The Rules of Tennis
This week’s Rules of Tennis topic focuses on the exceptions to the “no coaching” rule. Those special cases are codified directly into the ITF Rules of Tennis. Fundamentally, there are two situations when coaching is allowed. The first is during certain team events. The second is if a sanctioning body receives approval from the ITF to allow on-court coaching at specified events.
The following is the rule which defines — and somewhat constrains — on court coaching during team events.
In team events where there is a team captain sitting on-court, the team captain may coach the player(s) during a set break and when the players change ends at the end of a game, but not when the players change ends after the first game of each set and not during a tie-break game.
ITF Rules of Tennis, USTA Friend at Court, Section 30 excerpt.
Anyone who has ever paid attention to Davis Cup or the Billie Jean King Cup (Nee Federation Cup) has most likely noticed the fact that the on-court captain sits on the players bench and talks to the players during the changeovers. That conversation is on-court coaching. In International Adult Senior team competition, the same rules are in place.
Now might be as good of a time as any for me to disclose that I would really like to have Kathy Rinaldi’s job as the captain of the United States Billie Jean King Cup team. As I understand it, one of her principal duties is to attend tennis tournaments to watch all the US women play their matches. She was a very busy woman during the US Open tournament this year. Probably I would not be very good at the on-court coaching part of the job. For that matter, probably the same can be said for all other aspects of her job duties as well.
(Editorial note: A really good prize for a charity auction would be to shadow Kathy Rinaldi for a day during the early rounds of the US Open. I would totally bid on that experience.)
The second exception to the on-court coaching rule is probably also obvious to anyone who has recently watched televised tennis. The sanctioning bodies for the professional tours have been experimenting with on-court coaching during matches. This is driven by a belief that providing the insight from these conversations is good driver of fan interest and entertainment.
Case 3: Is a player allowed to receive on-court coaching during a match?
Decision: Sanctioning bodies may apply to the ITF to have on-court coaching allowed. In events where on-court coaching is allowed, designated coaches may enter the court and coach their players under procedures decided by the sanctioning body.
ITF Rules of Tennis, USTA Friend at Court, ITF Case Decision 3.
What results from the current experimentation on the professional tours is an amalgamation of rules and practices that vary from week to week. At the philosophical level, I am opposed to on-court coaching because it is not the way tennis is supposed to be played.
Additionally, the best players can afford to pay a full time coach and thus have access to the best on-court advice. Players at the lower tiers of professional tennis often do not have a full time coach traveling with them. It is also not uncommon for two players to share a coach while on tour.
On the other hand, as a competitive player that genuinely enjoys tactical tennis, I hang on every word of the coaching visits. I am fascinated by mid-match adjustments in strategy. Sometimes it simply explains what the player is attempting to execute, even in cases where they are unable to prosecute the strategy with any success.
And then you have events like the following clip. This coaching visit is for Madison Brengle during a match in early 2017 against Serena Williams.
The audio isn’t great, so here is a partial transcription that originally ran in USA Today. The conversation is between Brengle and Nicole Melichar who was acting as her coach. Nicole Melichar is another player on the WTA tour. This kind of underscores my point about a lot of players not having full time coaches with them.
Melichar: She’s on the disadvantage now. She has to hold serve.
Brengle: Well, she’s been doing a good job.
Melichar: Well, you know what, one might fly on her and she might get tight, then the second one might fly on her.
Brengle: You mean like if it flies and hits me in the body and I die. So that’s like how I go?
Melichar: I wouldn’t bet my money on that.
Brengle: Do you feel like if I played even uglier off the return, is that a good idea?
Melichar: I think you might as well try.
Brengle: Because like if I’m actually hitting I feel like she’s like, “Oh, God, this is nice.” And then she hits a winner. So, maybe, like, even worse. Because I feel like she’s surprised at how bad I am.
Before passing judgement on the efficacy of this visit… Brengle went on to win the match. I am here for that kind of coaching visit regardless of the outcome.
- The 72nd-ranked player who beat Serena Williams had the funniest conversation with her coach, Charles Curtis, USA Today, January 4, 2017.
