Rules of Tennis

The rules in tennis are pretty simple which is one of the chief reasons why it is such a famous sport. The tennis court is rectangular in shape - 78 feet long and 27 feet wide. The court is divided into two equal halves courtesy a net suspended from a cord or metal cable whose diameter shouldn`t exceed 0.8 cm. The ends of the cord are attached to the top of two posts, the diameter of which should not exceed 15 cm. Also, the posts should not be more than 2.5 cm above the top of the net cord. Centers of the post are 3 feet outside the court on both sides while the height of the posts is such that the top of the cord or metal cable is 3 feet 6 inches above the ground. A tennis court has sidelines plus a baseline at the end. A line that is 21ft from the net and parallel to the net decides the service area. As per the rule, if any ball hits the line, it counts as in.

There are two main forms of the tennis: Singles and Doubles. The opposition players stand at the two ends of the net and use a racket to hit the tennis ball. The players have to try and hit the ball back into the opposition`s court before it bounces for a second time. The ball has to be hit above the net but should land inside the opponent`s court. In case none of the above happens, the other player wins a point. The players have to try and win maximum number of points, games and sets so that he or she ends up victorious. In order to win a set, the players need to win six games and lead by two clear games. E.g.: You win a set if you are leading 6-4 or 7-5. In case the score line is 6-6, then a tiebreak is held to decide the result of the set. In women`s tennis, there are best of three sets while in most men`s tournaments, matches are best of five affairs. (In some select tournaments, even men`s games are best of played over three sets.

Singles TennisSingles Tennis: One of the players serves first and the other returns. Opponents swap serve interchange ends after every game. A toss of a coin takes place to decide who serves first and who returns. The player who wins the toss has the following options:
To serve first and let the opponent choose the ends
To receive first and let the opponent choose ends
The winner can decide which half of the court he/she wants to start the match from. In such a scenario, the opponent has a choice to serve or receive
The winner of the toss can also ask the opponent to decide whether he/she wants to serve or receive.

Doubles TennisDoubles Tennis: The court for doubles tennis is wider as compared to singles, where any of the two players can hit the ball. The serve is on a rotational basis, which means a player serves every fourth game. The chronology of serving and receiving can be changed after a set comes to an end. The partners of server and receiver have the option to stand at any place on the court during the course of a serve. At the time of the game, it is better though for the four players to stand at each side of the court.

Tennis OfficialsTennis Officials: Tennis officials have the responsibility of keep a tab on the score line and adjudicating whether a ball is in or out. A senior umpire sitting on a chair adjacent to the net announces the points won. He has the authority to overrule decisions made the other officials. The line judges make a decision whether a ball is in or out. He sits outside the court and keeps a close watch at the court lines. Since the last two decades, an electronic machine has aided the line judge. This is chiefly because players have begun serving at a speed of 100mph. A net-cord judge establishes whether a serve has clipped the net and must be called a let. In case a player picks up a squabble with the officials, he can either be penalized or disqualified depending on the nature of the wrangle. For major disagreements, the match referee can be brought into play. Referee otherwise watches the game from the stands.

Tennis Scoring

A tennis match is composed of a number of sets. Typically for both men's and women's matches, the first player to win two sets wins the match. At certain important tennis tournaments for men, including all four Grand Slam tournaments and the final of the Olympic Games, the first man to win three sets wins the match. set consists of games, and games, in turn, consist of points.

A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving. A game is won by the first player to have won at least four points in total and at least two points more than the opponent. The running score of each game is described in a manner particular to tennis: scores of zero to three points are described as "love" (or zero), "fifteen", "thirty", and "forty" respectively. (See the main article Tennis score for the origin of these words as used in tennis.) If at least three points have been scored by each player, and the scores are equal, the score is "deuce". If at least three points have been scored by each side and a player has one more point than his opponent, the score of the game is "advantage" for the player in the lead. During informal games, "advantage" can also be called "ad in" or "ad out", depending on whether the serving player or receiving player is ahead, respectively.

In tournament play, the chair umpire calls the point count (e.g., "fifteen-love") after each point. The score of a tennis match during play is always read with the serving player's score first. After a match, the score is always read with the winning player's score first. At the end of a game, the chair umpire also announces the winner of the game and the overall score.

A game point occurs in tennis whenever the player who is in the lead in the game needs only one more point to win the game. The terminology is extended to sets (set point), matches (match point), and even championships (championship point). For example, if the player who is serving has a score of 40-love, the player has a triple game point (triple set point, etc.) as the player has three consecutive chances to win the game. Game points, set points, and match points are not part of official scoring and are not announced by the chair umpire in tournament play.

A break point occurs if the receiver, not the server, has a game point. Break points are of particular importance in men's professional tennis because serving is generally advantageous. The advantage to the server is much less in the women's game. A receiver who has two (score of 15-40) or three (score of love-40) consecutive chances to win the game has double break point or triple break point, respectively. As with game, set, and match points, break points are not announced.

A set consists of a sequence of games played with service alternating between games, ending when the count of games won meets certain criteria. Typically, a player wins a set by winning at least six games and at least two games more than the opponent. If one player has won six games and the opponent five, an additional game is played. If the leading player wins that game, the player wins the set 7–5. If the trailing player wins the game, a tiebreaker is played. A tiebreaker, played under a separate set of rules, allows one player to win one more game and thus the set, to give a final set score of 7–6. Only in the final sets of matches at the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, the Olympic Games, Davis Cup, and Fed Cup are tiebreakers not played. In these cases, sets are played indefinitely until one player has a two game lead. A "love" set means that the loser of the set won zero games. In tournament play, the chair umpire announces the winner of the set and the overall score.

History of Tennis

Like cricket, the origins of tennis can also be traced to England. History says that tennis in its current form was played in the British nation in 1870s. A decade later, the British Army and Civilian Officers familiarized India with the game. And in no time, tennis tournaments too were being played in the country: `Punjab Lawn tennis Championship` at Lahore in 1885; `Bengal Lawn Tennis Championship` at Kolkata in 1887 and the All India Tennis Championships at Allahabad in 1910.

As expected, it was the Britishers who dominated the championship in the early years. But along with time, India too began making their presence felt. Mohd. Saleem from Lahore was victorious in the Punjab Championship in 1915 and then did phenomenally well to win successive titles between 1919-1926. Saleem`s win in seem to inspire other Indians too. 1917 saw NS Iyer crowned winner of Bengal Championship and only a couple of years later in 1919, Mr. Nagu won the singles championships at the All India Tennis Championship at City`s Gymkhana Club at Allahabad. The Indians never looked back after that and started dominating tournament after tournament.

As time went along, the need for a tennis association was felt and so in 1920, the All India Lawn Tennis Association (AILTA) was formed at Lahore. Laws of the game were prepared keeping in mind those of the Lawn Tennis Association of Britain. Later in that same year, the first AGM of AILTA was conducted at Town Hall in Delhi and it also decided that the `All India National Championships` would be held at Allahabad annually. AITA decided to decided that each Province should have a Provincial Associations, which will be affiliated to the parent body. These Provincial Associations are today known as State Associations.


The inaugural Inter Provincial Tournament was held in 1922 with Punjab LTA led by Mohd. Saleem. The competition became a regular feature in India until the Second World War broke out in 1939. However, the most important decision made by the members was participation in the Davis Cup. The first set of players to represent India in the Davis Cup in 1921 included prominent names like SM Jacob, Mohd Saleem, LS Deane and AA Fayzee. Their performances were so impressive that they ended up beating the Frenchmen and made it to the semi-finals.

In fact, between 1922-1929 India got the better of a number of strong nations like France, Romania, Holland, Belgium. Spain and Greece. This was largely due to the efforts of greats like M. Sleem, the Fayzee brothers AH Fayzee and AA Fayzee, Cotah Ramaswamy and Krishna Prasad. India`s participation in international tournaments also began in the mid 1900s. BK Nehru was the first Indian to play in the prestigious Wimbledon championship in 1905. In the years to follow, Sardar Nihal Singh, M. Saleem, Fayzee brothers and Jagat Mohan Lal also took part in the tournament.

Ghouse Mohd. India`s undisputed No.1 reached the quarterfinal at Wimbledon in 1939. Fayzee and M Saleem went on to represent the country in the 1924 Paris Olympics also with Saleem making it to the semi-finals in the singles. India continued to reap rich success repeated success at Davis Cup and as well as Wimbledon. And the world began to stand up and take notice.

Once the War ended, AILTA decided to hold one Grass court championship called the National Championships of India and one Hard Court tournament named All India Hard Court Championships. (Even foreigners could take part in the National Championships.) And so the first Grass Court National Championship was held at Calcutta in 1946. Sumant Misra won the inaugural championship beating Man Mohan Lal. But in the years to follow, the foreigners dominated the tournament. In fact till 1955, S. Misra Dilip Bose and a 16-yr-old named Ramanathan Krishnan had captured the crown. There were some big names among the foreigners who won the championship. But Ramanathan Krishnan turned around India`s fortuned winning the title for a record eight times in a row between 1953 and 1964. Other Indians to win the prestigious title comprised Premjit Lal, Vijay Amritraj, Jaidip Mukerjea and Ramanathan Krishnan`s son Ramesh Krishnan.