The majority of people experience the Rules of Tennis by watching the sport on television. There is actually a cascading series of rule books that govern play. At the top level, the ITF owns “The Rules of Tennis.” In the United States, the ITF Rules of Tennis are encapsulated into the USTA’s “Friend at Court.” That is not to be confused with the name of this site, “Fiend at Court.”
The Professional Tours are played under separate ATP and WTA rule books. Those documents augment the Rules of Tennis with specific procedures that govern the professional tours. However, there is one more set of rules that dominate public understanding of tennis. The four Major tournaments are played under “The Grand Slam® Rule Book” which is under the direct purview of the ITF.
Today’s post is a summary of updated rules appearing in the 2023 Grand Slam Rule Book. While most fans will not notice these changes, the Doubles side of the game has some new wording that brings governance closer to parity with rules already in place for Singles. Additionally there is also a curious statement about a “new” rule that the US Open jumped the gun to implement in 2022.
For the most part, the updates to each year’s Grand Slam Rulebook are underlined in that document. However, I found a couple of places in the rules where there were updates without change markings. Additionally, I looked for an official comprehensive summary of the changes to reference and came up empty. While this may be the best description of the updates that you find, keep in mind that this blog is absolutely unofficial.
Prize Money for Withdrawals and “Lucky Losers”
A few years ago, a change was made that allows players who withdraw from the Singles draw to collect 50% of the prize money if they did so in time to be replaced by a “Lucky Loser” from qualifying. The reason that change was made was to eliminate a large number of walkovers and retirements from players who were unfit to play the tournament but nevertheless needed the first-round prize money. The conditions surrounding that rule continue to be adjusted in 2023, along the following lines.
- The withdrawal has to occur after noon on Tuesday before the start of the Main draw. In 2022 that had to occur after noon on Wednesday.
- The “Lucky Loser” now only receives the Main Draw prize money. Previously, the Lucky Losers received qualifying prize money in addition to their main draw winnings.
- The conditions under which a withdrawing player collects 50% of the prize money have been tightened considerably. Essentially they have to be on-site and declared unfit to play by the tournament doctor. Additionally, they must have competed in a tournament within the prior three weeks of the Major.
There are also new rules for partial awards of prize money for withdrawals during singles qualifying.
Significant Updates to Doubles Rules
The partial award of prize money has been extended to Doubles teams in 2023. The procedures operate with the same conditions and constraints that are used for Singles. Essentially Doubles players may now be compensated for withdrawing rather than creating walkovers. This corrects a glaring disparity between Singles and Doubles in previous versions of the Grand Slam Rule Book.
The language used to describe the procedures for inserting substitute teams into the Doubles draws has been updated. In 2022, the words used were “Alternates” as well as “Lucky Losers.” However, a clause that allowed Grand Slams to conduct discretionary Doubles qualifying has been removed for 2023. Consequently, substitute players are now described only as “Alternates” since there is no longer any mechanism to become a “Lucky Loser” for doubles.
The 2023 Grand Slam Rule Book has an entirely new section outlining selection criteria for Mixed Doubles. The selection for Mixed is very similar to what is already in place for same-gender Doubles. However, there is a notable difference in the number of wild cards that can be awarded. The maximum number of Doubles wild cards is 7 in a 64-team draw. For Mixed Doubles, the maximum number of wild cards is 8, regardless of the size of the draw.
Miscellaneous Other Changes
There were extensive changes in the 2022 Grand Slam Rulebook for toilet and change of attire breaks. We can probably all thank Stefanos Tsitsipas for that new section of the rules. In 2023, there is one minor wording update. In men’s matches “Shirts, socks and shoes should be changed on court.” In 2022, the word used in that sentence was “must.”
The Grand Slams have very precise rules about logos and patches that can be worn on a player’s clothing. In 2023, updated wording describes acceptable locations for sleeveless garments. However, the most significant change that could become a big story at some point is that the fines associated with violating the logo/branding policy have risen astronomically. In 2022, the fines were capped at $20,000. In 2023, the potential amount has risen to $250,000.
One last section of the document that was updated for 2023 is Article XI which contains the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program. There are no change markings in this section, though there are clearly some modifications because the numbering alignment varies between 2022 and 2023.
Article XI distills down to the fact that gambling is a dangerous thing for tennis and also that “Covered Persons” are not allowed to promote gambling. This is the rule that Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan ran afoul of to earn their current suspensions. Other bad behavior outlined in this section includes match-fixing and using performance-enhancing substances.
“New” Rule for Off Court Coaching
The Heading of the “Coaches and Coaching” section is annotated with an asterisk this year. It is tempting to call this a footnote. However, there are other properly structured numbered footnotes in the document. At the conclusion of the “Coaches and Coaching” section there is a bolded statement connected to the asterisk in the heading. “In 2023, an Off-Court Coaching trial will be conducted.”
The barn door is already swinging wide open on that “update” as Off-Court Coaching was permitted at the US Open last year.
Most Fans Won’t Notice
Unless you are a professional doubles junky who painstakingly tracks the acceptance lists for Doubles and Mixed at the Grand Slams, I am guessing that most fans will not notice any of these rule updates in 2023. However, I think there is a significant chance that a player violates the identification rule for logo size and placement, and when that occurs there will be news stories about the record high fine.
As of January 2, 2023, the ITF has still yet to publish the 2023 Rules of Tennis. Assuming that occurs over the next few days, next Wednesday’s post will detail the changes in the Rules of Tennis that actually impact us little people.
- 2023 Official Grand Slam Rulebook, International Tennis Federation, viewed January 1, 2023.
- 2022 Official Grand Slam Rulebook, International Tennis Federation, viewed January 1, 2023.
