next »

[kapuroy_56ers]

18. Normally, asking for a replay of a point is a sign of weakness and of failure to exercise line calling responsibilities, and should occur only on rare occasions. One of these is as follows. Your opponent's ball -- a serve or otherwise -- appears out and you so call, but return the ball to his court. Inspection reveals that your out call, which stopped play, is in error. Since you actually returned the ball a let is authorized. Had you not returned the ball the point would have been your opponent's. (See last sentence in .) Another possible replay situation occurs when, just as C is returning A's good shot, A's overzealous partner, B calls A's shot out. If C hits a placement he wins the point; otherwise, the point should be replayed.

19. Once an out (meaning a ball has landed outside the court), fault, or let call is made play stops, regardless of what happens thereafter. This policy is sound, though sometimes maddening. For example, with you at the net your partner serves a bullet that the receiver barely gets to the net for an easy setup which you whack away, but the receiver has yelled "fault" as he was returning the service. Inspection reveals that the service was good. You first feel that your putaway shot should count for the point. But suppose that you had missed the putaway. Your immediate cry would have been for a let because the out call distracted you and made you miss. A rule can't work one way one time and work another way another time. It is unfortunate that a miscall was made on such a good service, but you must trust your opponents' intentions to be fair, remember that since they are human they are going to make some mistakes, and realize that since they returned the service a let may be called. The validity of the principle here notwithstanding, most good players who have made a weak giveaway type of return because of an opponent's good forcing shot will give the opponent the point in spite of the out call. The important thing is that a player should not let his ineptitude as a linecaller cause his opponent to fail to win a point that he almost surely would have won had the correct call been made on his forcing shot.

20. All points in a match should be treated with the same importance, and there is no justification for considering a match point differently than the first point. Also, some players will insist that on occasion even though a ball is good they want it to be out so badly that they will unconsciously call it out, this reasoning is difficult for a strong-willed fair-minded player to accept.

21. As a driven ball -- in contrast to a ball dropping vertically -- strikes the ground (or asphalt or cement, but not grass) it will leave a mark in the shape of an ellipse. If this ellipse is near a line and you cannot see court surface between the ellipse and the line, the ball is good. If you can see only part of an ellipse on the ground this means that the missing part is on the line or tape. Some players will call a ball of this kind out on the basis that all of the mark they can see is outside the line; this thinking is fallacious. An ellipse tangent to a line literally, touching the line at only one point) still represents a good ball; this is tantamount to saying that a ball 99% out is 100% good.

22. Notwithstanding the ellipse theory, on courts which have tapes for lines, occasionally a ball will strike the tape, jump an inch, then leave a full ellipse. This is frequently the case with a hard service when the server will see a clear white spot appear on the service tape, only to have the receiver call "fault" and point to an ellipse an inch back of the line. To attain accuracy in such situations is difficult. The best that the receiver can do is to listen for the sound of the ball touching the tape and look for a clean spot on the tape directly between the server and the ellipse; if these conditions exist he should give the point to his opponent. Sometimes sound alone can be misleading, particularly when the hearer is some distance -- across the net or otherwise -- from the sound. Also, an inch and a half is about the maximum that a ball will jump off the tape.

23. In returning service the partner of the receiver should call the service line for him, with the receiver calling the center line and the side line, although either partner may make an out call on any shot (service or other) that he clearly sees out. It is difficult for the receiver, who is looking across the service line, to call with accuracy a shot that lands near that line. This is the reason why in singles a receiver will frequently find himself unsure of a serve and put it in play even though later it is determined that it was out.

24. Returning a service that is obviously out (accompanied by an out call) is a form of rudeness, and when the receiver knows that in making these returns he bothers the server it is gamesmanship. At the same time it must be expected that a fast service that just misses the line will frequently with justification be returned as a matter of self-protection, even though an out call is made. The speed of deliveries is such that if the receiver waited for a call before he started to make a return he would be overpowered. Probably the most difficult shot in tennis to call accurately is a hard flat service, aimed directly at the receiver, that hits within an inch of the service line in a grass court singles match.

24.1. Returning a first service that is obviously out without an out call in an attempt to catch an opponent off guard is cheating. At the same time, if the receiver in good faith gives the server the benefit of the doubt and returns an out ball, the server is not entitled to refuse the benefit of the doubt and ask for a let on the basis that since he saw the serve out the return caught him by surprise.

24.2. When the server causes a delay between the first and second serves, he has one serve to come. When there is a delay between serves that interrupts the natural flow of the match and when the delay is caused by the receiver or outside interference, the server has two serves to come. The receiver determines whether the delay has interrupted the natural flow of the match.

25. A USTA rule interpretation authorizes the receiver or his partner to call footfaults on the server after the server has been warned once and a request for an umpire has failed. This call should be made only when the caller is absolutely certain, with the footfaulting being so flagrant as to be clearly perceptible from the receiver's side of the net. While in doubles the partner of the receiver may be in a fair position to call a normal fooffault, in either singles or doubles the receiver himself would be able to make this call only in flagrant cases.

25.1. When you feel that your opponent, a netrusher, is footfaulting but his violations are not sufficiently flagrant for you to be sure and to call, the situation can be irritating. Compliance with the footfault rule is very much a function of a player's personal honor system. The plea that he only touches the line and doesn't rush the net is not acceptable. If he doesn't footfault when there is an umpire but does when there is no umpire, the time has come for him to examine his own sense of fair play to see if he is the type of person who will cheat provided he thinks he can go undetected or unpunished, and, if he is, to try to make a change. Habitual foot faulting, intentional or careless, is just as surely cheating as is making a deliberate bad line call.

26. Even if no ethics were involved, from the practical view it behooves a player to avoid footfaults. It is not uncommon in a match having officials for a chronic fooffaulter to become so upset by the frequent footfault calls against him that his whole game disintegrates.

27. A player who hits a weak shot and then, when the ball is moving towards his opponents' court, utters an exclamation such as "back, partner!" has violated the ethics of good play. His opponent, provided he does not play the ball because of the exclamation, is entitled to the point on the basis of having been hindered. However, if the opponent goes ahead and plays the ball and misses, the "two chance" rule holds. There is such a thing as the exclamation coming forth just as the opponent is making his shot. It is then properly a matter for the opponent to determine whether or not he is entitled to a let, for only he can judge if the hindrance came before his shot, after it, or simultaneously with it. If he is going to request a let he should try to make the claim before he sees the outcome of his shot, though this is not always possible. A certain type of player will wait and request a let if he has made an error, but will forget about the let if his shot has turned into a freak placement; this practice is not ethical. The main thing is that if the opponent was hindered, then had an option to stop or to make the shot, then attempted the shot, whether he missed it or not is immaterial, he is considered to have played the ball and there is no basis for a let. 

28. In general, any conversation between partners while the ball is moving toward their opponents' side of the net is taboo; once either you or your partner has hit the ball, don't say anything until an opponent has hit it. Even when a ball is moving toward two partners conversation between them should be minimized, with about the only words permitted being such exhortations as to try hard for a ball ("run!") or to let one pass ("out!"), etc. Incidentally, "out" as advice to a partner to let the ball drop does not suffice for the normal "out" call necessary when a ball has landed outside the court.

29. With respect to a player moving when a ball is in play or about to be in play, in general he is entitled to feint with his body as he wishes. He may change position on the court at any time including while the server is tossing the ball to serve. Movements or sounds that are made solely to distract an opponent, such as waving the arms or racket, stamping the feet, or talking are prohibited.