The premise of the game is one thing; the strategy of playing is another. When you first start playing you should concentrate on learning the rules, how to hold the racket, and how to hit and serve the ball. I'll start with the “singles” game. Singles play is between two people, we'll call them player one and player two.

To start the game the players decide on who will serve first. To do this they flip a coin or flip a racket. Flipping a racket means taking a racket and laying the wide end on the ground and twirling the handle similar to a spinning top. Let it fall while calling the letter on the tip of the racket. For instance, if you have a prince racket you'd call a “P” or a “d” or if you have a Wilson racket you'd call a “W” or an “M”. The player who calls the right letter gets to choose whether they get to serve or receive in the first game. The player who looses the call gets to choose which side they want to play on first. This can be your first strategic move as one side may face the sun, putting your opponent at an early disadvantage.

A tennis court is made up of a singles court (two small boxes and one large box - on each side of the net) and a doubles court (the singles court plus two lanes on either side of the singles court). The line farthest from the net is called the base line. The start of the game begins when player one serves from the base line.

The first serve must be served from the right side (deuce side) on the outside of the base line (off of the court) and the ball must land in the small box on the left side of the opposing side of the net. Don't worry, you get two tries. If you miss on the second try you have lost a point. The second serve moves player one to the opposite or left side of the baseline (the ad side). The serve must now be served into the small box on the right side of the opposing side of the net. Play goes on like so, alternating sides until one player wins the game.

Keeping up with your score takes some practice because points are recorded as Love, which equals zero, Five, which equals one, Fifteen, which equals two, Thirty, which equals three, Forty, which equals four, Deuce, which equals tie, Ad (Advantage) In, which means the person who is serving has the advantage and one more point wins the game in her favor, or Ad (Advantage) Out, which means the opposing player has the advantage and one more point wins the game in his favor. The tricky part comes when player one has an Ad In but looses the next point. When this happens the score reverts back to Deuce. A game can jump from Ad In to Deuce or Ad Out to Deuce many, many times.

So, if player one wins the first point the score is fifteen to love. If player two wins the next point the score is fifteen to fifteen. If player one wins the next point the score is thirty to fifteen. If player one wins the next point the score is forty to fifteen. If player two wins the next point the score is forty to thirty. If player two wins the next point the score is deuce. If player two wins the next point the score is ad out. If player one wins the next point the score goes back to deuce. If player one wins the next point the score is ad in. If player one wins the next point she wins the game.

Deuce is only possible when both players reach forty to forty. When the score is thirty to thirty or fifteen to fifteen it is not considered deuce.

Players change sides whenever the score equals an odd number. After the first game, players change sides because the number one is an odd number. Player two serves as player one did, from the deuce side into the small box, opposing side left.

Play continues until one player has won six games by at least a two game margin. If player one wins six games and player two has only won four games, player one wins the set but if player one has won six games and player two has won five, play continues. If player one is successful and wins with a score of seven to five the game is over in player one's favor. If player two successfully wins and the score reaches six to six a tie breaker must be played.

To play a tie breaker, the opposing player serves from his deuce side. He only gets one serve. In a tie breaker the points are counted as one, two, three, etc. The first player to reach seven is the winner. Players don't change sides until the total points equal six. Player two serves starting from the ad side for two serves and the play continues like so until one player reaches seven points.

Games are also counted as one, two, three, etc. The first player to reach six games, with a two game margin, has won the set. The match is won when two sets out of three (for women) and three sets out of five (for men) have been won.

This is just to get you started. There's so much more to tennis. My only caution, once you start it's hard to stop. Questions, corrections, or comments? Let us know.