Tennis is a great game but it's also one that has a bunch of rules. If your child wants to learn how to play tennis, get the scoop on learning to play tennis in our summer camps: Tennis Lessons. It will be a summer your child will never forget!
A serve - or, more formally, a "service" - is the tennis shot that starts off a point. You toss the ball into the air and then hit it (generally overhanded) into the diagonally opposite service box.
In a singles match, you serve during one game and then your opponent serves. You alternate back and forth for the duration of the match. In a doubles match, you alternate back and forth between teams, and within each team you also alternate between players.
If you don't get it in the appropriate boss on the first try, you get a second chance. If you don't get it in on the second try either, your opponent gets the point and you switch and serve from the other side. If you win a point on a serve it's called either an "ace", if your opponent doesn't touch the ball at all, or a "service winner", if your opponent touches the ball but fails to return it and keep it in play.
In order to hit the ball over the net and try to beat your opponent, you will employ a series of "shots". For in-depth descriptions, see Tennis Shots.
In a game, both opponents (or, in the case of doubles, teams) begin at 0. From there, scoring goes 15, 30, 40 and then game. For example, if you win two points and your opponent wins one point, the score is not 2-1 but rather 30-15. In order to win a game you have to beat your opponent by two points.
If the game is tied at 40-40 (known as "deuce"), you are serving and your opponent wins the next point, the score becomes Ad(vantage)-Out, which means that he (the receiver) is up by 1 point and needs 1 more point to win the game. If you, on the other hand, were to win that point then the score would be "Ad-In", which means that you (the server) are up by 1 point and need 1 more point to win the game. If the score is Ad-In (you're up by 1) and your opponent scores, the score again becomes "deuce" and back and forth in this manner until either you or your opponent wins by 2!
Winning a set is similar, in that one team or the other has to win by two games. A set is generally won when by the first team to reach 6 games, as long as that team wins by 2 games. If the score is 6-5, for example, the teams have to play more in order for one of the teams to win by the necessary 2 games.
A match is generally comprised of 3 sets, though in professional men's tournaments a match often has 5 sets. The winner of a 3-set match is he who wins the majority which, in this case, is the first person to win 2 sets. In a 5-set match, it's the best of five sets and the first to make it to 3 is the winner.
