Tennis Rules/facts and situations

Q. Could you please explain the acronym FMLC, which I see on lots of tournament descriptions? Thanks,

A.  Hi, the acronym for fmlc is First match loser consolation. And it means if you lose in the first round you get to play in another mini tournament. Its designed obviously to give you more tennis in the event you get bumped out early in the main or if you are unknown and you get a bum draw you have another chance to strut your stuff. cheers Brad 

Q.  Dear Tennis Coach, Could you please explain how seeding of players works.  I would really like to know as it seems to be a point of controversy at times.Thanks

A.  Thanks for your email.  Seedings come from rankings. It might be state/country/world rankings that any tournament uses. If your talking about Australian open that is ITF (international tennis fed) and their rankings are based on ATP/WTA rankings but have the final say if adjustments are to be made based on several factors like surface and extended injury lay offs and protected ranking situations. In ATP tournaments they go strictly by the published rankings. keep in mind that it depends on who enters a tournament that dictates the seed a person is. For example if a player was ranked no.6 in the world but the top 5 players don't play for what ever reason then the no.6 would be the top seed etc. cheers Brad

Q.  I was wondering...why we say love-love in the beginning of a game? I know it means 0-0 but why love? Please get back to me...thank you!

A.  It comes from the French word for egg. I Suppose an egg looks a bit like a zero doesn't it. L'ove I think is the French spelling.

Q.  Hi Coach...I have a simple query...can you tell me the tennis rules related to accidentally hitting the ball twice? I've often seen people miss hit balls, particularly serves with a high degree of kick, and sort of scoop hit the ball. It appears to hit the strings at two different points. Would this be regarded as a double hit? Thanks for any advice, Pete.

A.  The double hit is allowed for the simple reason that its imposable to tell exactly if one had occurred or not, therefore it's tough to control in spite of the fact that you are only allowed to "intentionally" hit the ball once. Double hits are not to be confused with a "carry", where the ball is caught on the strings in a type of cupping motion and then flung back, which is illegal. Cheers Brad

Q.  Hi! My name is …and I am sophomore that has just started playin' tennis about 2 weeks ago. I am 5'9" and weigh 120 pounds, and I run track and cross country. I eat pretty healthy, and I lift weights every day and run about 2 miles. Two of my friends play tennis and they were the district champions this year. They have been helping me about 4 days a week for about 2 and a half hours. Mostly all we have been doing is on of them would stand about 6 feet away from me and toss me the ball while I hit it either forehand or backhand (they tell me which one) Then the other person will hit it back to me gently and just see how far we get. They have broken everything and every single move down for me. I'm gettin a lot better. I was wondering what other exercises you know of that would help me improve or just anything I need. By the way...I am playin doubles. Please send me anything you have that will help me. I know this is kinda late to start tennis, but I'm really enjoying it and ! I want to be good!!!

A.  dear super fit super chick. It sounds like you are really throwing yourself into your sport, which is rare and fantastic. I think your doing the right thing by playing with your friends but Im a little concerned that you might not be practicing the correct technique. Its important that you don't perfect the wrong way. I would suggest you look around for your local coach and split a private lesson with your friends and then maybe move into a bigger cheaper group class where you will also pick up some drills. (go to the library and get a book on tennis drills). Its senseless for me to try to explain a couple you really need to see them. If you really have no bucks then go to your local club and just watch the coach and students to get some ideas. good luck and let me know how you went. ciao brad ps new stuff up on the site soon. www.thetenniscoach.com.au

Q. Hi my name is Snowboardgirl…, and I really need to know how to keep score and how to get points , in tennis, I'm on the tennis team at school and this girl wasn't keeping score right so I need the information bout keeping score, thank you, for your time.

A.  Dear Snowboardergirl. I can understand you not being able to get a grip on tennis scoring at its pretty moronic and overstated. Any way the place to get informed is www.usta.com/rules/26.Rule.htm