Soft tennis rules

Soft tennis is played on a regular tennis court. Dimensions are identical: doubles on a 23.77 × 10.97 m court, singles on the narrower 23.77 × 8.23 m strip. Lines belong to the court, so a ball that touches a line is good.

One difference is the net. In tennis the net sags to 91.4 cm in the middle; in soft tennis it hangs at 1.07 m across the full width. When playing casually on a tennis court, simply loosen the centre strap.

The ball is rubber, hollow, and filled with air. The rules define it to the millimetre: weight 30–31 g, diameter 6.6 cm, bounce 70–80 cm when dropped from 1.5 m. Pressure is set with a thin-tip pump, which is why every player has one in their bag. The official ball colours are white and yellow; coloured balls are common in training.

The racket must be strung evenly on both sides with crossing strings. Beyond that, the rules leave you free: material, weight and frame size are unrestricted. In practice, soft tennis rackets are lighter than tennis rackets and use looser string tension tuned to the soft ball.

Points are counted simply: 1, 2, 3, 4. No tennis-style 15, 30, 40.

A game is won by the side that reaches 4 points first. At 3:3 the game goes to deuce and is played out to a two-point advantage.

A match lasts 7 or 9 games: in a match to 7 the first side to 4 games wins; in a match to 9, you need 5 games. Doubles at tournaments is usually played to 9, singles to 7.

If games are tied (3:3 in a match to 7, 4:4 in a match to 9), a final game — the equivalent of a tie-break — is played. The side that reaches 7 points first wins; at 6:6 deuce applies and play continues to a two-point advantage. In the final game the serve changes every two points, and sides are switched after the first two points and then every four.

You serve from behind the baseline, between the extension of the centre mark and the sideline, diagonally into the opponent's service box. The first point of a game is served from the right, the next from the left, and so on.

You have two serves. A missed first serve costs nothing; a double fault loses the point. If the ball clips the net and still lands in the correct service box, the serve is replayed (let).

The rules don't dictate technique. You can serve overhead like in tennis or underhand; a sliced underhand serve is a legitimate weapon even at tournament level, because a low, spinning ball is hard to attack.

Stepping on the baseline or entering the court before hitting the ball is a foot fault and loses the serve.

Serving order: in doubles the server changes every two points (a pair serves for two points, then hands over the serve). In singles the serve passes after each game. In the final game of both formats the server changes every two points.

The ball is returned after one bounce or in the air. You usually lose the point when:

• the ball fails to go over the net or lands out of the court,
• the ball bounces twice on your side,
• the ball hits your body or clothing (body touch),
• you, your racket or your clothing touch the net or a post (net touch),
• during your swing you reach over the net without hitting the ball (over net),
• you hit the ball twice or carry it on the strings (dribble, carry).

A ball on the line is always good. A ball that goes around the post from outside and lands in the opponent's court is also good.

Soft tennis is primarily a doubles game and the rules are written for doubles. In a pair you serve two points each in turn, and the receiving sides (right and left) are set at the start of a game and kept until it ends. Positioning for the other players is free, so there's plenty of room for tactics. The serve passes to the other pair after each game, and sides are switched after odd-numbered games.

Singles is played on the narrower court, usually in a format to 7 games. The rest of the rules are shared.

Before the match, players get up to 1 minute of warm-up on court. Breaks between games and at side changes must not exceed 1 minute.

In case of injury or sudden illness a medical time-out of up to 5 minutes is allowed, at most twice per player in a match.

For unsporting conduct the umpire issues a warning (yellow card). Three yellow cards in one match = red card and disqualification.

Individual events are contested in four disciplines: doubles, singles, mixed doubles and team matches, where club or national teams compete on total match wins.

Tournaments run in a knockout format (single-elimination bracket), a round-robin ("everyone plays everyone"), or a mixed format where the top finishers from the group stage advance to a knockout bracket. The format depends on the tournament tier and the number of participants.