The courts at Hurst Tennis Center are adjacent to a popular running trail. Without gates on that side of the facility, retrieving balls that scud over the fence isn’t very practical. We typically just go ahead and open another can. Theoretically, someone should wander by on the trail to retrieve the wayward ball and toss it back over the fence. Unfortunately, when a good tennis ball is resting next to the path, the walkers and runners become inexplicably scarce.
In all my years of playing at Hurst Tennis Center, I have noticed a curious phenomenon. If a ratty torn up dead ball happens to be lying alongside the path, it is inevitably quickly launched to the tennis side of the fence unprompted. In fact, if the tennis players try to rid themselves of the unwanted ball by dispatching it back over the fence, people come out of the woodwork to “help.”
I have dubbed this phenomenon the “Law of Displaced Tennis Balls.” Bad balls are always returned. Good balls are usually gone forever.
Oak Creek Park in Carrolton is another venue where the courts at the far end of the facility are a prohibitively long distance from an open gate. In that case, the courts are lined by a green zone a short distance from a playground. There isn’t as much foot traffic there, but people do occasionally wander by.
A couple of weeks ago, we launched a ball over the fence on Court 12 at Oak Creek during a league match. We resigned ourselves to the fact that it was probably gone forever. However, I made an active attempt to invoke the Law of Displaced Tennis Balls. A pink and very dead ball was languishing on the court when we arrived. We tapped it over the fence in the same general location where our pristine match ball had come to rest.
Lo and behold, a couple of games later, the pink ball was yeeted back over the fence in the middle of a point. We had to call out to the good Samaritan to get him to track down our match ball as well. It took quick action and a little effort.
This means that the odds of getting a good ball back are increased when it is in close proximity to a bad ball. In other words, the Law of Displaced Tennis Balls is real. We must use this power for good.
