Similarities in Tennis & Badminton

If you're already a tennis buff but want to take up badminton for recreational purposes, or play badminton professionally but want to improve your tennis game, learning the similarities between the two sports is essential. Becoming familiar with what the two games have in common will give you a better idea of your athletic strengths and weaknesses, so you can practice being more aggressive or agile during the game.

  1. Court and Nets

    • Both tennis and badminton are played on a rectangular court. Badminton courts, however, are only 44 feet long by 17 feet wide or 44 feet long by 20 feet wide. Tennis courts are much larger -- 78 feet long and 27 feet wide or 78 feet long by 36 feet wide. Badminton and tennis are also played using nets; again, the nets differ in size. Badminton nets should be 5 feet and 1 inch on the side, and 5 feet tall in the center. The height of a tennis net is 3.5 feet1.

    Rackets

    • To play tennis or badminton, a racket is required. Badminton rackets are smaller than those used to play tennis; according to the Badminton Information website, they should be no more than 9 inches wide. Tennis rackets are available in various widths, including midsize, midplus, oversize and super-oversize; rackets should not exceed 27 inches in length. Badminton rackets usually weigh about 3 oz., while tennis can weigh about 11 oz. As a player advances in his skill, he should purchase slightly heavier rackets, whether playing tennis or badminton.

    Olympic Sport

    • Both badminton and tennis are Olympic sports. Badminton officially became an Olympic sport in 1992, at the games in Barcelona, Spain -- trained players participated in the game again in the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. As of 2010, the top world athletes for badminton include player Chong Wei Lee, who is the No. 1 male singles player, and Xin Wang, the best women's singles player, according to the Badminton Lounge website. Tennis has been an Olympic sport since 1896, at the modern Olympic games in Athens, Greece. 1896 was also the year Irish tennis player John Boland was the first to win a gold medal in tennis. In 1924, tennis was removed from the Olympics, since the Olympic Committee couldn't agree on whether professional players could compete. The sport was officially added back to the Olympics in 1988.

    Single and Double Games

    • Tennis and badminton players can play in singles or doubles for either game. For professional sports, singles games can consist of two women playing each other on opposite sides of the tennis or badminton net, or two men playing opposite sides of the net. For doubles, there are either two men or two women on each side of the net. In badminton and tennis games, players hit the shuffle (badminton) or ball (tennis) to one another after it is put into play, or served.