Yesterday I described how I envision that the ITF case rulings were forged over pints of ale at the local pub. I think the case ruling from today was later in the evening of the same discussion.
Case 2: After the server has served a first service, the racket falls out of the server’s hand and touches the net after the ball has bounced outside the correct service court. Is this a service fault, or does the server lose the point?
Decision. This is a service fault because when the racket touched the net the ball was no longer in play.
USTA Friend at Court, ITF Rules of Tennis, Section 24.
The second case ruling to the “Player Loses Point” section addresses the rules when the order of events is reversed from the one described yesterday. If the ball bounces before the racquet touches the net, then it matters where the ball bounced on a first serve. The reason for that is because the ball may or may not be in play when the racquet makes contact with the net.
If the service was a fault, and the racquet alley oops into the net, then the ball is not in play and the server receives a second serve. In the case where the service landed in and then the ball strikes the net, the point is lost because the ball was in play and the server loses the point.
It is unrelated to the rule, but these two cases have given me something new to worry about when standing at the net while my partner is serving. The prospect of being struck by my partner’s racquet had previously not occurred to me.
On a related note, there is nothing in the rules prohibiting a player from contacting their partner with their tennis racquet. Probably it would be best if my doubles partners did not know that swatting me with their racquet is not explicitly prohibited by the rules of tennis. I am sure that my insanely poor shot selection might induce the urge to do just that from time to time.
Probably it would be best if that particular bit of tennis rules insight was not widely distributed. Let’s just keep this one to ourselves.
- United States Tennis Association (2020) Friend at Court. White Plains, NY
