• A junior tennis playerboy on tennis court awaiting the opponent image by starush from Fotolia.com
  
  The U.S. Tennis Association, as a member of the International Tennis Federation, promulgates official tennis rules for adult and junior tennis play. For preteen and teenage juniors, the rules are no different from those for adults. For children 10 and under, however, adjustments to adult rules are made to inspire confidence and reflect the skill level and physical ability of small children.
  
  

Court Size

• Children 8 years of age and younger play on a tennis court which is 36 feet long and 18 feet wide. The court for children 10 years of age and younger is 60 feet long and 21 feet wide for singles play, and 60 feet by 27 feet for doubles. In contrast, an adult tennis court is 78 feet by 27 feet for singles and 78 feet by 36 feet for doubles. The smaller courts are designed to encourage children to use the whole court and develop full-court game play. The height of the net is also lower than the 3.5 foot adult net: 2 feet 9 inches for children 8 and under, and 3 feet for children 10 and under.
  
  

Equipment

• Adult rackets can be up to 29 inches long. By contrast, children 8 and under play with a racket up to 23 inches long, while children 10 and under play with a racket up to 25 inches long. The ball used also differs from the adult regulation ball. Children 8 and under play with a foam or very-low-compression ball, which moves more slowly, has less bounce, and travels less distance than the adult ball. Children 10 and younger play with a low-compression ball that is faster than the ball used by younger children but still bounces lower than an adult regulation ball.
  
  

Scoring

• Junior matches are shorter than adult regulation matches, which are played to the best of five sets. An 8-and-under match is just three games, with each game won by the first player to 7 points. The first player to win two games wins the match. A 10-and-under match is three sets long. The first player to win four games wins the set, and the first player to win two sets wins the match. If a third set is necessary to determine the winner, that set is played to 7 points, similar to an 8-and-under game.