Permanent Fixtures, Again
What is a permanent fixture in tennis? What happens when a ball strikes the net post and subsequently lands in the correct court?
4 responsesRules of Tennis: Ball In Play
After I swiped at the USTA/ITF yesterday for including a redundant sentence in “Change of Ends,” the Friend at Court immediately comes back at meRead More
Rules of Tennis: Change of Ends
The players shall change ends at the end of the first, third and every subsequent odd game of each set. Unfortunately, the ITF had some mansplaining to do.
4 responsesChoice of Ends & Service: Strategies for Singles and Doubles
The fundamental truth about the choice of ends and service is that the selection really does not matter all that much. Due to the structure of the game, any advantage from playing from either end evens out over the course of a match.
Choice of Ends & Service: Deferring
Yesterday we discussed how ITF and the USTA have turned us all into degenerative gamblers via the mandatory casting of lots before each match starts. Today we turn our attention to the spoils of victory. Exactly what happens after the coin toss is executed?
Tennis Gambling: Choice of Ends & Service
Once upon a time, I gambled away the toss for choice of ends and service to my opponent prior to being assigned a court at a USTA Major Zone tournament. The side bet was on which of two other players in the draw would be the last to arrive for the first round matches. At the time, I considered the act to be brazenly outside of the rules.
The Tennis Server and Receiver, Ready… Play!
Rule 8 of the ITF Rules of Tennis, as printed in the USTA Friend at Court, is titled “Server & Receiver.” This section essentially does nothing other than to define those two terms.
Rule Changes in the News, 1994 Edition
When I was looking for a media source of the events described in the “An Inconvenient Truth” post, I mentioned that a random twitter userRead More
We Shall Discuss the Match Tie-Break Today
While the rules of tennis are fairly straight forward and compact in the main body, the appendices are extensive, convoluted, and the place where all hell breaks loose such as shortened scoring and other alternative formats. This brings us to the topic of the match tie-break.
WTA Player Age Eligibility Rules Genesis: Summer of 1994
I think that I would have skipped on past the nuance that the WTA Age eligibility rules emerged from the insane summer of 1994, butRead More