of turn or serves to the incorrect person or court. A ball landing
on the line is still good. A LET is called when the ball rolls on the court or there is a disruption from somebody besides the players on the court.

So if you want to learn how to play tennis, you must learn the tennis basic rules first. Learning and knowing the rules will avoid any confusion on the court. You may think that the sport is simple enough that you can jump right unto it. After all the ball basically just needs to go from one player to the other with the use of a racket. The rules are pretty simple and straightforward including the game in itself. The strokes and techniques necessary to make it difficult for opponents to hit the ball back make the game a bit complicated.