The Tennis Court, Dimensions And Surfaces

Tennis courts are standard in dimension, but vary widely in surface material. Tennis rules dictate the length, width, and placement of the lines on a tennis court. Tennis courts have a variety of surfaces and can be either outdoors or indoors. In this article, we will introduce the basic dimensions and aspects of the tennis courts and discuss the different types of tennis court surfaces.

The rules of tennis dictate that tennis courts be 78 feet long from baseline to baseline. A net, 3 feet high in the middle, divides the court into two equal halves. Tennis courts are 36 feet wide from doubles sideline to doubles sideline, and 27 feet wide from singles sideline to singles sideline.

Unlike the dimensions of a tennis court, the tennis court surface can vary in character. The different surfaces have different characteristics that affect the style of play. Common surfaces for outdoor tennis courts include grass, red clay, green clay, and hard courts. In addition, indoor tennis courts often have hard surfaces or synthetic, carpet-like surfaces.

The very first tennis courts were made of grass. While the number of grass tennis courts has decreased in recent years, some remain, and the world's most prestigious tennis tournament, The Championships at Wimbledon, is still played on grass tennis courts.

Grass tennis courts are considered a fast surface because the ball moves quickly through the court when it bounces. Typically, the ball stays low and close to the ground. Because of the speed of the court and the unreliability of the bounce, historically players playing on grass tennis courts prefer to volley the ball out of the air whenever possible.

Red clay and green clay are the two types of clay, or slow, court surfaces. Red clay tennis courts are made of natural clay or crushed red brick. The French Open is played on red clay courts. Green clay, the more common type of clay court in the U.S., is made of Har-Tru, a mixture of crushed stone, rubber, and plastics. Clay courts are considered slow because the ball bounces more slowly off the court. Typically, players playing on clay tennis courts prefer to hit balls off the bounce from behind the baseline.

Hard courts, the most common court surface in the U.S., are another fast court surface. Hard courts are made of asphalt or concrete coated with a thin sealer and special paint. Some types of hard courts have more extensive, rubberized coatings. The ball bounces high off hard tennis court surfaces and moves through the court quickly. Because the ball has a reliable bounce and the ball moves quickly off the court, players can employ a variety of tactics. Generally, aggressive play is preferred.

Finally, tennis players also play indoors, especially during the winter, on indoor tennis courts. Indoor tennis court surfaces are made of concrete or a synthetic or plastic material that mimics grass. Indoor tennis courts are generally the fastest tennis court surface of all. At the professional level, hard serves, volleys, and powerful ground strokes dominate matches on indoor tennis courts.

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Tennis Serve Tips and Technique

The tennis serve is an important part of the game of tennis. Besides the groundstrokes, a good serve can begin the point on the player's own terms. The groundstrokes are often practiced by club players every day, but the serve always lacks adequate practice. Many tennis players neglect their serve. Player's who do lack the ability to serve with both power and spin start the point at their opponent's mercy. The irony is that the tennis serve technique is entirely in our control.

A tennis player with common sense should look to gain a advantage by improving their tennis serve. If you are looking to improve the tennis serve technique, have a weak serve, or just looking to develop an already good serve: here are some tips to help you improve.

Tennis Serve Tip #1 - Focus on placement

Before you start your service motion, a player should know exactly where they want to hit their serve. If you have better aim, you can hit better placements with your serve. If you want a great serve, think about where you want to hit the ball. This will help you regain focus and help take some pressure off yourself.

Make sure your body position is aligned correctly to hit the tennis serve. If you are aiming to the right, finish your service motion to the right. If you are playing a righty, you will mostly want to aim to your right, because usually players' backhands are weaker than their forehands. When you make contact make sure you are hitting the correct side of the ball. If you are aiming to the right, you will want to hit the ball at 11 o'clock.

It is also important to make sure your opponent can't read where you are trying to hit the ball. Therefore, you must disguise your serve. One way to practice this is the 1-2-3 drill. When practicing, divide the service box into three parts. Let's say the left division is 1, the middle division is 2, and the right division is 3. Have a friend call out one, two, or three right after you toss the ball. Serve to where your friend told you to. If you do this drill enough it will help you aim better and help you disguise your serve.

Tennis Serve Tip #2 - Incorporate your whole body into the serve

As you add more of your body into your shots, your service motion will become more powerful. Therefore, it is important to sometimes practice your serve without a ball. This is sometimes called "shadowing".

Make sure to lean your hip beyond the service line. Bend your knees. Make sure your shoulders and body are perpendicular to the net. Finally, when the toss has reached its peak, unleash all that energy you have stored into your body. Jump into the court as you hit the ball and prepare for the next shot with a split-step.

Tennis Serve Tip #3 Practice serving by throwing

A baseball pitch is much like a serve in tennis. If you ever get the chance to watch a baseball player, you should notice that their throwing mechanics is very similar to the tennis serve. A good serve is an accurate shot, but the serve should also have a lot of pace on it. You can throw a ball with a friend, or you can just get some tennis balls and see how far you can throw them from the baseline. Then, immediately try doing the same motion with a tennis racquet. The results will surprise you.

Final Tennis Tip

The best way to throw your opponent off on serve is to add different spins and paces to your serve. Try to serve kick, slice and flat serves into your service games. At 40-love and first serve, throw in a hard, flat serve for an ace. Occasionally serve a ball with absolutely no pace on it. This is effective when your opponent has been getting hard serve after hard serve.

Work on these tennis serve tips to improve your game and then your tennis technique may improve over time.

Coach Ed is a former nationally ranked tennis player and coach. Optimum Tennis offers tennis instruction, tennis tips and tennis tips at Optimum Tennis

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Learning to Play Tennis

Many people have trouble learning to play tennis, mostly because the depth of the game. One thing you should think about before learning tennis is how much time do you want to spend on tennis? You might want to start playing tennis as a workout, if you do, do you know how many calories an hour long tennis match will burn? This article will give you all the information you want to know about tennis gear and an explanation of a number of different tennis terms.

In an hour long singles game of tennis, depending of a number of factors like skill level and wait-time, you can burn up to 500 calories if you weigh about 140 pounds (~65kg) or even up to 700 if you weigh 190 pounds (~85kg). An hour long doubles game burns about 530 calories if you weigh 190 pounds (~85kg) or 380 if you weigh about 140 pounds (~65kg), considerably less then a singles game but that's because you only take half the shots and have a much smaller part of the tennis court to cover. Before you start playing tennis you should also consider getting some information about the gear used.

There are a couple of things you should acquire before you start learning to play tennis. Clothing isn't really a problem, as you can play tennis in any kind of t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Women might want to wear a skirt, but unfortunately most of them lack pockets, making you forced to buy a pair of tennis panties with a pocket sewn into them. A nice racquet ($150-300) is a good investment, but not necessary for a beginner, a $30-40 one will do just fine. If you get a little more serious on tennis, or just want to upgrade your racquet you should try to "demo" a few racquets before you decide which one fits you the best. This service is available at most tennis clubs and sporting retailers. For your racquet, you should also get some tennis grips wrapped around the handle that provides absorption, traction and also protection. Make sure you change your grips when they begin to show wear. Tennis is a game where you make a lot of rapid jumps, sprints and lateral movements, thus making it reasonable to invest in a pair of outstanding tennis shoes. Don't forget to make sure your shoes support the ankle in a good way without making them uncomfortable. A good pair of tennis shoes may wear out in a few months of weekly play, especially if you play on hard surfaces. To save some money, only use your tennis shoes for tennis, nothing else.

Have you ever watched tennis on TV? You might here things like "Fault" or "Rally", but what do they mean? Here's a list of different tennis terms:

Footwork: Feet movement to keep the body in position to hit the best possible stroke.

Backhand: A type of shot that starts at the left side of the body for a right-hander or from the right side of the body for a left-hander.

Forehand: Stroking the ball from the right side of the body for a right-hander and from the left side for a left-hander.

Rally: A situation in which both players exchange a series of strokes, usually from their respective baselines.

Backspin: A ball that has been hit in such a way as to keep it spinning backward while in the air, also called "slice.

Topspin: Using a low-to-high stroke to place a forward movement on the ball as it hits your racquet.

Volley: Hitting the ball in mid-air before it bounces on your side of the court.

Double fault: Failing to correctly put two consecutive serves in play.

Fault: A failed attempt to put a serve in play.

Game point: The potentially last point of any game.

Love: Zero points.

Ready position: A preparation stance in which your weight is slightly forward, knees are slightly bent, and you are holding the racket up with both hands out in front of you.

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Modern Tennis Clothes Bridge The Gap Between Tradition And Style

There was a time when selecting tennis clothes was quite a simple endeavor; the tradition of wearing tennis whites made the selection process quite streamlined. However, as anyone who follows tennis knows, the days of watching Martina Navratilova or Jimmy Connors take the court wearing all white are long gone, and today's game is one that embraces fashion forward styles and functional fabrics.

Today's best players, like Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, are often seen in apparel that spans the spectrum of color and fashion; not surprisingly, the rest of the tennis world has followed suit.

Today's tennis clothes look great on and off the court, and they are made with performance fabrics that surpass the cottons of the past in nearly every way. Modern polyester fabrics like Coolmax(TM) and Wickaway(TM) are available in a wide range of knits and colors, but it is not their style but their utilitarian qualities that make them so ideal for tennis.

Performance fabrics - like polyester, nylon, and spandex - breathe unlike traditional textiles allowing you to stay cool and dry even during the height of summer. Further, these high tech fabrics hold their shape and color much better than their cotton counterparts, allowing you to look good before, during, and after your match, and their high durability will allow you to continue to look good in the future.

Modern textiles are just one aspect of contemporary tennis clothes; these clothes are fashionable and functional as well. While there is nothing wrong with wearing traditional whites to the court, proper tennis attire now includes bright colors and prints which continue to gain popularity at all levels of the game. Style and form are important considerations when selecting tennis apparel, but one should be careful not to ignore function as well as the traditions of the game.

All tennis players should own a proper warm-up outfit, which is typically a two piece suit consisting of long pants and a long sleeved top. A warm-up outfit helps the athlete stay warm and get loose before a match, and it is also the traditionally preferred attire for arrival at the court. Tradition also holds that warm-up suits should be removed during the actual match unless it happens to be a very cold day.

During a match, men should wear tucked shirts and tennis shorts, although more and more the untucked look is becoming a presence in professional and amateur tennis. Women should wear short sleeved or sleeveless shirts paired with skirts or skorts - shorts that have styling that resembles a traditional skirt.

It is important to note that the traditional tennis attire is still alive and well in some places, particularly at some tennis and country clubs. If you are invited to play as a guest at a club, check with the club or your host in order to be certain that your tennis clothes are appropriate and fitting with their dress code.

No tennis outfit is complete without the ever important accessories. Tennis shoes should be sneaker style, and it is probably best to purchase sneakers that are specifically designed for tennis. Not only will true tennis shoes perform better, they will not have black or dark colored soles which are banned at many courts due to their tendency to leave dark scuffs on the playing surface. Make sure you complement your tennis outfit with fashionable socks as well as things like headbands, hats, or wristbands; all of which will help keep your face and hands dry and ready for action.

Tennis is a game deeply rooted in history and tradition, but with some careful shopping you can successfully span those boundaries by wearing tennis clothes that perform well, look great, and stay true to the traditions of the game.

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Basic Rules For Playing Tennis

The rules for tennis are basic and simple. Before you begin playing tennis, make sure you understand the rules and the equipment that's required. Now that we have that out of the way, let's go over the basic rules for playing tennis.

Rules of Tennis

The basic rules for playing tennis are really simple. One of the players serve, or hits, the ball from one corner of an area that's marked, also known as a court, that's divided in half by a net that is three feet tall (about 1 meter). The goal of the opposite player is to return the tennis ball.

It should bounce only once, aiming for the other player not to be able to return it. When this is done correctly, you have scored, which means if the other player isn't able to return the ball without bouncing it once, you'll get a point.

Official tennis rules

The overall goal in tennis is to gain enough points to win games, sets, and matches. The highest score out of 3 tennis games are known as sets for women. And in men games, it's out of 5. A player only wins a set if he or she leads by at least two games.

Officials

Officials are only needed during professional tournaments. The official keeps an eye on the lines to call where or not the ball is in. The senior empire calls score, can overrule other judges, and is in a very high chair on one end of the tennis court.

There's a match referee, who sits in the stands, and is consulted if there's a major conflict during the match. If you dispute with any of the judges, you could lose a point and possibly be disqualified from the tournament

Scoring

Score keeping is part of the basic rules for playing tennis. When a player hasn't scored, it's called love. And when a player does score, it doesn't increase by single digits, it begins at 15, then go up to 30, and then 40. I'll give you an example. Let's say player 1 scores. And player 2 hasn't scored yet. Well, the score now is 15-love.

Whenever the score climbs to 40-40, it's known as a deuce. And the next person to score 2 more points wins. But let's say a player scores one point after a deuce, which is known as an advantage server or receiver, and they end up losing the next point, the score goes back to deuce. From time to time, some players agree to do away with that rule.

Equipment

A regulation size tennis court is part of the basic rules for tennis. A regulation size tennis court is 78 feet long (23.78 m). It also has a net dividing the middle of the court in half. The line where you serve is marked at 21 feet.

Next is the tennis rackets. The usual size for tennis rackets used in tournaments are 11 1/2 inches wide and 32 inches long. After that is the tennis balls. They come in different colors, however the official tennis ball for tournaments must be white or yellow.

Singles

Another basic rule for playing tennis includes playing one on one. The server, or first person to hit the tennis ball, is chosen by spinning a racket or tossing a coin. The person who wins can elect to give the other player the choice of whether or not they want to serve, choose which end they want to serve, or they can pass their option to the other player. And from there, the other player can choose which end they want to play and if they prefer to serve. The person who is able to serve is changed each game, making it a fair match.

Doubles

Serving is alternated from player to player and from team to team. It's done this way so that each of the players can serve every 4th game. It's traditional for partners to stand beside each, however, they can stand anywhere, regardless if they're serving or receiving.

Penalties

Here are some penalties that are also in the basic rules for playing tennis. They can result in points being lost. The penalties are:

1. Catching the tennis ball or carrying it in your tennis racket is against the rules.

2. Throwing your racket or any other kind of abuse.

3. If the tennis ball is carried by a person, with the exception of the racket, or if it hits a player's clothing, then it's against the rules.

4. If you touch the net, posts, your opponent, or any official, it's against the rules.

5. Hitting the tennis ball more than once before it has crossed the net.

These are the basic rules for playing tennis. Now that you know the rules, go out there and have fun.

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