On the face of it, tennis is a fairly simple game - you have to take it in turns to hit a ball and make it land inside a group of lines. It is also quite cheap to play - when you have a ball and a racquet, you can play in a T-shirt and shorts or skirt. None of this stuff is particularly costly, unless you go for well-known names.
The rules are few and simple too. However, there are some rules and an understanding of these rules will permit you to garner more enjoyment from the game whether you propose playing it or merely watching it.
Most top tennis matches are played by two people: one in each team. However, in amateur games many people like to play in doubles, which means having two players on either team. Mixed doubles involves men and women playing together - one man and one woman per team.
If players would like to play tennis all they need to take to the tennis court are a tennis racquet every and two tennis balls between them. White clothing is the most generally accepted uniform for playing tennis in, but you can wear pretty much what you like otherwise - short or long trousers, short or long skirt, short or long sleeved shirt.
Trainers and short white socks or no socks is the normal footwear. You may choose to wear a sunshade too if the sun is bright or you might harm your eyes if you look into the sun when tracking the ball. The problem with sunglasses or a sunshade is holding them in place, because tennis is a very vigorous game.
Tennis courts are a regulation size being the same everywhere in the world. The court is divided in half by a net set at a regulation height. The outside line parallel to the net is the base line and is the place where most players await a service. Serving has to be done between the base line and the inner parallel line of the service box.
Services are given from the left to the right and from the right to the left in turn so as not to benefit left or right handed players. Along side the court running at 90 degrees to the net a narrow rectangle. These boxes are only valid areas of play in doubles games. If the ball lands in there during a singles match, the ball is called 'out' (of play).
The game is begun with a service. A player serves the ball into the opponent's service box on the opposite side to where he or she is standing. The ball has to bounce in that service box or the service has to be restarted and the opponent gets a point. The ball is then hit back and fore until a fault is created.
A complete game is made up of several sets and service alternates between teams for every set. The scoring is quite easy, but the numbers used are unusual.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the ebook Lawn Tennis Explained. Click a link to visit our website Playing Tennis.
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