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.
For reasons unrelated to that anecdote, the first sentence in Section 9 of the Rules of Tennis in the USTA Friend at Court brought me to a dead stop.
The choice of ends and the choice to be server or receiver in the first game shall be decided by toss before the warm-up starts.
USTA Friend at Court, Section 9
Common practice back in the 70’s was to complete the entire warm-up before determining the service order. Sometimes this would also include the practice serves and at other times serves would be “taken” immediately before the first service game for each player. It is my preference to do it that way as I think there is a strategic advantage to seeing the complete inventory of each player’s shots before locking into a decision.
My current experience in tournament play is that the umpires will generally accompany the players onto the court to officiate and execute the toss. If that does not occur, most of the time the warm-up is started without the choice of ends and service being made. Occasionally an opponent will insist that the elections should be performed before the warm-up is initiated. No one ever says “as specified in the rules.” It would have never occurred to me to refuse, which is a good thing because it is the way the rules specify that it should be.
League play is conducted without the benefit of umpires until playoffs. Rarely in league play have I encountered anyone who insisted that choice of serve and side be executed prior to the warm-up. Now that I am sensitized to the rule, I guess I am going to have to start insisting on it.
The usage of the word “toss” also brought me to a full stop. Unless an umpire is present with a coin, this is almost universally performed via a racquet spin mechanism in which the logo on the butt of the racquet is “up or down.” This is similar to a coin toss result of “heads or tails.”
The word “spin” only appears in the USTA Friend at Court three times. One of these is in the Index with the words “See Toss.” Clearly the intent is that a racquet spin is an acceptable substitute for a coin toss and I don’t know anyone who would object to that mechanism.
Except me. From now on I am going to insist on a determination that involves some sort of toss, per the rules. I am becoming a stickler that way. I have also arrived at the conclusion that the story I opened this post with, gambling away the toss outcome before the match was put on court was within the spirit of the rules. What is a toss if not gambling?
- United States Tennis Association (2020) Friend at Court. White Plains, NY
