Badminton vs Tennis: All You NEED to Know

Whether you are on the fence of choosing between badminton vs tennis, or you are just looking for the differences between the two, you are at the right place.

In this post, we are comparing badminton and tennis from a lot of aspects, including:

Table of Contents

What is Badminton?

Badminton is a racket sport where players hit the shuttlecock over the net. It is one of the most dynamic games on the planet.

This sport demands fabulous reaction time, reflexes, coordination, stamina, and creativity. You’ll see a long rally from time to time, especially if two defensive players meet.

Indoor matches are more often because of the wind, but outdoor tournaments happen from time to time too. Both singles and doubles formats are available.

The plastic projectile (shuttlecock) is known for the greatest top speed in the world of racket sports (sometimes over 400 km/h). The umpire or service judge calls for the fault.

What is Tennis?

 Tennis is also a racket sport, where the player hits the ball over the net. In tennis, you win the point when the ball hits the opponent’s field and touches the floor two times (of course, if he doesn’t return it).

If the fault happens, it is called by the umpire or the service judge. You can play at hard courts, grass, clay, or carpet (also known under the name synthetic turf).

There are singles and doubles formats, indoor and outdoor competitions, but the match is stopped if the rain falls. You can play a clay tournament at light rain.

 When some tennis players, especially tall ones, serve the ball, it might go over 200 km/h, and it is very hard to return it.

Brief History Of The Two Sports

Tennis originates from the French game named “Paume”, which was played in the 12th century, where the ball was hit with the hand. It later developed into “Jeu de Paume”.

The leather gloves were used in the first place. It was replaced with an adaptive handle later, which transitioned to rackets after some time.

Tennis balls appeared in the 14th century, an English king Henry VIII built the first tennis court in 1530. The first tennis racket was made in 1583 in Italy. (source)

Badminton first appeared around 2000 years ago. Ancient European and Asian civilizations played the game known as “battledore and shuttlecock”, where the two players were hitting the shuttlecock with a bat as many times as possible until it fell on the ground.

Badminton suddenly started developing in British India in the 19th century. The first badminton tournament was held in March 1898. (source)

Pros And Cons Of Badminton

Positive Sides:

Badminton is one of the most entertaining racket games for many reasons.

  • Great whole body exercise;
  • Safe sport, no contact between the players;
  • It boosts your reaction time and reflexes;
  • Your agility will rock;
  • Entertaining dynamic game.
  • It boosts your anticipation skills.

Negative Sides:

But there are some downsides too.

  • You need a partner to play;
  • You can hurt yourself during smash or return.
  • It might be expensive–playing outside is impossible if there’s too much wind, so you’ll need money.

Pros And Cons Of Tennis

Positive Sides:

  • It boosts your stamina.
  • Great anti-stress activity.
  • It activates every muscle in your body.
  • It boosts your agility, movement, reaction time, and reflexes.
  • You can play both indoor and outdoor, the wind doesn’t affect the game much.
  • You can meet new friends.
  • Weight loss effect.
  • Tennis boosts your mental health.

Negative Sides:

  • The sport is very difficult, you need a great level of strength and conditioning.
  • Tournaments and equipment cost.
  • Chronical injuries.

Scoring And Rule Comparison

In badminton, the point is scored when the ball touches the surface, while in tennis it can touch the ground once.

The point system is different too.

More details on this post >> Badminton Rules

In tennis, the player who scores four points wins the game. If you earn 6 games, you won the set.

Each point has the corresponding call. Here is how it works.

Number Of Points Call
No points 0 (love or zero)
First point 15 (Fifteen)
Second point 30 (Thirty)
Third point 40 (Forty)
Fourth point Game

To win the game, the player must win two points in a row. If the result is 40-40, the first point means an advantage for player 1 or player 2.

But if the player one scores a point, and then player two scores one, the umpire calls “deuce”. You need two points differential to win the game again.

When the result is 6-6, the players take part in a tie-break, where the referee calls the number of points for each player (example–1-0, 2-1, etc). You must earn a two-point lead to win the tie-break.

To win the match, you must earn two or three sets, depending on the tournament.

In badminton, you play three games. If a player scores (internal badminton scoring system) 21 points, he wins the game.

But, like in tennis, you need a two-point differential to win. It means that the result 22-21, for example, doesn’t bring a game victory.

When the result is 29-29, the player who wins the 30th point has won the game.   

Courts Comparison

Badminton’s overall court dimensions are 44 (13.41 meters) x 20 feet (6.09 meters). Long service lines are the limit for singles’ play, while the sidelines are the border for doubles. (source)

The net line creates a 22 x 20 feet area on each side of the court. The short service line is found at 6 feet 6 inches (some on 7 feet) from the centerline. The net stands at 5 feet 1 inch (155 cm).

In tennis, the court dimension is 78 (23.77 meters) x 27 feet (8.23 meters) for singles, and 78 x 36 feet (10.97 meters) for doubles, while the service line is 21 feet (6.40 meters) away from the net. The tennis’ net height is three feet (0.91 cm) in the center. (source)

It means the tennis court is longer and wider, but the badminton net stands higher. 

We have a detailed post here >> Badminton Courts Measurement

Speed Comparison

In badminton, shuttlecock can travel over 400 km/h per hour, which gives it the title of the fastest racket sport (you can put internal link fastest badminton smashes but I will add links anyway).

The Danish giant Mads Pieler Kolding scored the greatest speed in the match–an impressive 426 km/h!

But if the shuttlecock doesn’t travel over the net, the speed is even greater! The Malaysian player Tan Boon Heong reached the impressive result of 493 km/h!

Samuel Groth scored the fastest tennis serve at the 2012 Busan Open Challenger Series. The ball’s speed was impressive 263 km/h.  (source)

Yet, John Isner holds the fastest serve recognized by ATP, with a score of 253 km/h.

When the two players take part in a rally, the shuttlecock often travels over 400 km/h.

In tennis, when both players stand on the baseline, the ball rarely goes over 150 km/h. Some believe that the fastest return was clocked at around 200 km/h.

The shuttlecock travels 2-3 times faster, plus the tennis field is bigger, which means badminton demands better reflexes and reaction time. It’s undoubtedly a faster racket game.

Players’ Earning Comparison

Both badminton and tennis players can earn a lot of money. Look at the table comparisons.

Badminton Player Earning Tennis Player Earning
Jan Ø. Jørgensen $5 million Andy Murray $100 million
Wang Yihan $5 million Maria Sharapova $135 million
Chen Long $8.2 million Pete Sampras $150 million
Taufik Hidayat $11 million Andre Agassi $175 million
Peter Gade $18 million Serena Williams $180 million
Saina Nehwal $24 million Rafael Nadal $180 million
Lin Dan $26 million Novak Djokovic $200 million
Lee Chong Wei $35 million Roger Federer $450 million

Overall, tennis players earn more money, but you can become a millionaire in badminton too!

Penetration Rate Comparison

Both tennis and badminton are among the top 10 most popular participation sports in the world. (source)

Two hundred and twenty million people around the world play badminton (2nd place), while the number of men and women who play tennis is estimated at 60 million!

The total world population is estimated at 7.8 billion, so around 3% of people in the world play badminton, while tennis is played by less than one percent of people on Earth. (source)

Popularity Comparison

Overall, tennis is more popular than badminton due to better promotion. You can call tennis a global sport for a good reason – it is played everywhere in the world.

Badminton is very popular in Asian countries–Malaysia, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam… In Europe, most great players come from Denmark, while other areas of the world rarely have a name in the top 100. (source)

Tennis has reached global levels. If you look at the list of the top-ranked tennis players, you’ll find the names from every single continent!  (source)

Equipment Comparison

There are similarities between badminton (internal link badminton equipment) and tennis equipment, but some things are different too. This table will guide you through the differences.

Equipment name Sports (Badminton, Tennis, Or Both)
Racket Both (differences)
Ball Tennis
Shuttlecock Badminton
Shoes Both
Net Both (differences)
Strings Both
Grip tape Both
Towel Both (optional)
Supporters Both (optional)
Ankle tape Both (optional)
T-shirt Both
Shorts Both
Bag Both
Stencil ink Both (optional)
Bottle of water Both
Socks Both

Tennis is played with the ball, badminton with a shuttlecock.

Another significant difference is rackets. Badminton racket’s handle is thinner, just like the head frame. The head of the tennis racket is much larger, and the string tension is higher. 

Badminton net is higher, so there are setup differences between the nets.

You can play tennis both indoor and outdoor, so you might need a different pair of shoes (internal link), while badminton shoes are designed for one type of surface.

Other than that, not much difference.

Which One Is More Challenging?

There is a significant difference between the two sports.

Tennis game time is 3h 18 min, while badminton game time is 1 hour and 16 minutes.

The shuttlecock is in a game for 37 minutes, while a ball is in the game for 18 minutes.

The average number of blows in a tennis match is 1004, in badminton 1972.

Badminton player covers a distance of 6,4 km per match, while a tennis player runs “only” 3,2 km.

You hit shuttlecock way more often because it flies faster, and the rest between the points is shorter in badminton.

Physically, tennis is a very difficult sport, and it demands an elite level of strength and conditioning because the matches last for so long.

Yet, badminton is physically more challenging, while tennis is mentally harder.