1. Study Guide for Barrington Physical Education Classes
Tennis
Study Guide for Barrington Physical Education Classes

2. Basic Definitions of Skills
Forehand-Player pivots the body so that the shoulder of the nonracket-bearing arm faces the net. The player then swings the racket forward to meet the ball.
Backhand-Players turns so that the shoulder of the racket-bearing arm faces the net before bringing the racket forward and across the body to meet the ball.
Volley-When a player strikes the ball before it bounces. The volley is most often employed when a player is playing close to the net. The half volley is a low return of the ball just after it has bounced.
Ground strokes-A groundstroke in tennis is a forehand or backhand shot that is executed after the ball bounces once on the court. It is usually hit from the back of the tennis court, around the baseline.
Rally-a sequence of shots in tennis.
Serve-in tennis is a shot to start a point.
Mini Tennis-Players rally from service line to service line using ground strokes and volleys.

3. Serves
A serve (or, more formally, a service) in tennis is a shot to start a point. A player begins a serve by tossing the ball into the air and hitting it (usually near the highest point of the toss) into the diagonally opposite backside box without being stopped by the net. The ball can only touch the net on a return and will be considered good if it falls on the opposite side. If the ball contacts the net on the serve but then proceeds to the proper backside box, it is called a let; this is not a legal serve in the major tours (but see below) although it is also not a fault. Players typically serve overhead, but serving underhand, although rare, is allowed. The serve is the only shot a player can take their time to set up instead of having to react to an opponent's shot.
The serve is one of the more difficult shots for a novice, but once mastered it can be a considerable advantage. Advanced players can hit the serve in many different ways and often use it as an offensive weapon to gain an advantage in the point or to win it outright. Because of this, professional players are expected to win most of their service games, and the ability to break an opponent's serve plays a crucial role in a match.

4. Serving cont.
For any given point, the server is permitted two attempts at a successful serve. A successful serve occurs when a legally-delivered ball lands in the cross-court backside box without touching anything in flight. If the ball lands outside the box, it is a fault. If both service attempts result in faults, it is a double fault and the point is awarded to the receiver.
A foot fault takes place when the server assumes an illegal position while serving. A server's feet must not touch the baseline or the extension of the center line until the ball is struck. The server is also required to stay roughly on the same position to prevent the opponent from being misled as to where the serve will originate. Running or walking while serving is not allowed.
If the server tosses and swings his racket but misses the ball, it is a fault, but if a server is unsatisfied with his toss, and catches the ball or allows it to fall, there is no fault and the server may repeat the service attempt.
A service is called a let when the ball hits the net cord but still lands in the service court. Such a serve is not considered a fault and the server may repeat the service attempt. A ball that hits the net cord but lands outside the service box is still a fault.

5. Serving Terminology Ace- a serve that is untouched by the opponent.
Break- server losing his or her game.
Break point-one point away from a break.
Double Fault-hitting a fault on the second service. There server loses the point.
Fault-an unsuccessful serve that does not start the pint because the ball does not land in the opponent’s designated service box.
Foot fault- a fault caused by the server stepping across his baseline or the center line before striking the ball with her/his racquet.
Let-when the ball touches the net but lands within the opponents designated service box. The serve is replayed.
Service winner- a serve that is touched by the opponent, but not returned.

6. Equipment
Tennis Ball-hollow rubber bal approximately 6.7cm in diameter, covered in bright green-yellow fibrous fluffy felt. For recreational play tennis balls can be any color.
Tennis Racquet-The maximum racket length is 32” and width 12 ½. Racquets can range in price from $20-$300. They should be re-strung when tension in the strings get loose.
Tennis Courts- Hard court ( BHS surface), Clay, Grass and Carpet.
Safety in Equipment- Players should know their space when swinging and not to hit the ground in frustration. All racquets put away in a structured order.

7. Parts of the Tennis Court
Ad court-short for “advantage court”, it is the left side of the receiving team, or the right side of the opponent’s court as viewed from the server's side, significant as the receiving side for a ad point.
Alley-zone between singles court and the doubles court. These are only used when playing doubles.
Back court-area between the baseline and the service line, also called no man’s land.
Baseline-line marking the end of the court, at the back of the back court and the alleys.
Center line-line dividing the two service boxes in the center of the court.
Centermark-12 inch mark at the halfway point of the baseline used to distinguish the right and left of the tennis court.
Deuce court-right side of the receiving team, the left side of the opponent's court as viewed from the server’s side, significant as the receiving side for a deuce point.
Service box-area bordered by the net, the singles sideline, the service line, and the center line. There are a left and a right service box on each side of the court, separated by the center line.
Service line-line located between the net and the baseline, parallel to the net, marking the end of the service boxes.

8. Rules of Tennis
Match– To win a match in tennis, a player or a doubles team must win the majority of prescribed sets. A match consists of best of three sets or, only on the men's side, the best of five in grand slams and Davis Cup play. Doubles matches are usually the best of three sets, with the third set being played in a match tie break form.
Sets – a maximum of 12 games, unless a player or team reach 6 or 7 games and are clear by two. If the set gets to 6-all then a tie breaker is played
Games – which are the first to four points and clear by two, and a maximum of 12 games make up a set.
Tie break – In regular play if the scores reach 6 all then a tie break is played. It is played to the first to seven points and must be won by at least two points. If not then play continues until one player is two points ahead.
Points – Points are a passages of play which players win points to make a game. The scoring is based on a clock face. The scoring is fifteen, thirty, forty five (although this was shortened to forty to make it easier for the umpire) and game. However if the players are tied at 40-all, otherwise known as deuce, then a player must win two points consecutively from deuce to win the game.

9. History Game Scoring Orgins
The origins of the 15, 30, and 40 scores are believed to be medieval French. It is possible that a clock face was used on court, with a quarter move of the hand to indicate a score of 15, 30, and 45. When the hand moved to 60, the game was over. However, in order to ensure that the game could not be won by a one-point difference in players' scores, the idea of "deuce" was introduced. To make the score stay within the "60" ticks on the clock face, the 45 was changed to 40. Therefore, if both players have 40, the first player to score receives ten and that moves the clock to 50. If the player scores a second time before the opponent is able to score, they are awarded another ten and the clock moves to 60. The 60 signifies the end of the game. However, if a player fails to score twice in a row, then the clock would move back to 40 to establish another "deuce".
Another theory is that the scoring nomenclature came from the French game jeu de paume (a precursor to tennis which used the hand instead of a racquet). Jeu de paume was very popular before the French revolution, with more than 1,000 courts in Paris alone. The traditional court was 90 ft in total with 45 ft on each side. When the server scored, he moved forward 15 ft. If he scored again, he would move another 15 ft. If he scored a third time, he could only move 10 ft closer.
The origin of the use of "love" for zero is also disputed.

10. Tennis Score
A tennis match is composed of points, games, and sets. A match is won when a player or a doubles team wins the majority of prescribed sets. Traditionally, matches are either a best of three sets or best of five sets format.
A set consists of a number of games (typically six to twelve), which in turn consist of points, with a tiebreak played if the set is tied at six games per player. Tennis scoring rests on the premise that serving is advantageous over receiving, hence it is only possible to win a set or match by breaking the opponent's service game at least once, before a tiebreak is required.
A game consists of a sequence of points played with the same player serving, and is won by the first player (or players) to have won at least four points by two points or more over their opponent. In scoring an individual standard game of tennis, the server's score is always called first and the receiver's score second. Score calling is unique to the sport of tennis in that each point has a corresponding call that is synonymous with that point value.
Number of points won-corresponding call….0=“love” 1=“15 2= “30 3=“30”
If each player has won three points, the score is described as "deuce" rather than "40–all". From this point on, whenever the score is tied, it is described as "deuce" regardless of how many points have been played.

11. Scoring a Game
In standard play, scoring beyond a "deuce" score, in which both players have scored three points each, requires that one player must win two consecutive points in order to win the game. This type of tennis scoring is known as "advantage scoring" (or "ads"). In this type of scoring, the player who wins the next point after deuce is said to have the advantage. If the player with advantage loses the next point, the score is again deuce, since the score is tied. If the player with the advantage wins the next point, that player has won the game, since the player now leads by two points. When the server is the player with the advantage, the score may be stated by him before the next point as "advantage in." When the server's opponent has the advantage, the server may state the score as "advantage out." These phrases are sometimes shortened to "ad in" and "ad out.“
When stating the score, the server's score is stated first. If the server (or the judge) announces the score as "30–love", for example, it means that the server has won two points and the receiver none.

12. Scoring a Set & Match
Most singles matches consist of an odd number of sets, the match winner being the player who wins more than half of the sets. The match ends as soon as this winning condition is met. Men's singles and doubles matches may consist of up to five sets (the winner being the first to take the majority of total allocated sets) while women's singles matches are usually best of three sets. Doubles matches (including mixed doubles) are usually best of three sets, with a Super Tiebreak to ten points played if the score reaches a set all.
While the alternation of service between games continues throughout the match without regard to sets, the ends are changed after each odd game within a set (including the last game). If, for example, the second set of a match ends with the score at 6–3, 1–6, the ends are changed as the last game played was the 7th (odd) game of the set and in spite of it being the 16th (even) game of the match. Notably, in situations where a set ends with an odd game, back to back games see change of ends—i.e., ends are changed before and after the first game of the following set. A tiebreaker game is treated as a single game for the purposes of this alternation. Since tiebreakers always result in a score of 7-6, there is always a court change after the tiebreaker.
The score of a complete match may be given simply by sets won, or with the scores of each set given separately. In either case, the match winner's score is stated first. In the former, shorter form, a match might be listed as 3–1 (i.e. three sets to one). In the latter form, this same match might be further described as "7–5, 6–7 (4–7), 6–4, 7–6 (8–6)". (As noted above, an alternate form of writing the tiebreak score lists only the loser's score—e.g., "6–7 (4)" for the second set in the example.) This match was won three sets to one, with the match loser winning the second set on a tiebreaker. The numbers in parentheses, normally included in printed scorelines but omitted when spoken, indicate the duration of the tiebreaker following a given set. Here, the match winner lost the second-set tiebreaker 7–4 and won the fourth-set tiebreaker 8–6.

13. Use your Math skills for Scoring
Because tennis is scored set by set and game by game, a player may lose a match despite winning the majority of points and/or games played.
Consider a player who wins six games in each of two sets, all by a score of game-30. The winner has scored 4x12 = 48 points and the loser 2x12 = 24. Suppose also that the loser wins four games in each set, all by a score of game-love. The loser has scored 4x8 = 32 points and the winner zero in those games. The final score is a win by 6–4, 6–4; total points 48–56.
An example of this in actual practice was the record-breaking Isner-Mahut match in the Wimbledon first round, 22/23/24 June John Isner of the USA beat Nicolas Mahut of France 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7), 7–6(3), 70–68 — Mahut winning a total of 502 points to Isner's 478.

14. Proper Warm-Up
1 Stretch your arms, back and legs. Before you begin your court warm-up, take 5 or 10 minutes to do some basic gentle stretches. Rotate your arms around to loosen up your shoulders and bounce up and down on your toes to get your calf muscles ready to move. Even as a beginner, you should take time to warm up.
2 Begin with a gentle rally back and forth with your opponent. Now is not the time to slam the ball down the line, just comfortably hit it back and forth. Take a range of backhand and forehand shots as well as taking turns coming to the net to practice your volleys.
3. During warm up, your opponent will not exert himself to chase down alley balls so hit to the center of the court. All you want to do is work your muscles and ball placement right now, not aggravate your opponent. A beginner won't have ball control so be patient.
4 Serve your second serve but reserve your first serve for the game. During warm-up, there is no need to lay out your best serve for scrutiny. Warm-up your second serve and leave some surprises for the match.
5 Smile and be congenial during warm-up. Tennis is as much a mental game as a physical one. Being nice creates a friendly atmosphere and makes it harder for your opponent to get down and dirty later on.
6 Reserve your energy for the match. Warm-up no longer than 10 or 15 minutes or as long as allowed by the tournament director. Make sure you leave enough time to check your rackets and water bottle before you begin.
Good Luck and have fun! Read more: How to Warm-up for a Tennis Match | eHow.com

15. Basic Singles Strategy
At any level of tennis competition, you'll fare best if you focus on having fun and improving your game, not on whether you win. Part of improving is learning how to win, but you should be happier about losing a match in which you played well against a better opponent than winning a match in which you played poorly.
The essence of your strategy early in your tennis development should be to win with consistency. At every level below advanced, players miss the vast majority of attempts at hitting a winner. If you get lots of balls back, giving an opponent more chances to make a mistake, he'll usually make that mistake and hand you the point. Most players run out of patience after a certain number of shots within a point. The more patient player has the advantage
Hit groundstroke's high to hit deep. Unless you hit hard, aiming your forehands and backhands between three and eight feet above the net will almost guarantee that you'll get the ball in, and it will also help you keep the ball deep. Very deep balls can often draw an error from an inexperienced opponent, and depth in general will limit your opponent's options. You'll want to hit some short balls on purpose, but your standard shot should be deep

16. Singles Strategy
Hit second serves high to hit deep. Aim your second serves two to five feet above the net for reliability and depth. The pros do this too, but they use heavy topspin that allows them to add quite a bit more pace than you'll be able to. If you know you have a reliable second serve, you can experiment more with an aggressive first serve and probably earn a few easy points. Until you start learning to spin your first serve, not too many hard ones will go in, but experimenting will help you judge how much speed to attempt.
Pull your opponent forward, then hit past her. This is one of the easiest and most reliable tactics you can use. Hitting a short ball to an advanced player is extremely dangerous, because she'll usually reply with a winner, but beginners will most often just hit the ball right back to you. Beginners get caught in "No Person's (formerly No Man's) Land," the area between the baseline and service line, all the time. When you see your opponent there, just aim the ball to either side of her and several feet deeper than she is standing, and you'll almost certainly win the point.

17. Singles Strategy
Recover your court position quickly. This is your defense against tip #3 and a lot of other difficult situations. Unless you're attacking at the net, which isn't easy as a beginner, you should get back to a spot somewhat diagonally opposite your opponent and roughly three feet behind your baseline after each ball you hit.
Use full swings. Full swings don't have to be fast swings. It's tempting to poke at the ball as a way to keep from hitting too hard, but you'll find that a longer swing is far more reliable, and it will be much better for your arm and your rate of improvement. If you want to take some speed off your shot, just slow down your full swing.

18. Doubles Strategy & Warm Up
Doubles tennis. Simply termed and insinuates the obvious. In this type of tennis competition there are a total of four tennis players involved. In other words, doubles is two vs. two competition.
Two tennis players combine forces to compete as a team challenging another team of two on opposite ends of the tennis court.
Doubles Tennis Serving Rotation
Serves rotate from team to team, but instead of a two player rotation (singles) a four player rotation (doubles) is noted and maintained throughout a set.
For instance, let’s say competitors A and B (Team 1) are playing a set against competitors X and Y (Team 2). Player B is serving first on Team 1 and Player X is serving first on Team 2. It has been determined that Team 2 is serving the first game in the set.
Game 1 - Player X serves
Game 2 - Player B serves
Game 3 - Player Y serves
Game 4 - Player A serves

19. Doubles
The serve continues to rotate - X, then B, then Y, then A, then X, then B ... for the entire set. Simply put, each player rotates to serve every fourth game until the set is finalized.
In the set (s) that follow, teams can decide which player will serve first for their respective team and establish a new rotation. Strategic game play comes into play, best advice is to let the best server on your team serve first.
There is a slight addition to serving options in doubles in relation to singles. The server gains the area behind the alley, along baseline between the singles and doubles sidelines.
The server in doubles tennis can choose to serve from anywhere behind and along the baseline from the center mark to the doubles sideline on the team's end of the court.
To begin your match warm up by hitting short court with our opponent. Use half volleys and ground strokes. Focus on the fundamentals that you have worked on with your teacher.
Move back to the baseline and hit forehand and backhand groundstroke's.

20. Doubles
Move up to the net and hit volleys.
Serve both the deuce and ad courts for 2-4 minutes.
Game Time
Once you’ve completed your warm up, Spin the racquet for serve.
Wish your opponents good luck!

21. Lifetime of Fun
Tennis is considered the 'sport for a lifetime'. This is brilliantly stated and credited to the United States Tennis Association in a captivating slogan aim at promoting tennis as a lifelong recreational and competitive sport.
Find a local league, drill group, challenge ladder or tournament!
Have fun!

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23. External Links
USTA: United States Tennis Association (
Tennis Grand Slam tournaments history ( Grandslamhistory.com/)