Tennis has its own language, and if you’re new to the game — or even a casual player — it can sometimes feel like everyone else on the court is speaking a different vocabulary. From scoring calls to court positions and commonly used phrases, these are the tennis terms you’ll hear most often during play and conversation around the court.
This guide covers 65 tennis terms every player should know — from beginner basics to more familiar phrases used during recreational and competitive play. It’s a simple, easy-to-reference list designed to help you feel more comfortable following the game and confident the next time you step onto the tennis court.
ACE: A serve that lands in the service court and is untouched by the opponent.
AD: is short for Advantage. The AD scoring starts after the game reaches 40-40, also known as DEUCE. If the server wins the next point, then the score is AD-in. If the receiver wins the next point, then the score is AD-out. Whichever player has the Advantage only needs one more point to win the game.
ALL: when the score is even, for example 15-15, this is also known as 15-all. An even set score such as 5-5 would be 5-all.
ALLEY: the area between the singles and doubles sidelines is called the Doubles Alley. This area is present on both sides of the court and extends from Baseline to Baseline. The doubles alley is only used for doubles competition, and this area is considered in-play for balls hit there. The doubles alley is not used for singles competition.
APPROACH SHOT: a shot hit with placement in mind by a player just before moving in and approaching the net.
ATP: the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of men’s tennis.
BACKHAND: the ground stroke normally slightly harder to learn for younger players and typically hit on the left side of a right-handed player (or on the right side of a left-handed player). Backhands are hit either one-handed or two-handed.
BASELINE: this is the back line of either side of the tennis court that runs parallel to the net. Some tennis players are known as baseline players, they often play their game from the baseline and hit most of their return shots from this area of the court. Any shots that land beyond the baseline are called out.
BREAK OR BREAK POINT: this occurs when the receiver wins three points in a game, not necessarily consecutively, and the server has less than three points, the next point won by the receiver would result in a “break” of serve, also known as a break point. For example, if a server is serving with the score currently 30-40, the receiver has a chance at breaking the serve and if the receiver wins the next point, they will achieve a “break point”, or break of serve.
CALENDAR SLAM: winning the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in the same year.
CLEAN WINNER: any shot hit by a tennis player when the opposing player is unable to reach the shot and hit a return shot.
COURT or TENNIS COURT: a tennis court measures 78 feet long by 27 feet wide for singles and 36 feet wide for doubles with a net in the middle. Service lines are marked 21 feet from each side of the net and parallel to it.
CROSSCOURT SHOT: the crosscourt shot is a shot that travels across the court and lands in the opponent’s court, traveling from one corner of the court to the other corner, diagonally opposite from where the corner shot came from.
DAMPENER: a small rubber device installed on the strings of the racket to absorb some of the vibration caused by hitting the ball.
DEUCE: a game score of 40-40, or 40-all, and both players have won three points to tie the game. The first player to win two more points consecutively will win the game. See also AD, short for Advantage.
DEUCE COURT: the right side of the court when facing the net, so named this way because when the score is 40-40 deuce, the ball is served from and to to this area of the court.
DOUBLE FAULT: the server makes two consecutive serving errors, which results in the server losing the point.
DOUBLES: a match with four players, two on each team. Doubles can be played with two women players, two men players, or mixed doubles with a man and a woman tennis player. See also ALLEY, also known as the Doubles Alley, to learn about the area of the tennis court used in Doubles but not in Singles play.
DROP SHOT: a softly hit ball with lots of backspin that lands in the opponent’s court near the net, and normally on the left or right side of the court, not in the center of the court.
FAULT: a served ball that lands outside of the proper service box.
FIRST SERVE: the first of two attempts by the server to serve the ball into the proper service box.
FOOT FAULT: a fault called against the server for stepping on or over the baseline with either foot while serving the ball.
FOREHAND: The ground stroke most often used when playing tennis. This is often the first shot learned by young tennis players and it is normally the most comfortable shot to hit for most tennis players. Forehands are almost exclusively hit one-handed.
GOLDEN SLAM: winning all four tennis Grand Slams and the tennis Olympic gold medal in a calendar year. This has only ever been accomplished once, by Steffi Graf in 1988.
GRAND SLAM: one of four tournaments: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open which make up the premier professional tennis tournaments known as the Grand Slams of tennis.
GROUND STROKE: a tennis stroke (swing) made after the ball has bounced; either a forehand or backhand.
HOLD OR HOLD OF SERVE: when the server wins the game when serving.
INSIDE-OUT: running around what would normally be a backhand shot and hitting a crosscourt forehand. The purpose is to hit a shot with more power that comes from hitting a forehand compared to most players not being able to generate as much power with their backhand shot.
KICK SERVE: term for a serve hit with a lot of spin which results in the ball bouncing high, or “kicking” off the ground high over the shoulders of the opponent. This serve is most often used as a second serve.
LET: A serve that hits the net and lands in-bounds in the proper service court. In this case, if this is a first serve, the player replays the first serve and if a second serve the player replays the second serve.
LOB: a ball hit high in the air normally over the opponent who is playing at the net, and lands in bounds in the opponent’s court.
LONG: a shot that is called out as it lands beyond the opposing baseline.
LOVE: tennis game or set where the losing player scores no points or doesn’t win any games. Examples are a game score of 30-0 or 30-love, or a set score of 6-0, or 6 love.
MATCH – A tennis competition between two players, at the amateur or junior level usually decided by the best two-out-of-three sets.
MATCH POINT: the point in a game in the second or third set where the player with the leading score can win the entire match by winning the next point and capturing the final set.
NET: this piece of equipment is located in the middle of a tennis court and divides a tennis court into two halves. The net is suspended from a steel cable, and is connected to a net post on either side of the net.
NO-AD: – A system of scoring a tennis game often used in juniors tennis in which the first player to win four points wins the game. If the score reaches 40-40 (deuce), the next point decides the game.
NO-MAN’S LAND: aterm for the area located between the baseline and the service line where it can be a challenge to hit groundstrokes or the player is too far from the net to hit overhead slams or effective volleys.
OUT: – A ball landing outside the boundary lines of the court.
OPEN STANCE: a player hitting a forehand shot facing the opponent and hitting the ball with shoulders parallel to the baseline. A player should learn to play tennis using a closed stance forehand before advancing to an open stance forehand to allow for tennis skills and abilities to progress.
OVERHEAD: a shot with a similar motion to a serve but with less backswing, used when an opponent hits a lob that is returnable by the player. The overhead is a smash shot hit back into the opponent’s court ideally aimed to the right or left corner of the opponent’s court.
POINT: each point in a tennis game where the score is kept in the sequence as fifteen, thirty, forty, and either deuce or game.
RALLY: a rally starts with the first or second serve landing in the proper serve box of the receiver and the serve being returned by the receiver which starts a rally. Each player hits the ball (rallies) over the net into the opponents court until one player hits a winner that is not returned thus winning the point, or a player hits the ball out or into the net and loses the point.
READY POSITION: when receiving a serve, this is the receiver’s “ready” position when preparing to return the serve.
RECEIVER: the player receiving the serve from the server. Sometimes called the Returner.
SECOND SERVE: the second of two attempts by the server to serve the ball into the proper service box.
SERVE: short for service. Players have two attempts to serve the ball successfully into the proper service box so the receiver can return the serve and begin a rally. The second serve is only needed if the first serve does not land in.
SERVE PERCENTAGE: a good statistic to keep track of that measures first serves made and first serves won. As players play more matches and improve on their serve these numbers will increase as they become better servers.
SERVER: the player serving the ball in a tennis match.
SERVE AND VOLLEY: a style of play where the server will follow the serve by moving into the net to volley the receivers return at an angle that ideally results in a winner not returned by the receiver. This style of play is not as popular today at the highest levels of tennis compared to many notable players that used this style of play in years past.
SERVE PLUS ONE: a player hits a good serve, followed by a winning shot after the return.
SERVICE BREAK: a game won by the player receiving the serve.
SET: a scoring unit in tennis that accounts for how many games each player has won in a match. To win a match a player must win at least 6 games in a set and must win the set by two games. Most matches are played the best two out of three sets to determine the winner. In Men’s tennis in Grand Slam events, men players must win three out of five sets to win the match.
SHOT PLACEMENT: a strategic tennis shot that is hit into an area of the court so the opponent ideally cannot return the shot or has great difficulty hitting a decent return.
SINGLES: a match played by two players, one vs another with each player on opposite sides of the net.
SLICE: a shot hit with a high-to-low motion normally from the backhand side that puts backspin on the ball which prevents the ball from bouncing too high once it lands. The slice shot is a great shot to use to change the pace of a point that works effectively against players that favor hitting from the baseline.
STRAIGHT SETS: when a match is won without losing a set.
T: the area of the tennis court where the service lines meet the center service line.
TIEBREAK: a scoring system in tennis used to decide a set when the score is tied 6-6. A tiebreak is normally played to 7 points with the winner needing to win by two points. If a player has not won the tiebreak when the score is at or near 7 points (for example, score tied 6 – 6) then the players will continue to play until either player wins by two points.
TOPSPIN: when a player hits a groundstroke using a low-to-high motion that places forward rotation on the ball which causes shots to arc high over the net and dip into the court with more bounce than a traditional tennis groundstroke shot.
TWO-HANDED BACKHAND: a backhand shot commonly used by more players in the game of tennis when compared with the more difficult to learn one-handed backhand. The two-handed backhand is hit with two hands on the racket and provides more control for the player for what is considered the more difficult groundstroke (forehand/backhand) shot to hit.
UNFORCED ERROR: an unforced error is when a player makes a mistake in a game that is caused solely by the player and not as a result of a strong shot hit by the opponent. The unforced error may be a shot hit into the net or a shot that sails wide or long when trying to place a shot or hit a winner.
VOLLEY: a volley is a shot made by hitting the ball in the air before it has touched the ground, that lands strategically placed in to the opponents court.
WINNER: a shot well placed by a tennis player and hit well enough so that the opponent is unable to reach or return the shot resulting in the player winning that point.
WTA: the Women’s Tennis Association is the governing body of women’s tennis.
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