The Most Common Tennis Rules and Regulations

Tennis is a racket sport that can be played individually against an opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket tied to a cord to strike a hollow rubber ball over or around the net and felt in the opponent’s court.

The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that if the opponent is not able to play a valid return, the ball will not score a point, while the opposite player will.

History of Tennis Game

Tennis is one of the most popular and the richest game in the world. England is the country that gave modern shape to this game although there are historical hints of the presence of tennis like game in ancient Egypt and Middle-east. In Arabic the game was called ‘Tinis’ and the Word ‘Raquet’ is believed to be distorted version of Arabic “Rite’ meaning “The path of the head’.

In medieval times the game started to be played in aristocratic families of Europe. The credit of gaining popularity to the tennis goes to Mayor W.C. Ningfield in England. It is because of him that England is considered deviser of tennis game. Englishmen framed all the tennis rules and hence all words related to the game are from the English vocabulary. International Tennis Federation organises all the tennis tournaments at present and is the game’s apex body.

Tennis is one such Olympic sport that people of all age groups like to play. The game can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. Tennis was remained in Olympic Games till 1924. Tennis was again included in the Olympics in 1988.

Wimbledon Tennis competition started in 1877. Up to that time international competition used to be held in nearby tennis lawns or grass courts. Hence the game got the name of Lawn Tennis. The fact is that at present Wimbledon is the only Grand slam that is played on grass courts. Wimbledon is the premier tennis tournament every tennis player dreams of winning. Spencer Gore was the first Wimbledon winner.

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Fundamental Skills of Tennis

To become a skilled tennis player, the player must have physical elasticity, ability to rotate the body in any way, knowledge of running with speed and the art of hitting the ball in different ways. Today various types of competitions related to this sport are organized at national and international level.

Some of the fundamental skills are described here.

Racket Grip

• Forehand Grip
• Eastern Grip

Serving

• Slice Service
• Flat Service
• American Twist Service
• Top Spin Service

Receiving

Strokes

• Smash
• Straight Drive
• Drop
• Lobs
• Half Volley

Rules Of Tennis

• A player hits or serves the ball from the middle corner of the net three feet high (0.914 m). The marked-out area is called the court, which is divided into the goal of the opposite player to return the ball, not tossing it more than once in his own court, with the goal that the other player cannot hit it.
• A point is scored when a player is not able to return the ball or hits it off the court. The ball is always hit cross court or diagonally.
• Tennis is required to be played on a regulation-sized tennis court. This means it needs to be 78 feet long (23.77 m) and 27 feet (8.23 m) wide (for singles matches) or 36 feet (10.97 m) wide (for doubles matches).
• The court must have a 3 ft (0.914 m) high net (with 3 42 ft net posts) dividing it down the center. The type of court floor varies. It can be made of asphalt, clay, concrete, grass, artificial grass, wood or other synthetic material.
• The parallel line at both ends of the court, which marks its boundary, is known as the ‘baseline’, while the line marking the edge of the court is known as the ‘sideline’. A line parallel to the baseline, known as the ‘server line’, is marked on either side at a distance of 21 feet from the net.

• The center line, which is perpendicular to the net, is drawn halfway down the middle of the edge and divides the courts into two halves on either side. In addition, the server line and the center line on either side divide each side of the court into four quarters. The quarter court near the net is known as the ‘service court’.

• Normal tournament size rackets should not exceed 29 inches in length and 12.5 inches in width. The hitting area of ​​the racket cannot exceed 15.5 inches long and 11.5 inches wide.

• These vary in colour, but for official tournaments the ball must be yellow or white. Two, four or six balls can be used in a match.

• The server is chosen by a coin toss. The players who win the toss can choose to serve or choose the side of their choice. If the toss winner player chooses to serve, his opponent gets to choose the side and vice versa.

• This applies to both singles and doubles sports. In singles, the server (the person playing first) and the receiver (who receives the serve) change positions (left/right), switching ends after each point and each odd-numbered game.

• Serves are alternated from team to team and from player to player so that each player serves every fourth game. Both partners (receiver and server) can stand anywhere they wish, although it is customary for partners to stand side by side. The order of servings has to be determined before the first game of any set begins.

Tennis Court dimensions with fence in meters

Tennis Court measurements for Singles

Tennis Court measurements for Doubles

Size of Tennis Racket and Ball

Tennis Trophies and Cups

• Wimbledon
• French Open
• US Open
• Australian Open
• Federation Cup (Women)
• Champions Cup
• Grand Slam Cup
• Whiteman Cup
• Virginia Slims Championship
• Davis Cup (Men)
• Master’s Grand Prix Trophy
• Hoppman Cup
• A.T.P. Championship
• Italian Open Championship
• Dubai Open Tennis

Sport Personalities of Tennis

Indian Famous Tennis Players

• Ramanathan Krishnan 
• Ramesh Krishnan 
• Jaideep Mukherjee 
• Anand Amritraj 
• Vijay Amritraj 
• Leander Paes 
• Mahesh Bhupathi 
• Sania Mirza 
• Rohan Bopanna 
• Yuki Bhramari