For the majority of us when we think of sports our minds quickly jump to the ‘Big 4‘ in North American Sports; football, basketball, baseball, and hockey.  However, there is one sport that is available for every person to play that is often over looked by the general public. The sport in question… Tennis.

Tennis is a sport that is easy to pick up, play, and enjoy for the majority of the adult life.  The needs for tennis are simple; you will need a racket (which very in price from $10-$100), tennis balls (containers of 3), and two clothing items every man probably owns already, athletic (tennis) shoes and loose fitting clothing.  In my travels I have observed that there are tennis courts readily available at almost every middle school in the Midwest, as long as you do not interrupt practice you are set to go.

Tennis provides the MWM a number of benefits.  The first is the opportunity to be outside in the sun and fresh air.  A tennis match can last multiple hours, depending on skill of oneself and opponents.  Tennis also helps you stretch out your muscles; a full extension reach for a ball feels great after a day of deskwork.  Perhaps most importantly, tennis is a low impact sport that allows for consecutive days of play without destroying your knees.

Rules of play are simple, singles use the inside lines as boundaries while doubles use the outside lines.  Scoring goes: Love, 15, 30, 40, and game.  Deuce is when both players/set of doubles get to 40. The point following deuce is advantage in/out and then game.  Before each serve you announce your score and then the opponents score.  For example, if you are serving and are at love while the opposing player is at 30 you would call, “love-30.”  The winner of a game is the first to 45.  A tennis match is determined through a best of 3 or 5 sets; each set is determined by games.  There are 6 games in each set.  You now know the basics of the “sport of kings,” so get out there and enjoy the warmer weather by playing a sport that you should be able to enjoy well into your golden years.