Tennis is played between two players, or two pairs in doubles, who hit a ball over a net using a strung racket, trying to land it inside the opponent’s court in a way they cannot return. The sport’s global governing body is the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which oversees the rules, the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup, and the four Grand Slam tournaments, while the men’s and women’s professional tours are run separately by the ATP and the WTA.
Objective
Players win a point by forcing their opponent into an error or hitting a shot they cannot reach or return within the rules. Points accumulate into games, games into sets, and sets into a match, and whoever wins enough sets first takes the match.
Rules and regulations
- Each point starts with a serve, struck diagonally into the opposite service box, with two attempts allowed before a double fault costs the point.
- The ball may bounce only once before being returned, though it can also be volleyed straight out of the air.
- A set is won by the first player to reach six games with a two-game lead; if it reaches 6-6, a tie-break is usually played, generally to seven points, though the deciding set at some tournaments now uses a longer ten-point tie-break instead of playing out extra games.
- One recent change across the professional game is the shot clock: players now have 25 seconds between points to serve, a rule adopted across the ATP and WTA tours and at the Grand Slams to keep matches moving and cut down on delays.
Equipment and playing area
- A singles court measures 23.77 metres long and 8.23 metres wide, widening to 10.97 metres for doubles, with the net standing 0.914 metres high at the centre.
- Courts are built on different surfaces, mainly grass, clay or hard courts, each affecting bounce and speed of play.
- Players use strung rackets and a pressurised felt-covered ball, with the ball’s compression sometimes adjusted for different surfaces or altitudes.
Scoring
- Points within a game run 15, 30, 40 and game, and if both players reach 40, the score is called deuce, after which a player must win two points in a row to take the game.
- Matches for men at Grand Slams are played over the best of five sets, while most other tour matches and all women’s matches are decided over the best of three.
