Tennis Rules Explained in 10 Minutes

You have just started playing tennis, but the rules, the scoring, and all those basics still feel confusing. Perfect. You have just found video that explains it all. Part number one, the court. First, let's talk about the battlefield, the tennis court. There are different surfaces. Clay like Edon Garos, grass, wimbledon, or the hard courts like the US Open. But no matter where you play, the court size stays exactly the same. Here's what you need to know. And that divides the court into the two halves and everything in tennis happens around it. At the very back of each side, there is long line called the baseline. This is where the most rallies start from and it's also where the players surf from. These narrow sidelines are used for singles, one player versus one player. So this is the singles area. These wider sidelines, also called the double alleys, are used for doubles matches, two versus two. So this is the doubles area. And these two rectangular boxes near the net on each side, those are the service boxes, the targets you aim for when serving. Part number two, how tennis match starts. Every tennis point starts with serve. But before that, how do we decide who gets to serve first? In pro tennis, it's usually coin toss. But casually, you can just play rock, paper, scissors. The winner of the toss gets to choose serve or receive. The loser chooses the side of the court they want to start on. Part number three, how to serve properly. Now, let's break down the serve. You always start serving from the due side. That's the right side of the court. Then, after every point, you switch his side from the right to the left and back again until the game is finished. Before serve, you must stand behind the baseline. Your feet cannot touch or cross the line before hitting the ball. That's foot fault. Even if the ball is perfect, it doesn't count. If your foot touches the line, where do you serve? Into the diagonal service box on your opponent's side. If during serve the ball touches any part of the service box line, even just one it's considering in. You have two chances to make valid serve. If your first serve hits the net or lands out, mean out of service box, it's fault. But no worries, you get second try. But if your second serve hits the net or lands outside the diagonal service box, you lose the point. Now, here is the one exception, the lead rule. If your serve hits the net but still lands in the correct service box, it's called let and you get to repeat the serve. It doesn't matter if it was first or second serve. You just do it again. In fact, if you hit 10 leads in row, you can serve 10 times as long as it keeps hitting the net and landing in. But if the serve hits the net and goes out, that's just regular fault. So remember, net plus in, try again. net pulls out. Fault. All right, so your serve is in. What now? How do you actually win point? The answer is super simple. You just need to get the ball over the net one more time than your opponent and make sure it lands inside the court. You don't need to hit hard. You don't need to have perfect technique. But there are the rules that matter. Number one, the ball must land inside the court. If the ball goes beyond the baseline or outside the sideline, it's out and you lose the point. But if the ball touches the line, even by just 1 millm, it's still in. Number two, the ball must go over the net. It doesn't matter if it's 5 cm or 3 above. But if you hit the ball into the net and it doesn't cross, you lose the point. Number three, if the ball bounces twice on your opponent's size, you win. That's called winner. Clean shot. The ball bounces twice before your opponent can hit it and the point goes to you. Optional Wally play. You are also allowed to hit the ball before it bounces on your side. This is called wally. You often see this when players run to the net. There is even strategy called serve and wally which was super popular in the '9s. It is not easiest way to start if you are new. But hey, tennis just be fun. So if you want to try it, just go for it. So to sum it up, here are three main ways to win point. Your opponent hits the ball out beyond the lines. Your opponent hits the ball into the net. If your shot lands in and the ball bounces twice before your opponent can get to it, that's called winner. Part number four, tennis scoring. All right, now comes the fun part. Scoring. In most sports like football, hockey, or basketball, the team with more goals or points simply wins. 1 2 3 4. Whoever scores more wins. Simple as that, right? But in tennis, the scoring works little differently. For example, in the 2019 Wimbleland final, Federer won more points than Jookovic and still lost. By the way, for me, that was the most painful moment in tennis history. If you are still emotionally scared from that match like am, go ahead and drop comment below. Let's cry about it together. Okay, back to the scoring. How does it work? single game goes like this. Laugh. 15 30 40 game. But wait, why not 45? One theory says the tennis scoring came from clock. 15 minutes, 30, 45, 60. But 45 became 40 overtime. Why? Easier to say during matches. And why not zero, but love. Zero points is called love. It comes from French love. The egg. Because zero looks like an egg. Also, people like to believe that even if you are losing, you still have love for the game. nice way to feel better when you are down 40, right? But what if the score is 4040? That's called duce. At dues, both players are tight. So the game isn't over yet. You have to win two points in row to win the game. The first point after du is called advantage. If you win the next point too, you win the game. When it's du, you serve from the right side. won this point. So it's advantage me. For advantage, you serve from the left side. And if win this rally, win the game. But if you have advantage and you lose the next point, the scores goes back to deuce and it continues until someone finally wins two points in row. So from dues, it's mental battle. How do you win tennis match? All right, so now we know how to win single game. But how do you actually win the whole match? Most of the time, about 90% of all matches, tennis is played in best of three sets format. That means you need to win two sets to win the match. In men's grand slams, it's best of five sets, but we will stick to the standard version here. How do you win set? To win one set, you need to win at least six games. But it's not always that simple. If you win 6 0, 61, 62, 63, 64, congrats. But what if the score is 55? Then one player must win two games in row to take the set. If you go up to 65, that's not enough. You need to take it 75 to win the set without tiebreak. If you are up 65 but lose the next game, the score became 66. When both players reach 66, the set goes into tiebreak, which has its own rules. In the tiebreak, we don't use 15 30 40 scoring. We count normal points. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. The first player to reach seven points with at least two-point leads wins the tiebreak and the set. You could win tie break 75 10 8 even 242. It really happens. And guess who played this match? Yeah, John. Again, once you win tiebreak, you win the set 76. Serve rotation in tiebreak. You start by serving one point from the due side. That's the right side. Then your opponent serves the next two points. First from the advantage side left, then from the deuce side right. After that you serve two opponent serve two and so on. Remember one serve then two two until the tiebreak is over. Also players switch ends on the court after every six points total. No matter the score. For example at 33, 42 or 66. you change the sides. This keeps the playing condition fair, especially in the sunny or windy weather. Here is an example of tie break. You need to win at least seven points. Example match breakdown. Let's say you win the first set in the tie break 76. Then you win the second set 64. That means you have won two sets and the match is yours. Time to celebrate. But what if it's 1-1 in sets? Then you go into the deciding third set. Let's say you crush it and win 6-3. Your your final score is 76 46 63. Match one. If you don't have time to play full third set, you can play super tight break instead. It follows the same rules as regular tie break, but instead of playing to seven, you play to 10 points. Bonus tip. Let's talk about switching sides during set. You switch sides after the first game and then after every two games. For example, after 1 zero, you switch, then again at 2 1, 32, 43, and so on. This rotation helps keeps the match fair, especially if the sun or wind is affecting one side more than the other. Just remember, after the very first game, then every two games after that. Easy. And now quick recap. One game first to win four points. If it's 4040, that's called use. If you win following point, you have advantage. One more point and game is yours. One set first to win six games. margin needs to be at least two. If it's 66, we play tie break. match, you need to win two sets. And truly believe you are now ready to step into the world of tennis. hope everything was clear, but if you still have any question, feel free to drop them into the comments below. And if it all made sense, do not forget to hit the like button and subscribe for more tennis tips. Thanks for watching and will see you in the next