Today we conclude discussion of the service motion by focusing very specifically on the definition of when the service motion is completed. I cannot think of a better way to wrap up this section of the USTA Friend at Court. I glossed over this part of the rule yesterday in “It’s a Toss Up: The Tennis Service.”
The service motion is completed at the moment that the player’s racket hits or misses the ball.
USTA Friend at Court, ITF Rules of Tennis, Section 16
The primary way that a service motion is completed is when the server strikes the ball. That is kind of the point of tennis. See the ball… hit the ball. The secondary way that a service motion terminates is when the server’s racquet misses the ball.
Missing the ball is a fuzzier concept than hitting the ball. What exactly constitutes missing the ball? On the surface, the interpretation of missing the ball on a service motion is when the player makes an attempt to strike the ball, but fails to connect. Thus not swinging at a toss at all does not constitute a miss.
The rule is silent on what happens if a player pretends to strike the ball, but intentionally misses. This transitions us nicely to the matter of trick serves. Consider the legality of the following serve.
The server feigns a strike at the ball but misses intentionally. Per the criteria in the ITF Rules of Tennis Section 16, this is a legal serve. The server starts the service motion at rest, releases the ball by hand, and strikes the ball before it hits the ground. That being said, the serve would be most likely be disallowed in an officiated match.
Any other movement or any sound that is made solely to distract an opponent including, but not limited to, waving arms or racket or stamping feet, is not allowed.
USTA Friend at Court, The Code, Issue 35.
“The Code” is the section in the USTA Friend at Court that immediately follows the ITF Rules of Tennis. That section is the player’s guide to fair play and the unwritten rules of tennis. Looking into the crystal ball, the entertainment level of this project will skyrocket once we reach The Code. In the meantime, we continue to slog through the ITF Rules of Tennis.
Per the unwritten rules of tennis, that are somehow written into The Code, this serve would probably be disallowed on the basis that willfully missing a ball is intentionally distracting behavior. It should be noted that that knowledge isn’t going to prevent me from stepping out onto the practice court and working on this exact serve.
I think I lied when I said that this topic would conclude “The Service” section of the ITF Rules of Tennis. I suddenly feel compelled to drop in a few drop serves.
- United States Tennis Association (2020) Friend at Court. White Plains, NY
