Sniped by a Serve

When I was working my way through the “Player Loses Point” section of the ITF Rules of Tennis way back in May of 2020, I lamented the fact that I was unable to find a video clip of a point loss resulting from a player being hit by a serve. “How to Lose a Tennis Point: Getting Pegged” included clips of that occurring mid-point and also via a near miss on a serve. Last week the tennis gods finally delivered the footage I have been waiting for.

During a match at the ATP Tenerife Challenger 2 tournament in Spain, Matteo Gigante and Francesco Passaro were playing Marco Bortolotti and Sergio Martos Gornes. During match point in the second set, Gigante hit a second serve into the wrong service box that hit Gornes before it bounced. The video of the incident was tweeted out by Damian Kust.

The rule is relatively straightforward.

The point is lost if:

The ball in play touches the player or anything that the player is wearing or carrying, except the racket.

ITF Rules of Tennis, 24.i.

A second serve puts the ball in play from the moment it is hit by the server’s racquet. It remains in play until the point is ended. If Gornes had managed to dodge the serve, then the receiving team would have won the point off a double fault.

This example is intriguing because both teams had reportedly previously sniped at the net player. This may have been a deliberate tactic as the net player appears to be closer to the net than usually played while receiving in men’s doubles. Alternatively, it could be a sign that the match had gotten a little chippy. It is also possible that these guys had the collective service control of Jelena Ostapenko. This was a challenger-level match, after all.

If indeed the shot was intentional, it was a pretty bold move off a second serve on match point. It was definitely a dramatic way to end a match.

1. ITF Rules of Tennis, ITF Website, 2023.