Beach Tennis Rules – Court, Ball and Counting
In this article we present an overview of the most important Beach Tennis rules for ITF tournaments. Beach Tennis is generally played as doubles or mixed doubles (two against two), singles is rarely played. The ball must be hit out of the air (without bouncing) and must be played directly to the other side of the court.
The Court
- for doubles: 8m x 16m (same as in Beach Volley)Â
- for singles: 4.5m x 16m
- the net height for women and juniors is 1.70m
- in professional men’s doubles (ITF Tour) the net height was raised to 1.80m in 2023
- Beach Tennis nets are close-meshed so that no balls can fly through the net
Beach Tennis Ball
- pressure-reduced Tennis balls (stage 2 = 50% pressure-reduced), which are known from children’s or junior Tennis
- stage 2 balls are available from various Tennis and Beach Tennis brands
- up to now there is no unique “Beach Tennis ball”
Beach Tennis Rules
Counting Method
The counting method is adopted from Tennis:
- 0, 15, 30, 40, game
- two sets to 6 games – at 5:5 it goes to 7 games – at 6:6 a tiebreak to 7 points is played – in case of a set tie a decisive match tiebreak (to 10 points) is played
- it is played with the “no-advantage” rule, i.e. at 40:40 the next point decides
- in the tiebreak, the side is changed with the opponent after the first point and then every four points
- normally, when changing sides, there is always a short handshake with the opponent (like in Beach Volleyball)
Prohibited Zones
the serve can be played from anywhere behind the baseline anywhere on the court (does not have to be diagonal like in Tennis) and there is no replay when the ball touches the net
there is a 3m zone behind the net which the returning players are not allowed to enter before the server has hit the ball (“no-block-zone“)
for professional men’s doubles (ITF Tour), there is a prohibited zone that extends from the net to 6m and which the server’s partner is not allowed to enter until his partner has served. The feet are not allowed to cross the imaginary line before the server has hit the ball
- in mixed doubles the man must serve underarm
Most of the Beach Tennis rules have been adopted or adapted from Tennis, as the sport is officially subordinated to Tennis. The ITF (International Tennis Federation) is currently the most important professional federation for the sport and therefore also provides the Beach Tennis rules.
If you are interested in all ITF rules in detail, you can view them here.