Tennis 101

The game of tennis has been around for many years. Tennis is played in some schools, and there is even a version played that is called wheelchair tennis.

In order to play this active game, you must first find a regulation-size tennis court. Such a court is about seventy-eight feet long and is twenty-seven feet wide for single play, or thirty-six feet wide for double play. Most public courts are large enough for double play. On either side of the net are spaces called service courts. Each service court is, of course, half of the entire court in size. The service court on the player's right is known as the deuce court, while the service court on the left is known as the advantage court, or ad court for short.

You will also need a tennis racquet and balls in order to play this game, along with, of course, an opponent. A tennis racquet has evolved quite abit over the years, and now is made from lightweight graphite or fiberglass as opposed to the wooden racquets of days gone by. The tennis ball is usually colored yellow or white and is about two inches in diameter. Each tennis ball weighs a mere two ounces each.

The object of tennis is to keep the tennis ball in play once it is served by one of the two sides. Each player on each side, which is known as singles, or both players on each side, which is known as doubles, attempts to hit the ball and send it back over top of the net to the opposing side.
The server on one team serves the tennis ball by tossing it into the air and hitting it with their racquet. Their goal is to place the ball across the net in a diagonal direction so that it lands in the receiver's deuce court.

After the first point if the game is made, both players move to the left and continue play from the advantage court. They continue to alternate between courts after each point is made until the game has been won.

Scoring is different in tennis than any other game around. Each point is not counted as a single point. Rather, the scores are kept track of as follows: fifteen is said to be the first game point, while thirty is said to be the second game point. Forty is the next, or third game point made, and one more point is needed from there in order for either side to win the game. As you can see, a tennis game actually consists of four points.

There are some terms in the game of tennis that differ greatly from other games as well. One popular term is love. Love in the game of tennis,refers to having a score of zero. Therefore, if a score is fifteen-love, the server has fifteen, or has actually scored one point in the game, while his or her opponent has not scored as of yet, and therefore had a score of zero.
When a player or a team wins six games, it is said that a set is won. However, the winner(s) must have won at least two more games than the opponent has won.