Levelling up tennis mismatches: Fun games for when players have different skill levels
Fancy a competitive game but your tennis partner is much better than you (or vice versa)? No problem, here are four fun ways to make the game a more even and exciting contest…
Unlike other sports, tennis doesn’t require large team rosters to get things going - all you need is one other person and you’re good to go. In that way it’s brilliantly accessible, but the difficulty comes when that one other person is an entirely different ability to you.
There is a gorgeous married couple that attend one of my competitive adult group sessions during the week. Without fail they arrive together hand in hand and they leave together hand in hand. But when they step onto the court one goes left and one goes right and that is the last they see each other for the entire 90 minutes. One of them (and I won’t say who!), is significantly stronger than the other, so they assume they can’t, or shouldn’t, or perhaps they simply don’t want, to play competitively against each other.
And as far as a regular tennis match goes, I get it. No one wants to step onto a court and be thrashed 6-0 6-0 in 20 minutes. And equally it’s not much fun to continuously beat someone without any sort of a challenge.
But I truly believe tennis can be and should be enjoyed by everybody with everybody. And I’m not just talking about friendly rallies, but with competitive points too.
So I’ve put together four of my favourite improvised games to allow both players on the court to get the most out of an uneven match-up – where they can be individually challenged, be brought closer together with their scores and skill level, and above all enjoy a good game of competitive tennis…
Game #1 – Handicapped Scoring Sets
Play a full set - but with a scoring twist that virtually ensures it goes down to the wire, whether the difference in abilities is vast, slight or unknown. Each game you win gives your opponent an advantage in the next game. This has a fun, exciting feel, and it works well with doubles too.
The rules: Start off a set at 0-0 as you would do normally, and play your first game. The loser of the game then starts the second game 15-0 up.
Thereafter, each game you lose gives you an extra point at the start of the next, and each game you win gives a starting point back to your opponent.
So for example, if Player A loses the first game, they begin the next game 15-0 up. They lose the second game as well so they begin the third game 30-0 up. But then if Player A manages to win the third game, Player B has earned a starting point back so Player A now goes back down to starting at 15-0 up. And so on.
Note that a player only has a maximum starting point of 40-0 up in a game.
If you find that it’s still a bit one sided even with this, you can add in a few more rules….
Optional extra rules:
a) Handicapped deuce: If the game is at deuce then the weaker player is able to win it after one point, like a sudden death point, whereas the stronger player needs to win two in a row to secure the game, i.e. they need to win the deuce and their advantage point.
b) Handicapped serving: The stronger player has only one serve throughout the whole match, whereas the weaker player can have three serves (or four, or five, or perhaps even unlimited – it’s up to you!).
Extra benefits
Families might particularly enjoy this one - two siblings, or parents and kids - especially as you don’t have to acknowledge a ‘weaker’ player beforehand. But as well as creating an exciting, close contest, this game is good for the stronger player’s mental discipline.
Starting a game at 40-0 down for example doesn’t allow for any mindless unforced errors because the game will be lost straight away. So it’s great practice in playing from behind and trying to minimise any silly errors.
Game #2 – No Winners Allowed
Play a match tiebreak and dig deep to stay in the rallies for as long as possible – no one is allowed to hit a winner! It’s the art of aggressive patience and perfect for those pairs who can rally consistently, but one player is much more powerful than the other (the kind who would normally just belt winners all the time).
The rules: This game is exactly what it says on the tin – nobody is allowed to hit any winners and this includes aces on the serve. A winner is classified as a shot hit where the opponent doesn’t even make any contact with the ball, it can include hard hitting shots but also soft ones too such as drop shots.
Play a match tie-break (the same format as a regular tie-break but rather than to 7 it’s first to 10 points) so there are a similar number of serves hit between you, and accumulate points after any errors are made.
Remember there are no winners so if you think one has been hit, it is to your discretion as a pair to call it out and that person immediately loses the point – there’s sometimes a fine line between a winner hit and someone just not moving their feet so call them out fairly!
Optional additional rules:
If there is still a reasonable discrepancy between the two players, you can have a bit of fun with the scoring to further even things out. Rather than a 1, 2, 3 etc format try scoring it with a ‘Casino Tennis’ system instead.
This means counting every shot that is hit within the rally and the total number at the end is how many points are up for grabs for the weaker player. So for example there is a 10 shot rally that the weaker player wins, they score 10 points. If however the stronger player won the rally, they still only receive one point.
Extra benefits:
The game will encourage much longer rallies which is brilliant for building up stamina and patience. It will also encourage more thoughtful play from both players, particularly from the stronger one who can’t smack winners all the time, which is brilliant for developing tactical awareness and the art of ‘thinking outside the box’.
It’s a pretty physically gruelling, game too, so be prepared to do a lot of running around working up a nice sweat. Great for a cardio workout!
Game #3 – Whole Court v Half Court
Shrink the size of the tennis court for one player and watch the change in who’s now on the attack and who’s on the defence. The fun ‘tug-of-war’ scoring format keeps the momentum shifting back and forth.
The rules: Unlike with the above games, with this one you do need to agree beforehand who is the stronger and who is the weaker player between the two of you.
The weaker player is able to hit the ball into the whole court whereas the stronger player is only allowed to hit the ball into one half – alternating which half for every point.
The aim is for one player to win with a score of 10-0.
Both players begin at 5 points each. If player A wins the first point the score becomes 6-4 to them. Player A wins the second point, the score becomes 7-3 to them. Player B however wins the third point so gains a point back closing it back to 6-4. They then win the fourth point too so it’s now back even at 5-5. So it’s like a ‘tug-of-war’.
The score continues to shift with the momentum of the match - keep playing until one player has run away with it reaching 10 points whilst their opponent is at 0.
You can choose how to begin each point; either with serves or just feeding the ball into play, i.e. an underarm serve/forehand.
Optional extra rules:
a) Play with more space: The weaker player is given more space to hit the ball with the ability to use the tramlines whereas the stronger player must still keep the ball in the singles half court.
b) Fearsome feeds: You may also want to introduce ‘fearsome feeds’ with it. Eliminating the serve, the weaker player starts every point by hitting a feed anywhere in the court, and at any pace. This will immediately put the stronger player on the defence giving the weaker player a further advantage by beginning every point on the attack.
Extra benefits:
For the weaker player this game makes it easier to stay in the points… The distance to cover is halved, they know where the ball is coming so there is far less defensive play than usual, and because of this they are able to stay in, and dominate the points much more often than they normally would - especially if they start with a fearsome feed!
For the stronger player, this game is also brilliant for building stamina and defensive play. It’s much harder to hit a shot past someone who is only covering half a court so the ball will keep coming back more than they would usually expect.
The greater difference in court coverage too will mean that their fatigue within the point will kick in sooner - endurance and patience is key!
Game #4 - Build Your Points Against The Clock
Get creative and have lots of fun with the scoring system building your points quickly! With your phone timer out, play quickfire mini matches to see who can score the most points in that time. But there’s a twist: the weaker player has the chance to build up their score much quicker…
The rules: Decide between you who is the weaker player and assign a specific winning shot to a larger number of points that player can win.
Some good examples: for every ace the weaker player hits they receive 20 points; 10 points for every smash or volley winner; 5 points for every groundstroke winner. You could even decide that they can receive a higher number of points for any kind of winning shot - it’s entirely up to you and you can tinker until you find a system that works well.
Once this has been agreed, set your phone timer to 10 minutes, begin your match scoring 1, 2, 3 etc, and see who can win the most points in that time!
To keep the number of serves even, continuously serve two points each; one from the right then one from the left before switching over.
Optional extra rules:
a) Unforced error gains: Rather than the weaker player benefitting so much from the winners hit, they could instead receive additional points for every unforced error made by the stronger player. So for example for every unforced error hit long or wide, the weaker player receives 5 points, for every unforced error in the net the weaker player receives 10 points.
b) Double your score: Another alternative is that the weaker player simply doubles their score after every winner that they hit - that really puts some pressure on the stronger player!
Extra benefits:
Aside from giving the weaker player a brilliant opportunity to gain a high score and more even match up, it also encourages them to go for shots (volleys, smashes etc) they might normally avoid, precisely because they feel ‘weak’ on them. For the stronger player, it really encourages them to chase down every single ball - even if it’s just to get a racket on it. The fear of losing so many additional points if a winner goes past them will get them to push themselves more than normal, and chasing down every ball is such a great mindset to practice in helping you become a better match player.
If the game is flipped for the weaker player to benefit from the stronger player’s unforced errors, then again this is excellent disciplined practice for the stronger player to not give away any cheap unnecessary shots.
Now get out there with your mum or dad, husband or wife, your son or daughter, a colleague, housemate or perhaps a stranger you’ve seen at your local club – your difference in skill level is no longer a reason to not have a good match, so get creative and enjoy a fun but competitive game of tennis. Let me know how you get on!
See also:
Rallying: 3 top tips every beginner should know
Smart tennis: Why you should hit a lot more balls cross court
Lizzie Flint is a writer and a practicing level 3 LTA professional tennis coach.
She has been in love with the game since picking up a racquet at the age of four – and she has seen it from every possible angle: playing, analysing and reporting on tennis all over the world. Read more about Lizzie here.