I received a comment a couple of weeks ago from a high school coach. She recently had a player lose a very close match against an opponent who was foot faulting far enough into the court to create a clear advantage. She was disappointed that the opposing coach ignored the situation. She was additionally frustrated that she didn’t find an opportunity to intervene before the match was over.
There are really two questions to consider in this situation. First, what do the ITF Rules of Tennis say about who can call a foot fault. The second question is from a more practical standpoint: What can players and coaches do in a similar situation.
The ITF Rules of Tennis contains a section on foot faults that describes the infraction. That section is completely silent on who can call a foot fault. Within the USTA Friend at Court, “The Code” appendix is more illuminating. It makes it clear that the receiver can make the call. However, some additional considerations are imposed.
Calling foot faults. The receiver or the receiver’s partner may call foot faults only after all reasonable efforts, such as warning the server and attempting to get an official to the court, have failed and the foot fault is so flagrant as to be clearly perceptible from the receiver’s side.
USTA Friend at Court, The Code, Principle 24.
The coach observed that it would have been awkward for her very young player to make a foot fault call in that situation. I am also unconvinced that “The Code” helps at all in that regard. It is clear that the receiver may only call a foot fault if they first make an issue of it by warning the other player. That very obviously also prevents a team from coming out of the blue with a questionable foot fault called at a critical moment.
“The Code” also stipulates if an official is present, they must also be summoned before the receiving team is permitted to call a foot fault. In a high school match, the equivalent action is arguably summoning one or both coaches to the court.
That places the onus on the player to do a lot of things. First, they have to recognize that the egregious foot faults are happening at all. After that, they have to warn the other player and refuse to play on without intervention from the coaches. Either of those alternatives can be daunting to a young high school player. That is one of many reasons why tennis is one of the best crucibles for developing assertiveness and self-advocacy skills.
Depending on how bad the foot faults were, as a coach I might have enlisted the assistance of the other team’s coach. He (or she) might have continued to turn a blind eye, but I would consider that to be step 1 of the coaches role in exhausting all reasonable efforts.
While I did not witness this particular high school match, I did experience a similar situation while watching the Trophy Husband play a mixed doubles tournament match. One of their opponents was hitting her serve half way between the baseline and the service line. I sincerely don’t think that is an exaggeration. From that location on the court she had a killer serve. I mean… who wouldn’t?
After watching the Trophy Husband and his partner do nothing during her first two service games, I placed myself in the proximity of an umpire and commented to a friend that I thought an umpire was needed on that court. It was right as that opponent started her third service game.
As the umpire approached the court… the foot faulting stopped. As an editorial aside, that is infuriating. That means that the egregious foot faulting player absolutely knew that she was doing it. It is the epitome of poor sportsmanship.
In the post-match breakdown, I made sure that the Trophy Husband knew the rule and that they needed to protest should they play that woman again. My advice was to follow that up by calling foot faults every time she took two steps into the court and perhaps even before she struck the ball. Technically, that isn’t a foot fault… yet. However, even if she reflexively stopped her motion it would have been a challenge for her to explain why she was already 4 feet in front of the baseline.
In all my years of competitive play, I cannot recall a situation where a foot faulting opponent was creating an advantage during one of my matches. As an adult, I have noticed opponents that foot fault pretty frequently, but paradoxically it is almost always caused by poor mechanics by a player who is not rushing the net to volley the return. It is pretty easy to let it all go when the stakes are low.
In “The Code” in the USTA Friend at Court, there is another principle on foot faults that applies only to the serving player. It is the perfect way to close out today’s post.
Avoid foot faults. Players should not foot fault because it violates ITF Rule of Tennis 18.
USTA Friend at Court, The Code, Principle 23.
Thanks Teresa!! So helpful!