Taking Weekend Tennis Seriously

Here is a list of tennis etiquette rules every person who picks up the ole tennis racquet should know when it comes to playing tennis.

Some of these are actual but commonly violated rules that can be found in either the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Rules of Tennis and/or The Code. Together, those two handbooks govern most tennis leagues and tournaments.

Some of these are not stated in either of those doctrines but are the unwritten, common courtesy guidelines that are often breached by inexperienced players.

You all are most welcome!

In no particular order:

• Practice matches are two hours long at a minimum. That’s how long it takes to play a worthwhile for-fun match. If you don’t have two hours to play tennis, let the organizer know you’ll only be able to play for an hour and a half and see if she’s cool with that. And if you can’t play for at least an hour and a half, you can’t play at all.

• If your tennis ball rolls onto another court, you do not call out “let” and force the people playing on that court to stop their flow. It’s up to those folks whether they want to issue a let. And sometimes they don’t. Sometimes your wandering ball was harmlessly out of the way and the side that can see the vagrant ball was willingly waiving its right to a “let” call and allowing the point to be played out.
• If you don’t hear your opponent call the ball out, you keep playing. You don’t get a second serve because your first serve was “clearly” out. It’s her call, and she might be giving you the benefit of your ball being in. You’re welcome!
• Always close the gate door after entering or exiting a court. You see these here tennis balls? They, like, move every which way and stuff, including through open tennis court entryways.
• Don’t step onto a court that people are playing on until there is a clear break in the action. A clear break in the action is not in between the first and second serves. Merely stepping onto the court and huddling by the door is still distracting to those playing. Even if you think you’re wearing an invisibility cloak.
• Don’t hit an out first serve back to the server or even over the net in general.

According to The Code:
28. Obvious faults. A player shall not put into play or hit over the net an obvious fault. To do so constitutes rudeness and may even be a form of gamesmanship.

• Hitting a tennis ball right at the opposing player during a point is an acceptable tennis shot. Don’t let anyone tell you differently, especially your opponent.

By the way, lobbing is also an acceptable tennis shot.

• Before you hit the ball back to the other side during stoppage time because your opponents are serving, look at them to see what they’re doing and whether they’re in a position to field the ball. Make eye contact if you can or call out one of your opponents’ names, yell “Ball coming,” and then gently bop the ball directly to the right person.

Sometimes the right person isn’t the server. Sometimes it’s the net player who has her hand high in the air, which is the universal sign for “Hit the ball over here!”

• Don’t say anything after your side has struck the ball and it’s moving towards the opposing team. You know, stuff like “SHORT,” “GET BACK,” or “OH NO.” Your opponents would be in their right to call a hindrance, stop the ball instead of hitting it, and claim the point.
• According to The Code when it comes to the warm-up:

3. Warm-up is not practice…Each player should try to hit shots directly to the opponent.

Which is at least what I do. I try. My friend April says that the warm-up is the only time in a doubles match when I hit the ball cross-court.

She’s hilarious. 😀

The Code is obviously referencing the warm-up between opponents shortly before the match starts, but I believe this warm-up rule should also be applied to the team warm-ups thirty minutes prior to the start of matches that captains usually request their players to attend. Practice is when you’re hitting with a coach. At least that coach gets paid to put up with the nonsense that is balls not being hit directly to him.

Some players aren’t skilled enough to hit the ball directly to their warm-up partner.

Still others use the warm-up to smash winners.

I don’t know if they’re hitting winners as an intimidation tactic (don’t be intimidated. They probably can’t control their “power”) or if they sincerely want to find their “winner” shots. If it’s the latter, I disagree that this is the time and place to be practicing killing volleys off the court or walloping angled groundstrokes from the baseline. See The Code, m’kkaaayyy.

Alas, these warm-up offenders are among us, but I’ve discovered a couple of coping methods that tickle me when dealing with these folks.

If I am warming up with someone who blasts winners, I walk to retrieve the ball.

If I am warming up with someone who can’t hit the ball to me because it’s not in her skill set to do so, I will run full-out to the ball that has crossed over to my doubles partner’s side to hit it back directly to my warm-up partner while yelling “I GOT IT.”

Hee.

• Don’t tell your opponents you didn’t play well after you lose. That’s extremely disrespectful. Always stick with some variation of “nice match” or “good playing” when you shake hands with the opposing team. Same goes for the winners.

If your opponent does say something to the effect of she didn’t play well, reply back that neither did you. 🙂