Breathe

Foreword

Thank you for reading my book. I'm aware a lot of my friends are football fans, who know nothing about tennis, so this is mostly for them: here is a crash course on the rules of tennis. You'll probably be just fine reading this book without knowing the rules, but it's here if you want it! And if you know tennis backwards, like I apparently do these days, feel free to skip to chapter one. It will be up on April 1st 2020.

Tournament > match > set > game > point

Tennis tournaments are made up of matches, much like a football knock out competition (eg. The Australian Open has first round, second round, third round, fourth round, quarters, semis, and the final. If you lose one match, you're out.)

Tennis matches are made up of sets. In a tournament like the Australian Open, it is best of five sets. There is no time limit, you will keep playing until two in the morning if necessary, but the match continues until one of the players has won three sets. They can win three in a row (called "straight sets") but they don't have to be in a row. Even if the other player wins two sets first, as long as you win the next three, you'll win the match.

That being said, the first chapter of the story contains a match that is best of three sets, so you only have to win two sets to win the match. Sometimes the third set is called a tie breaker set, because you will only play a third set if both the players win a set each first.

Sets are made up of games, and you always have to win by at least two games to win the set. So if both players get to six games each, there will be a tie breaker to decide who wins the set.

Games are made up of points. Instead of the scoring going 1,2,3,4... etc. the games are scored 15,30,40,advantage. You have to win the game by at least two points (just like you have to win a set by at least two games). So if both players reach 40, you have to win two points in a row to win the game. This is why they use advantage in their scoring system - if you're both on 40, and you win a point, your score goes to 'advantage'. If you lose the next point, you get your advantage taken away (instead of the points going up and up and up.) the only time advantage isn't used is in a set tie breaker - tie breakers have a normal scoring of 1,2,3,4 etc. but you still have to win by at least two.

If you're serving, it means you start with the ball at your end. You serve for a full game, and then the other person serves for the next game, regardless of who wins the game. It is easier to win a game when you are serving, so if you 'break' your opponent's serve, it means you won a game when they were serving. If you're playing a set tie-breaker, you serve for two points, and then your opponent serves for two points, and it continues to alternate.

If you serve the ball and you miss, it is called a fault. If you do it twice in a row, it's called a double fault, and your opponent will get a point.

If you serve the ball and instantly win the point because your opponent can't even get their racquet to it, it's called an ace.

Hope it's not too confusing for the football brains! (It took me a while when I first got into watching tennis)
Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoy the story!

- Jordyn