The Rules of Tennis
Fiend at Court overthinks the Rules of Tennis every Wednesday.
Our steady march through the ITF Rules of Tennis as published in the USTA Friend at Court has arrived at the point where we are entitled to a break. Specifically the break between sets.
Event organisers may allow a rest period of a maximum of ten (10) minutes if this is announced in advance of the event. This rest period can be taken after the 3rd set in a best of 5 sets match, or after the 2nd set in a best of 3 sets match.
USTA Friend at Court, ITF Rules of Tennis, 29(d)
There is a lot of wiggle room in the wording of the rule. Since event organizers may allow a rest period between sets, that also means that event organizers could also elect to deny a break at all. Additionally while the language indicates that the rest period may be a maximum of 10 minutes, other shorter lengths of time are permitted within the rules.
This seems like a good time to revisit the relationship between the ITF Rules of Tennis and the USTA Friend at Court. The International Tennis Federation is the overarching world governing body of tennis. Only the ITF can change the fundamental rules of tennis. The USTA is a national federation under the ITF. The Great Britain governing tennis federation is the Lawn Tennis Association. The Australian federation is Tennis Australia.
The National Tennis Federations can provide comments on the ITF Rules of Tennis which provide guidance on how some of the rules are interpreted in their jurisdiction. In addition, they typically author their own regulations for conducting various tennis events.
In the wording of this particular rule, the ITF acknowledges that there are conditions that could influence the length of the break and delegating the decision to event organizers. While the USTA does not offer a comment on this particular rule, Table 12 in the USTA Regulations section of the USTA Friend at Court provides details on the maximum time allowed between sets for various scenarios of play.
For example, in all USTA junior events, there is a mandatory 10 minute rest period between the second and third set when three full sets are played. In other words, event organizers do not have the authority to shorten the break. However, for Adults playing a full third set format, tournament organizers have the option limit all set breaks to two minutes under certain conditions.
I tend to not pay that much attention to the length of the rest period between sets. My own preference is that play should be continuous.
Once upon a time, my opponent took a shower between the second and third sets. She was gone way more than 10 minutes. In the moment, I did not care. My hamstring was in full muscle spasm. I didn’t anticipate that I was going to put up much of a fight in the third set. I told the umpire who came to investigate the delay to disregard the transgression.
When my opponent returned to the court, she acted like complete… let’s go with the word ass… during the first game of the third set. That provided enough motivation to overcome my ailing hamstring. I won the match.
Such is tennis sometimes.
- United States Tennis Association (2020) Friend at Court. White Plains, NY
