Section 4 of the Friend at Court is titled “The Racket.” The first item in this section indicates that racquets used for tennis must comply with specifications outlined in Appendix II. I am starting to appreciate the basic rhythm of the Friend at Court. The main body of the rules points to specifications in the Appendix. The Appendix points back to the main body. Lather, rinse, repeat. It is the Friend at Court circle of life.
Appendix II starts with an administrative statement that “SI units take precedence” for all measurements in this section. A generally american readership is assumed for this project, so it is my assumption that SI might be an unfamiliar acronym to that constituency. SI is the stands for International System of Units, the order of the letters being reversed because the native language of the source organization is French. Put succinctly, SI units are the modern metric system.
In Fabulous ITF Historical Facts, I mentioned how the ITF became stewards of the Rules of Tennis with the stipulation that they were to always be printed in English. The rules that the ITF inherited from the All England Club naturally used English units. Another indication that the native measurements of tennis are in English units is evidenced by the absence of decimal points when the standard measurements of the court components are given in feet and inches. Conversely, there is a presence of fractional measurement when the metric conversion is provided.
Entering Appendix II, I feel like we have stumbled upon a little patch of ITF rebellion in designating the metric system as having precedence for racquet measurements. At first I wondered if the racquet dimensions had been updated somewhere along the way prompting the conversion to native metric units. However, the English unit measurements in this section are still round so that is not an obvious impetus for SI to be primary. For example, the maximum length of the racquet is given at 73.7 cm which is duly noted as being 29 inches. That is a native English unit measurement.
I have to also wonder why precedence is even needed in this context. Conversion between English and metric units is basic math. Is the statement of precedence from the ITF an indication of a lack of confidence in their calculations? Are they subtly changing the specifications of the game right under our noses because the English speaking countries don’t understand the metric system? This could very well be the start of a vast ITF conspiracy to convert us all to the metric system.
I am keeping an eye on you, ITF.
- United States Tennis Association (2020) Friend at Court. White Plains, NY
