High School Tennis Rules

While other high school sports follow rules outlined by the National Federation of High School Sports, high school tennis is governed by the same group that oversees pro tennis: the United States Tennis Association. One reason for this is to get them ready to step straight into the college or even pro arena without having to adjust to rules changes.

  1. Objective

    • The main goal of tennis is to strike a tennis ball so that it lands in your opponent's side of the court in such a way that he cannot make a legal return to your court. This can be by a hard serve _ an ace or failed return of serve _ or through rallies, in which the players stroke the ball back and forth over the net until one of them fails.

      A match may be won by winning two of three or three of five sets, but single set matches may also be used in certain school competitions.

    Serve

    • The serving player must stand behind the back line of his side. His first service is from the right-hand side, second from the left, third back to the right and so forth.

      A server has two tries to serve a ball into his opponent's service box at a direct angle across the net. If he doesn't, he double-faults and loses the point. If a serve hits the net and goes into the service box, it is a "let" and is served again. A legal serve must then be returned by his opponent.

      After the serve and first return, players attempt to hit the ball back and forth before it lands twice on their side of the court. It does not have to land at all to be returned.

      Players change sides after the first game and after every two games thereafter.

    Scoring

    • A point is awarded for every serve. The first point scored by a player is known as 15, the second 30, the third 40 and the next one potentially wins the game. If the score is 40-30 and the server scores, he wins. If he doesn't, the score becomes 40-40 (deuce) and play continues until one player wins two points in a row.

    Sets

    • A player must win six games to win a set, but he also must win by two games. Therefore, if a player is leading five games to four and he wins the next game, he has won the set six games to four. If he loses, the score is five games each. One player must then win two games in a row and make it seven games to five in order to win the set. If neither player does--making the score six games to six--a tiebreaker is played.

      High school tennis follows the tiebreaker rules of the USTA, not those at some tournaments which force games to be played back and forth until one player wins by two games. Under USTA rules, the player due to serve serves one point, then his opponent serves two points. After that, they alternate, each serving two points until one of them scores seven points. However, here again, a player must win by two points. Thus, if the score is seven to six, play continues until one player has a two-point advantage.