Tennis

At a glance

• The source traces the codified modern game to the 1870s.
• The four majors use different venues and, collectively, more than one court surface.
• Court pace changes bounce height, traction, and the value of spin.

Player profile. Elite players combine acceleration, endurance, balance, hand-eye coordination, tactical patience, and repeatable stroke mechanics. The physical demand alternates between explosive first steps and long periods of controlled repetition. Strong competitors also vary height, pace, and spin so that court position is gained before an outright winner is attempted.

Where it happens

A standard court is 78 ft (23.77 m) long; singles uses a 27 ft (8.23 m) width and doubles 36 ft (10.97 m). The net is lower at the center than at the posts. Service boxes, baselines, sidelines, and doubles alleys divide the same footprint into different tactical zones. Grass, clay, and hard courts change traction and rebound, so identical dimensions can produce markedly different point patterns.

• A standard court is 78 ft (23.77 m) long; singles uses a 27 ft (8.23 m) width and doubles 36 ft (10.97 m). The net is lower at the center than at the posts. Service boxes, baselines, sidelines, and doubles alleys divide the same footprint into different tactical zones. Grass, clay, and hard courts change traction and rebound, so identical dimensions can produce markedly different point patterns.

What you need

• strung tennis racket
• approved pressurized ball
• court shoes
• surface-appropriate clothing

How to play

1. Toss for choice of serve, receive, or end.
2. Serve diagonally into the opposite service box.
3. Continue the rally after a legal return.
4. Win points, games, and sets under the selected match format.

The essential rules

1. The server starts each game from the right side and alternates sides.
2. A first-service fault normally permits a second attempt.
3. Two consecutive service faults lose the point.
4. The serve must land in the diagonally opposite service court.
5. During a rally the ball may bounce no more than once before return.
6. A ball touching a boundary line is in.
7. Players change ends at prescribed game intervals.
8. A net-cord serve that otherwise lands correctly is replayed as a let.
9. Touching the net while the ball is live loses the point.
10. The ball must pass over or around the net and land within the opponent's court.

How the result is decided

Points progress 15, 30, 40, game, with deuce and advantage when tied at 40. Sets are normally won at six games with the required margin or a tiebreak, and matches use an agreed best-of-sets format. Because games nest inside sets, a player can win more individual points yet still lose the match. Deuce games repeatedly test delivery under pressure, while a tiebreak compresses a close set into a separate point race.

Fouls and penalties

• service outside the correct box
• double fault
• ball landing outside the lines
• second bounce
• player or racket touching the net
• deliberate hindrance

Techniques

• serve
• forehand
• backhand
• volley
• overhead smash
• lob
• drop shot
• topspin and slice

Tactics

• target an opponent's weaker wing
• vary depth and spin
• open the court with angles
• approach the net behind a forcing shot
• lob an opponent who closes too tightly

Disciplines and variants

• singles
• doubles
• mixed doubles
• hard court
• clay court
• grass court

Competition landscape

• Australian Open
• French Open
• Wimbledon
• US Open
• Olympic tennis

Records in the reference

No stable record table is published here. Records change; use the current governing-body source before acting.

How the sport developed

Modern lawn tennis was formalized in the late nineteenth century, while its ancestry reaches earlier European hand-and-racket games. The late-Victorian code turned older racket pastimes into a portable lawn game with consistent markings and equipment. Its major championships later preserved distinct surfaces, keeping adaptation central to the sport.

• The source highlights the exceptionally long Isner-Mahut match as an endurance landmark.

Play it in India

• Tennis is the current organisation reference and is matched to a dated MYAS recognition source. This does not establish local intake, price, schedule or availability.

Organisation reference

Tennis

Recognition state

MYAS recognition list matched

SAI NCOE discipline rows

No matching centre row found

Khelo India discipline

Not established

Olympic programme

Current · since 1988

India Olympic medals

No sport-level total in current sources

Evidence and currency

This is an original KhelPath explainer assembled from editorial research. It is orientation, not an authoritative rulebook.

ITF rules and regulations ↗ · observed 2026-08-28

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