RULES FOR LAWN TENNIS

Understanding the rules for tennis is quite easy and not at all difficult in comparison to playing this demanding sport. The basic lawn tennis rules are presented in this article.

Scoring Rules for a Single Point
The server has to serve from a point behind the baseline. The ball after serving should fall in the box, on the opponents side, that is diagonally opposite from the server's position. A service is considered wrong if it falls outside this box. A service is ruled out faulty if it falls on the server's side after hitting the net. The situation in which a player commits two faults one after the other is referred to as double fault; the point is awarded to the opponent in case a double fault is committed. A correct service leads to a rally i.e. exchange of shots. In a single's game a shot is considered valid if it falls within the tennis court which excludes the 4.5 feet strips that runs along the length of the court. However, these strips are part of the tennis court in case of a doubles game.

Rules for Scoring in a Match
A tennis match is played in a 'best of 3 sets' or 'best of 5 sets' format. The men's matches are generally played in a 'best of 5 sets' format, while the other format is used for women.

Set
To win a single set, one has to win at least 6 games. However, the difference of games won by the winner and loser of a given set should at least be 2. It means that a set cannot be won at '6-5'; upon reaching a situation in which both players win 6 games each, the tie-breaker is employed. It is necessary to score minimum of 7 points in order to win a tie-breaker. Again a difference of 2 points is needed for winning the tie-breaker.

Game
A game is won by winning 4 points. Winning the first point takes a player's score to 15. The score of 15 is followed by 30, 40 and game. The scoring pattern is a bit weird in a sense that it doesn't incorporate the pattern of 1, 2, 3 and game. If the score is at 40-40, it is a tie which is referred to as 'deuce'. In order to win a game after the deuce, one has to score a point referred to as 'Advantage' to the winner of the shot. The player who gains the 'advantage' can win the game on the very next point. If the opponent scores a point while one has reached/gained advantage, the scores are reset to 'deuce'.