Who can play Walking Tennis? ANYONE! but it is ideal for: 

• ​People who used to play tennis but have had to stop, perhaps due to injury or age-related mobility issue.
• Absolute beginners. For those who have never played tennis before, the easier pace can help to build racket skills. Many players even find their fitness and skills improve so much they move into playing full tennis.
• Regular tennis players who are recovering from an injury - walking tennis is a great way to build up strength gradually after an injury or operation, or when recovering from a condition such as tennis elbow.
• People who are looking to get more active - it’s a fun and relatively gentle way in to exercise.
• Anyone who wants to play an interesting, challenging sport at their own pace.​​

🎾 Walking tennis rules 
Most of the rules of walking tennis are exactly the same as normal tennis. So it has the same scoring system with games, sets and so on (don't worry about scoring to start with) there are two key differences:

1) No running or jumping​
Sometimes it can be very tempting to run, but if you do then you lose the point. There’s a fine line between running and fast walking. But you can follow the definition used in walking races: one foot must be in contact with the floor at all times. A good word that walking tennis player’s use is ‘stride’ - a swift, positive stride across the court can cover a surprising amount of ground!

2) The ball can bounce twice, otherwise the shot is out
The tramlines are in for doubles but out for singles, just as in normal tennis.

For serves, the first bounce must be inside the service box, but the second bounce just needs to be in the court (the doubles court for doubles, or the singles court for singles). (NB - most players do underarm serves – there’s no stigma attached to it in walking tennis!)

Walking tennis usually uses lighter orange tennis balls, as the bounce is gentler, this gives players more time to get to the ball.

In 2026 we are planning to start a regular weekly session at Cringleford and would very much like to hear from anyone interested in joining. We will begin with a couple of free taster sessions. Please email Sally at cringlefordtennis.membership@gmail.com for further information.