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The rules and regulations of Tennis

Rules and regulations:


Court Dimensions

The official Tennis court mesures 78' by 27' and is seperated into two halves by a net passing horizontaly through the court, the net is attached to 2 poles on the exterior of the court. The service line is located 21' from the net on both sides. A middle line then seperates this zone in half by passing from the center of the court right to the center of the service line.

Tennis Balls and Rackets

Tennis Ball:
A tennis ball must be covered in a grippy velvet like material usually green or white. The ball must weight between 56 grams and 59,4 grams. A valid tennis ball must bounce 249 cm on a 4 foot drop.
The tennis racket:
An official tennis racket must be built of a circular metal frame containing one layer interweved bits of plastic strings. The effect that the racket has on the ball and its physical composure must be identical on both sides of the racket - i.e., no double layering of the strings. The racket cannot exceed 73 cm in length and 31 cm in width.

Serving

Alternating at each game within a tennis match, one player is the server and the other the receiver. Before serving, the player must be standing behind the backline of the court and must be on the appropriate side of the court. The server is given two tries to serve over the net before the opponent is given a free point; if the player is unsuccessful at executing a good serve during his first serve, he gets what is called a fault and is given a second chance to serve; if he fails yet again, a double-fault is called and a point is given to the opponent. This proceeds until either the server or the receiver wins the game, then they alternate roles. If the server does make a nice serve into the opponents zone but moves his feet over the serveline before hitting the ball, it counts as a fault or "foot fault". A serve is only valid if the server does not step over the line while serving, the ball does not touch the net, and the ball lands in the opponents receiving zone which is located on the opposite side (left to right, right to left) from where the serve was made.

Court rotation

Proceeding the first game, the third game, the fifth game and so on, the players switch ends on the tennis court; this is done so both players can equally play on the same court conditions and in the blinding sunlight.

Service faults and "let"

A fault is attributed to the server's serve if he commits any of the following infractions during that specific serve:
  • The ball does not land in it's serving zone
  • The server is not standing in the appropriate area to be executing a serve
  • The server misses the ball as he attempts the serve
A let is attributed if the server executes a valid serve but the ball grazes the net before landing in the serve zone, no one is certain of where the ball had precisely landed, or the server had been significantly distracted during the serve process (spectators throwing things at him or yelling), or any other misgiven not related to the game that causes the serve to vear off path (a dog jumps out of nowhere and grabs the ball - not realistic but good example nevertheless ; a re-serve is then issued and does not count as a fault.


Earning points

The server can win a point either by service ace-ing the receiver or by causing him to commit an error (double-bounce, not returning the ball). The receiver can win points if the server commits a double fault or if he causes the server to commint an error.

Errors count as points for the other player

A player loses a point if he:
  1. Does not succeed in returning the ball into the opponent's court
  2. Hits the ball out of bounds or into another on court entity (posts)
  3. "Carry's" the ball with his racket or double touches the ball
  4. Intrudes the opponent's court with any part of his body or any accessory directly attached to it (Racket, hands, etc..)
  5. Hits the ball before it crosses over to his side of the net
  6. Touches the ball with any part of his body other than the racket
  7. Throws his racket in a desperate attempt to return the ball and succeeds.


Counting the points

Starting with 0 points each at the start of the game (or luv), each player gains a point when their opponent commits an error. The first point that a player earns will be marked by 15, the second by 30 and the third by 40. Once he reaches 40, if he earns another point he gets 45 and wins the game unless the opponent also gets to 40 - in that case the players enter what is called a "deuce" . The only the game can now be won is if one of the player suceeds in earning 2 consecutive points. The first point in the series is called "advantage" and the second is called "Game point" because essentially, the player has won that game.

The set

The first player to earn himself 6 game points is appointed a set point in condition that he has earned at least 2 more game points than the opponent. If this is not the case and both opponents each get 6 game points a piece, a tie breaker round is played to see who will get the set point. Once a player manages to get 3 set points, he wins the game.

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