THE
RULES OF TENNIS
Tennis is a game played on a rectangular court by either two players (singles) or four (doubles). Players stand on opposite sides of a net and use a stringed racket to hit a ball back and forth to each other. Each player has a maximum of one bounce after it has been hit by their opponent to return the ball over the net and within the boundaries of the court. Once a player fails to do any of these three things, her opponent wins a point. The aim is to win enough points to win a game and enough games to win a set and enough sets to win a match. The first person to win six games wins a set. Matches are usually the best of three or the best of five sets.
Singles
A two-player game is known as a singles match. Players use the narrower
singles court. The player who plays the ball first is the server and the person
who returns it is the receiver. Players swap serve every game and change ends
every other game. The right to be server or receiver or the choice of ends is
decided by tossing a coin or spinning a racket.
The winner of the toss can choose one of four options:
* To serve, in which case the
opponent can choose ends
* To receive, in which case
the opponent can choose ends
* The end of the court at
which he or she wishes to begin the match, in which case the opponent can
choose to serve or receive
* To ask the opponent to
choose
Doubles
The game of doubles is exactly the same, except the wider court is
used. Players within a pair do not have to hit alternate shots. However, the
serve rotates so that each player serves once every fourth game. For instance
from Player A in Pair A, to Player B in pair B, back to Player C in Pair A and then to Player D in Pair B. Players can only change the
order of serving and receiving at the end of a set. The server's partner and
the receiver's partner may stand anywhere they like on the court during the
serve, even if it obstructs play. Traditionally however, each player takes one
side of the court.