Tennis Regulations Easily Explained

Tennis is fun to play, but can be confusing to learn. Whether you're a beginning or professional player, the rules remain the same. Once you understand these rules, you'll be on your way to playing a winning game.

Server and Receiver

The first step to playing a game of tennis is deciding who serves first. To do this, one player spins the racquet and the other chooses "up" or "down". If the player calls "up" and the words on the racquet face upward, he or she wins the draw and may decide which player serves first, or choose may choose which side of the net to play.

To better understand the rules of tennis, let's have an example: If player A wins the call and opts to serve, player B will have the choice of courts. Player A stands behind the baseline to the right of the center mark, and serves the ball into Player B's right service court. Player A is allowed to serve twice.

Faults

A fault is any disobedience of the rules of tennis. In addition to that, here are some other ways that can construe a "fault": If the player swings and misses the ball; if the player hits the ball into the net; if the ball bounces in the service court but hits any permanent fixture, such as the net post; and the player must not step on or over the baseline before the racket hits the ball or it is called a foot fault. The player may step on or over the line after the racket contacts with the ball. Just a word of advice, leaning over the line without touching it during a serve is absolutely legal.

The Let Service

A let service can be called when a player serves a ball and the ball skims over the top of the net but still goes into the service court of the opponent; or a player serves the ball into the service court of the opponent before the opponent is ready. The let service is not considered a fault and does not count as one of their two serves. If a player tosses the ball and catches it without swinging at it, it doesn't count as a serve and the player may take it over as per the rules for tennis.

Following the first point, the player serves from the left of the center mark for the second point and must serve the ball into the opponent's left service court. After the next point, the server moves back to the right and remains server throughout the game, changing the position after each point is played. The receiver or opponent can select any position he or she wants.

If the receiver tells the server that they are not ready, but attempts to return the service and fails, the receiver is considered ready and the server scores a point. A point is also called against the receiver if he or she strikes a service during the server's volley, but before the ball has had time to bounce. After the service, the server or the receiver can hit the ball on a volley or following a bounce.

There are other times when a player can lose a point after service. This can happen when a player's racquet or article of clothing touches the net, when a player hits the ball more than once, when the ball touches the player or clothing, when the player plays the ball before it passes over the net and when a player tosses his or her racquet at the ball and hits it.

A ball is still considered playable when the ball lands on either the baseline or sideline, when a player returns a ball that has hit the top of the net and landed on the proper court, and when a returned ball hits the net post and lands in the proper court. Players using the court where the ball lands are free to determine whether the ball is in or out.

The rules of tennis are concrete and fundamental rules, but they may vary slightly in professional tournaments and championships.