How to Lose a Point in Tennis

This project finally moves into my expert territory. Section 24 of the 2020 USTA Friend at Court is titled “Player Loses Point.” I would contend that there is no other player better equipped to cover this topic than me.

The psychology of the section title brings me to a full stop. It could have been titled “Player Wins Point” but it is a reflection of the fact that the majority of points in tennis are lost rather than won. Teaching pros preach that most points end on an unforced error. Tennis is a war of attrition, waiting for your opponent to lose the point.

As a word of warning, we are going to dwell in this section for an extended period of time. There are 12 lettered subsections, 8 case rulings, and two USTA comments in this section. Losing a point is easy. The rules on how to lose a point are long.

The point is lost if:

a. The player serves two consecutive faults

USTA Friend at Court, ITF Rules of Tennis, Section 24

Somehow in all the previous discussion over the service fault, it was never explicitly stated that generating two consecutive service faults is a loss of point. As someone who has played tennis my entire life, I tend to believe that everyone understands that double faults result in a loss of the point in tennis.

I recently saw a reference in a news article that most racquet sports other than tennis only allow one service. I have no idea if that is actually true because I simply do not know very much about other racquet sports. This may be how the non-tennis world views tennis. A collection of strange and mysterious rules and customs.

So a double fault is the first way to lose a point in tennis. It makes sense for the section on how to lose a point leads with this, because if all the other point loss rules were to be arranged in strict time sequence, it would be first every time.

1. United States Tennis Association (2020) Friend at Court. White Plains, NY