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About Beach Tennis

Beach TennisHistory: Combine tennis with the sun, sea, and sand and you get Beach Tennis. Beach tennis was invented in 2000 in Aruba by a Dutchman.  Originally, standard tennis racquets were used in Beach Tennis USA (BTUSA) tournaments. However, the company switched to paddles since many international beach tennis associations throughout Europe, South America, and Asia use the paddle. Beach tennis is also called matkot in Israel, Racchettoni in Italy, and beach paddle ball in other countries.    

Court: Similar to beach volleyball, Beach tennis is played on a standard beach volleyball court that is 26 ¼ ft. wide and 52 ½ ft. long.  Regulation net height is 5 ft. 6 ¾ inches.

Paddle: Rules have changed to only allow paddles and the extinction of racquets for this sport.

Ball: Beach Tennis is played with a depressurized or low compression tennis ball.  QST 60.

Rules: Scoring has a mixture of tennis and volleyball rules.  Similar to tennis, scores of 15, 30, 40, and no-advantage at deuce.  Similar to volleyball, balls that hit the sand result in a point to the opposing team. Serving can be done overhand or underhand from outside the court area with only one serve per attempt.  The ball is still in play if it hits the net, and if the ball strikes the line the shot is good.  No part of a player’s body or their equipment may touch the net or cross the plane of the net (over or under).  Only one contact is allowed per side, and at deuce the receiving team chooses which player will receive.