How Do Badminton Rules Differ From Tennis Rules?

Introduction

Two of the most popular and influential racket-based sports are tennis and badminton. Though both are played with a net and rackets, the two sports are actually dramatically different when it comes down to their equipment and rules.

Similarities

Both tennis and badminton are Olympic sports with a few similarities. Both use a stretched net across four service courts, two on each side of the net. Both use rackets to propel the ball or shuttle across the net. They also both can be played as women's sports, men's sports or mixed sports. Beyond that, badminton and tennis differ quite significantly.

Serving

Another rule difference between badminton and tennis is where you serve from. You are required to serve from behind the baseline in tennis. However, you are required to serve in front of the baseline in badminton. Serving also differs with the bounce. The ball is required to bounce once before being returned by the other player in tennis. Badminton differs in that the shuttle is not allowed to touch the ground at any time during game play.

Faults

A serve is most successful when slammed down across the net in tennis. However, in badminton, a shuttle slammed over the net on a serve may result in a fault. Also, if you fault on the serve in tennis, you will have additional chances to serve again. You only get one chance to serve, even if you fault on the first one in badminton.

Scoring

One of the different rules between badminton and tennis is how many points it takes to win a set. It only takes 4 points to win a set in tennis. However, it takes 15 points to win a normal set in badminton.

Stamina

At first glance, you may assume that tennis rules would require much more stamina and speed for participation. However, badminton rules require much more stamina than any other racket-based sport. When the time (that the shuttle or ball is in the air) is divided by the length of the match, you get the match intensity level. When you do this with the average tennis and badminton match, the tennis intensity level is 9 percent verses 48 percent for badminton. That statistic comes from the Website entitled World Badminton. You can find the link in our Resources section.

Net

The position of the net is also an important difference in rules between tennis and badminton. In tennis, the bottom of the net is always touching the court. However, th net--though not as high as a volleyball net--is elevated causing a different type of game play in badminton.

Resources

• World Badminton