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Tennis is a great sport to play and with
Australian role models such as Mark 'The Scud'
Philippoussis, Nicole Bradtke and the Woodies,
young players have international level sport stars
to look up to.
Tennis is fun, can be highly competitive or social
with a few of your friends. It is great for your
fitness and co-ordination skills.
The rules of tennis are very simple and all you
need to play is a racquet, a tennis ball, a court
(with a net) and of course an opponent. If you
can't find someone to play against, you can always
practise your skills by hitting the tennis ball
against a wall.
Rules:-Toss a coin to find out who serves
first.
The server starts on the right hand side of the
court and serves the ball, on the full, over the
net to your side of the court. The ball must land
in your service area which is diagonally across
from the server. If it doesn't, a fault is called
and the server is allowed to have another attempt.
If on the second serve, a fault is called again - a
double fault, the server will lose a point.
If the serve is successful, the receiver needs to
return the ball within their opponents court area.
The ball will then go back and forth - a rally,
until someone makes a mistake.
Points are scored from 15 to 30 to 40 to game. If
both players are 40, it is called a deuce and the
next point won is 'advantage'. If the 'advantage'
player wins the next point, they win that game. If
not, it goes back to deuce and so on and so
forth.
The one server serves for the duration of a game.
Then the other player serves. The first player to 6
games and being 2 games in front of their opponent
wins the set. Sometimes, if the game is tight, it
will go to a tie break, and these are usually very
exciting to watch because as soon as someone gets 2
points ahead, they win the set.
If you can get three friends together, you can play
'doubles'. The rules are very similar, but you have
a little more court space.
There are tennis courts EVERYWHERE and you can
contact Tennis NSW to find out how to join your
nearest Tennis Club. Tennis coaching is also
available, and it will be handy if you want to make
sure you have that winning edge' over your
friend!!!
TENNIS NSW - (02) 9331 4144
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