Tennis Etiquette
As well as the written Rules of Tennis there is something called Etiquette which exists to help everyone enjoy this game. Sportsmanship, consideration, and politeness have been part of the game since the beginning of time, and you could do a lot worse than to read the following points to bring you into the mind-set of tennis players:
- Talk quietly if you are near tennis courts that are in use.
- Do not walk behind a court during an active point. Pass as quickly as possible after a point has finished.
- Do not disturb people on court until after their time is up.
- Dress in recognised tennis clothing.
- Before starting to play, ensure any equipment you are not using (spare rackets, clothing, drinks, etc.) are out of the way.
- To determine who will serve first, spin your racket on its head, let it fall to the floor, and ask your opponent to call rough or smooth. The winner can choose whether to serve first, or to receive first, or can choose which end of the court they wish to start playing on.
- You may need to work out a system with your tennis partner(s) to decide who will bring the tennis balls. 4 balls of the same make and standard are needed.
- Tennis balls will end up scattered over the court during play, so you should retrieve balls for your partner and your opponent to keep the game flowing.
- Do not criticise your partner or opponent, be positive and offer encouragement instead.
- Line calls can be hard to see from the other side of the court so you must call your own lines, ensuring your opponent can hear you. A ball that touches any part of the line is good, so you don’t have to say anything, but you could say “Yep!”as an acknowledgement.
- Always respect the line calls of your opponent because he is nearer than you.
- If you have a disagreement with your opponent, offer a let. This means you replay the point whether it’s a first or second serve.
Tennis Ball Collection/Distribution
- Don’t roll balls behind or onto someone else’s court during a point.If a ball comes onto your court from another match, wait until they have finished their point to return their ball or roll it back to the fence in-between your two courts (but not behind their court where they could potentially trip and fall).
- If your ball goes onto or behind another court, don’t retrieve it if the players are playing a point. If a ball rolls behind a player or players who don’t see it and they might injure themselves by stepping on it, you might need to warn them.
- Too much time can be wasted by not being efficient enough looking after tennis balls during a game. Here are some tips to help speed up this process and get tennis balls to the server as quickly as possible:
- Keep tennis balls in your hand, in a pocket, in a ball clip, or at the back centre of the court against the fence.
- If there is a brief pause in play (even between points) look around for any tennis balls you could collect before the server wishes to start serving again.
- If the server requires a tennis ball, the player closest to a ball should get it and pass it the server.
- Pass a ball to the server at a sensible speed so that it is easy to catch, bouncing once or twice.
- Do not pass a ball over the net to the back fence. Apart from the possibility of it bouncing off the fence and back onto the court, you could just as easily have kept the ball and passed it to the server as he/she required it !
Call the Score
- If you’re serving, make sure to call the score before every point. This not only lets your opponent know you’re ready to serve, but also prevents score disputes later.
- It is up to the receiver if he cannot hear the server’s score announcement to ask the server to speak louder. It is too late to correct any scoring errors once one player believes they have won the game!
Line Calls
A few pointers:
- If you are unsure as to whether your opponent’s shot was in or out, call it in.
- Doubles specific: Both you and your partner take responsibility for monitoring and reporting line calls on your own side of the court, unless your partners vision is compromised and the call is an obvious one.
- Doubles specific: If you are receiving the ball from a serve, and your partner is also near to the service line, he is better placed than you to make a call as to whether the ball was long or not.
Don’t Play Serves that are Out
If your opponent hits an obviously out serve, don’t hit it back. Hit it into the net or let it roll into the fence behind you.
Practicing your return makes your opponent wait to hit their second serve and may require them to clear the ball you have hit back from the court.
Fair Warmups
Before a match, players have five minutes or so to warm up. This is not practice time so you should hit balls in a way that lets your opponent warm up, and they should do the same for you.
When your opponent comes to the net, for example, don’t blast balls past or right at them. Make sure they can practice their volley.
Question Calls Only Once
If you think (or even know) your opponent has made a bad call, you can ask once (per point) for clarification and that’s it. No matter how flagrant a bad call, you can’t argue.
It’s impolite to keep challenging the same call — and, you might be wrong!