I am developing a love of the USTA comments because it is my belief that every one of these originated with something that happened in a match that was debated, argued, and escalated to the point where the USTA was forced to intervene with a ruling in the form of a comment.
USTA Comment 1.3: What happens if a singles stick falls to the court during a point? The point stops immediately and is replayed.
USTA Friend at Court, 2019
The singles sticks that have been used in my matches are pretty tightly jammed under the net. Assuming that the net is properly tensioned, it is hard for me to believe that they could ever just fall to the court without some sort of significant impact from either a player or the ball.
If the impact was a player, then I would think that the point is over because the singles sticks are intertwined into the net. I don’t see how a player could contact the singles stick and not the net anyway. The distinction is too fine. The rule is not clear at this point, but looking forward this interpretation is confirmed in Friend at Court section 24.g.
At a future point in the rules, we will learn that if a serve hits a singles stick and still falls into the court that it is a fault rather than a let, but we’re not there yet. Extending the logic behind that rule, if a ball strikes the singles sticks, it would be similar to hitting a permanent fixture, which we have also not covered. On a similar vein, if a singles stick falls without contact with the ball or a player, then it is essentially a let, but the Friend at Court can’t use that term because it isn’t defined yet at this point. It is hard to explain the tennis rules without first understanding the tennis rules.
I am also starting to believe that there should be a tennis rules drinking game. The first (obscure) rule that I would propose is that if you are watching a match and one of the singles sticks falls then everyone has to start singing the PitBull/Kesha song “It’s going down, I’m yelling timber…” and the last person to join in has to chug.
- United States Tennis Association (2019) Friend at Court. White Plains, NY
