The tennis tournament is a traditional and straightforward knockout
competition. As you lose, you drop out. All matches are played to the best
of three except the men's singles and doubles finals, which go to the best
of five. The final decides the gold and silver medals, while the semi-final
losers play off for the bronze medal.
Two players contest singles matches and four, two pairs, contest the
doubles. There are no mixed doubles matches at the Olympic Games. The game
is simple; one player serves and play continues, with no more than one
bounce allowed inside court before a ball is returned to an opponent, until
one player hits the ball out of play and loses the point.
The courts at the Tennis Centre in Sydney Olympic Park are surfaced with
Rebound Ace, a synthetic, rubberised hardcourt surface designed to suit
both baseline players and serve-and-volley experts in equal measure.
The court is 78ft by 27ft for singles, while doubles matches make use of
the extra strip of width that runs down the sides of the court, for a total
width of 36ft. The net runs across the court at halfway and is 3ft high
at the mid -point. The baseline at the back end of each side of the court is
marked by a white line, as is the service line, which sits 21ft from the
net on either side and marks the point beyond which the ball must not land
at serve. Faults at the service line are detected electronically as well as
by the naked eye of officials. There are no weight restrictions on rackets
but the length must not exceed 29in and the width must not exceed 12.5in.
In singles, the top 16 players are seeded before being distributed
evenly through the competition. In doubles, the top eight pairs are seeded.
Each point begins with a serve, taken from behind the baseline and at the
start of a match from the right side of the centre line. The serve then
switches sides from point to point and from player to player at the end of
each game.
Scoring is read from the server's point of view whether he is losing or
winning. The first point is called 15, the second 30 and the third 40 (not
45 as was originally the case when the scores reflected the quarter hours
on a clock). The score of a player without points is referred to as "love".
If a player is ahead at 40 - by 40: love, 40:15, or 40:30 - and wins the
next point, he or she wins the game. However, if both players reach 40,
deuce, or a tie, is called. The next point gives the winning player
"advantage", and the game is won if the same player wins the next point. If
the opposing player wins the point, the game returns to deuce and the
process starts again.
The first player to win six games wins the set if the opponent is at least
two games behind. However, if the set stands at 6-5 (six games to five
games), the two sides play another game. If the leading player wins, the
set ends at 7-5. However, if the opposing player takes the set to 6-6, a
tie-breaker is played. In the tie-breaker, players take turns to serve
every two points scored by either player. The first to reach 7 points wins.
The only exception to this rule is when the tie-breaker decides a match, in
which case play continues beyond 7 points until one player is two points
clear.
A match to the best of three is won when one player wins two sets, and a
match to the best of five is won when one player wins three sets.
