Tennis Court Rules: A Quick Guide On How to Play

If you haven’t heard, tennis just so happens to be an extremely popular sport. It has major tournaments around the world that draw in millions of viewers for every match. It’s also a very popular pastime for people of all ages, and it can be your new favorite pastime as well!

By building a backyard tennis court from C&C Courts, you can practice tennis every day for as long as you want, without having to give up your court for other waiting players. But first, you need to know the rules. In this guide, we’ll explain the basic rules of tennis so you can begin to learn and practice the game.

The rules of tennis cover different parts of the game, including scoring, violations, court boundaries, time limits, and more. Some rules also differ depending on whether you’re playing singles or doubles. While this sounds complicated, we’re here to make it easy to understand!

Court Boundaries & Layout

There are many lines on a tennis court, and each one serves a different purpose. It’s important to know what each line means.

Court Lines

There are many lines on a tennis court, and knowing the difference is important to playing the game.

Baseline: This indicates the boundary of the court lengthwise. When a player is serving, they must stand behind this line. Also, if a player hits a shot that lands past the baseline, it is considered “out,” and that player loses the point.
Doubles Line: This line is only relevant during doubles matches. During a doubles match, it indicates the boundary of the court widthwise. Do not worry about this line during a singles match.
Singles Line: This is like the doubles line but for singles matches. It’s the widthwise boundary of the court, and any shot that bounces outside of it is considered “out,” and that player loses the point.
Center Service Line: This line divides the court in half into a left half and right half. Depending on the score, a player has to serve the ball to one of those sides. If they miss, the serve is considered a miss.
Service Line: Combined with the center service line, the service line forms the service box. This indicates the area where a player’s serve must land. If it goes beyond that line, it’s a miss.
Center Mark: This line indicates whether the player who is serving must stand before the serve. The server will start a game serving on the right side of the mark, and will switch between every point.

Court Areas

The lines form boxes that have various functions during the game.

Left and Right Service Boxes: These are the areas where the player needs to hit their serves. The player will have to alternate between each point, hitting the right, then the left.
Doubles Alley: Only relevant during a doubles match; they are the extension of the court to make it bigger for additional players.
Total Court Area: The total court area is bigger than the singles one, and is where every player’s shot (except serves) must land.

Scoring and Points

You may have heard announcers calling the score of a tennis match and needed clarification. It’s not scored like a usual sport. That’s why you need to understand what a tennis point is.

A tennis match consists of several points played in a row. Every time a player hits a shot, they are playing points. After winning enough points, that player wins the game. When a tennis match begins, the players decide who will serve the first point, which is usually done by a coin toss.

The server must go to their side of the court and stand behind the baseline. They must hit the ball to the right of the center mark. On the second hit, they must stand on the left side and will continue to alternate. In order to start a point successfully, the serving player must serve on the service box located over the net and diagonal from them.

A player has the right to two serves on each point. If they miss the first, they have another attempt to hit the service box. If the player misses both, that’s a double fault, and they lose the point.

If the hit is successful, the point is officially started. From then on, the player’s goal is to hit the ball over the net inside the court area until one of them wins the point. After the ball bounces on the service box for the first time, they can hit it directly in the air or let it bounce once on the court.

Winning a Point

There are several ways to win a point.

If the opponent misses two serves in a row (double fault)
If the opponent misses a shot at the net
If the opponents hit a shot over the next outside of the court area in either direction
If the player hits a shot that goes past their opponent
If the player hits a shot that bounces twice on the opponent’s court before they hit it

Tennis Let Rules

Lets are an important rule in tennis. In tennis, a let is short for let’s play again, and it can happen in two ways. A let can happen if a player’s serve hits the net and bounces inside the correct service box. If that happens, the player can retake that same serve.

The second time a let can happen is any type of interference happens between a point. It could be caused by a spectator, another ball entering the court, or some other outside disturbance. The let is called out by the player or the umpire, and the point is replayed with the server getting back their two serves.

Tennis Scoring Rules

The scoring system for tennis is the most complex part of the game. We’ll keep it simple for you, though.

When a player wins a point, they will accumulate points until they win a game. When the player wins enough games, they with a set, and when the player wins multiple sets, they win the match. So it follows this pattern: Point > Game > Set > Match.

As mentioned above, there are five ways to win a point; however, tennis does not count points in 1, 2, 3, 4. The points are counted as 0, 15, 30, and 40. If the player who is serving wins the first point, the score goes to 15-0. If he loses the point, the score becomes 0-15. Always count the server’s score first.

If a player has a point score of 40 and wins another point, they win the game. If both players are tied 40-40 (called a deuce), the first player to score a margin of 2 points wins the game. Therefore, if the score is 40-40, the counting sequence is 40 > Ad > Game. If the score becomes Ad-40, and the player with the Ad loses a point, the score goes back to 40-40.

After a player wins a game, the points go back to 0-0, and the server switches to the other player. They keep accumulating games until one of them wins 6. When a player wins 6 games, they have won the set. If they’re tied at 5 games, the first to 7 wins the set. If the players ties again at 6, they need to play a tiebreak.

A tiebreak is a type of game designed to break a tie. The point scoring is different than normal tennis scoring and uses the 1, 2, 3 method. The first player to reach a total of 7 points wins the tiebreak and then the set. If they are tied at 6-6, the first player to reach a 2-point margin wins the tiebreak.

Keep in mind that serving is different in a tiebreak. The player who begins serving serves for one point, then the players switch roles. In most professional tournaments, the first player to win 2 sets wins the match.

Changeover Rules

If you’ve ever noticed players switching sides during a tennis match, this means they are following changeover rules. Sometimes if the court has more wind on one side than the other or one player is facing the sun, the players will switch sides to make sure they have equal exposure to the conditions.

Once a match starts, the players change sides after the first game is over. Then they will switch sides every time the sum of the scores is odd (2-1, 3-0, etc). Except for the first changeover of each set, the players get to sit and take a break. Every time a set ends, the players get to take a break.

Clock Rule

The clock rule was designed to make tennis matches move faster. Each player has 25 seconds between the end of one point to the start of the next point. If the player goes over, they receive a warning. If this continues, then that player will lose a serve.

Doubles Rules

Some rules work differently for a doubles match. The court is larger, and the serving turns work differently. Each doubles pair takes a turn serving and receiving, similar to a singles match. However, the same player from a doubles pair should not serve twice in a row. A sample serving rotation would be: A, X, B, Y, A, X, etc.

Another rule for the players to decide is who is responsible for receiving serves on the left and right sides of the court. They need to stick to these sides until the set is over.

Build Your Tennis Court with C&C Courts

Now that you understand the rules of tennis, you can work with C&C Courts to build a tennis court in your backyard. Tennis is a great sport that allows you to get exercise and fresh air. It can be played with a friend or with your family in a doubles match. The best part of building with C&C Courts INC is all our tennis courts are designed around versatility, with multi-sport net poles, you can easily go from tennis to pickleball, volleyball, badminton, and more! We can also add 1 or 2 basketball hoops to the court as well!

C&C Courts has been building quality, customized athletic courts for Wisconsin families and businesses for over 35 years. If you want more information, give us a call at 414-377-5294 or send us a message on our website. You can also check out our gallery for completed projects!