Four fun alternative tennis games – perfect for beginners and warm-ups
There are plenty of ways to play tennis — and these four alternative games are great for beginners starting to get used to racquets and balls, and they’re fun for more experienced players too. Here’s how to play Dinks, Bluff, 21s and Dingles…
Everyone in the UK gets the Wimbledon buzz. They can’t resist dusting off a tennis racket hidden away in the attic, finding a pal or three and nipping down to the local park courts to try their hand at hitting the fuzzy yellow ball that’s been zipping by on their screen for a fortnight.
There are therefore a ton of tennis newbies on the court at this time of year. If you’re one of them, you’ll quickly find tennis isn’t as easy as it looks on the telly…
Don’t fret, however! I’m here to recommend four fun games you can play on a tennis court, even if you’re a complete beginner to tennis.
1. Dinks
DINKS! My favourite warm-up game is a fantastic way to sharpen your racket skills, beginner or not. ‘Dinks’ is a perfect game for getting used to the hand-eye coordination required for tennis. It’s a game that only uses an open racket face, perfect for beginners that don’t yet know how to hit with topspin.
How to play Dinks:
Find a partner and stand opposite them very close to the net.
You are only allowed to play in your opponent’s service box and you are only allowed one bounce.
You are not allowed to hit down.
Decide who is serving. The ball is placed on the net and the server taps the net with their racket. The ball can fall on either side.
Play the point out. You win the point if it bounces twice on your opponent’s side of the net or if they fail to land the ball in your service box. You serve again if you win the point.
For a rough idea of how points are played, watch this video:
2. Bluff
Bluff is another great game for mastering touch and feel of the ball. This one can get very tactical. The name ‘Bluff’ comes from players trying to fake out their opponents, acting as though they’re going to hit the ball before letting it bounce in their opponent’s services boxes.
How to play Bluff:
Find three players and choose a service box each.
The ball is only allowed to bounce once and you can play in any of your opponent’s service boxes, including the service box of the other player on your side of the net.
You are not allowed to hit the ball down.
You are not allowed to hit the ball hard.
The ball may hit the net but it must bounce before hitting the net.
If you lose the point for any of the reasons above, give yourself a letter from the word B-L-U-F-F.
Start the point from the middle of your service box. The game ends when someone loses a point five times i.e. they have all five letters from the word ‘Bluff’.
It’s easy to pick up for the first time but difficult to master… here’s a great video of Novak Djokovic and team playing a high-level game of ‘Bluff’ on clay:
3. 21s
‘21s’ is a simple, free-hitting game that takes some of the pressure off beginners. Overarm skills i.e. serving and overheads are much more difficult to pick up than underarm skills. Taking serving out of the equation gives the players a higher chance of starting the rally and should give us more frequent opportunities to hit the ball. Points in ‘21s’ are also pretty quick, allowing beginners to swing freely with less pressure on missing.
Grab a partner and stand across from one another behind the baseline.
Bounce the ball behind the baseline and feed the ball underarm anywhere on the opposite side of the net.
The point is live when the feed lands on the other side of the court. You cannot lose the point from missing the feed.
The feeder is always the person that won the last point.
Play first to 21 points. You can play singles with two people, doubles with four or rotate winner stays on with three.
Here’s YouTube Simon Freund playing a high-level version of ‘21s’ with some friends:
4. Dingles
‘Dingles’ is great for learning to hit cross-court, one of the key areas of development in tennis. It also gives beginners practice in both singles and doubles (doubles and singles, hence the name!), again without the complexity of serving to deal with.
It’s a little more complicated and slightly more difficult but it’s definitely worth it. Bear with me here…
You need four people, two on each side of the net. All start behind the baseline.
You are playing cross-court against the person opposite. Start the point by underarm feeding two balls cross-court at the same time i.e. there should be two simultaneous cross-court rallies.
When one rally breaks down, shout ‘DINGLES!’. Play the point out with the other ball that is still in play as a doubles.
You only win the point if you win the first cross-court rally that broke down and the doubles rally.
Play first to three points.
Sounds a bit complex, huh? This video should help:
Dingles is slightly more advanced so, if you need to make it easier, play with the same rules from the service line!
To Summarise
There you have it - four games to introduce you to tennis comfortably! These games will improve your touch and feel so can be used to benefit your game at any level of play. Here are those four games again…
1. Dinks. A game played in the service boxes that encourages very feel-based shots.
2. Bluff. A strategic game that strengthens players’ hand-eye coordination and movement.
3. 21s. Similar to tennis but without serves and with less pressure on getting the ball in.
4. Dingles. Uses both singles and doubles dynamics and trains players to hit cross-court.
As always, any questions or thoughts, tweet me @ontheline_jack. Happy hitting!
Jack Edward is a tennis analyst and host of the On The Line podcast, which takes regular deep dives into ATP and WTA tour matches. He’s also a qualified LTA coach and on Talking Tennis he brings his unique analytical insights to help club and recreational players to be more effective on the court.
See also:
Tennis games for three players (and other awkward numbers)
Levelling up tennis mismatches: Fun games for when players have different skill levels
How to practice consistent cross-court rallying
How to cut down on double faults
Mastering the contact point: How to read the ball and get in the perfect position to hit it
