10 Rules for Rec Players

Have you ever been on the court and didn't know the rule? We have 10 rules we wished we would have known when we started playing USTA matches.

We are replaying a few of our most popular episodes and this was one of them!

In this episode we go through situations that happened on the tennis court to us where no one knew what to do or we were surprised by the rule.

You can Download Our Rules Card  and please reach out if you have other rules we should include in the future!

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Transcript

Introduction to the Rules Card

Carolyn 0:06

Hi, this is Carolyn, and I'm here with Erin. And Erin is an amazing graphic designer. If any of you guys don't know, she is. And she has redesigned a rules card to make it really simple if you're trying to find certain rules. So we thought it would be helpful for other players if we go through the 10 rules that we didn't know when we first started playing and we wish we would have because we lost a point because of it, not knowing the rule. Okay, there's 10 of them. Let's start with number one. You cannot call a double bounce on your opponent.

Erin 0:36

Right. A lot of people don't know who can call the double bounce, right? And a lot of people um feel like they get to a ball and they I think this rule is kind of weird, but it is the rule. You have to call it on yourself. The problem

Rules About Calling Violations

Erin 0:49

is a lot of times you can't see if it's happening or not. So I think either your oppon, I mean, I'm sorry, your doubles partner should call it if you're in doubles, if you're in singles, you don't have a choice, but which they never would. No because they wouldn't be like, oh, you just double bounce. Yeah, but we're giving up that point. Or your opponents should call it, but I guess the reason why they don't is because then they could just be like, oh, that was they could you could argue with someone whether it was a double bounce or not. But I think as the player who's running for the ball, it's very hard to see if you're if you get the if you get it on the first bounce or not. But the rule in rec tennis is you have to call it on yourself.

Carolyn 1:23

That's right. And even though you want to call a double bounce on your opponent, you can't.

Erin 1:27

Right, exactly.

Carolyn 1:28

So okay.

Erin 1:28

Which also leads into the next one, right? So the next one says, you cannot call a foot fault on your opponent unless all reasonable efforts, such as warning and attempting to get an official, have failed. We've talked about this one a lot. We have. We actually did an episode where, wasn't it a crazy situation with Mike, uh, not your mic, but a different mic, that says an opponent called a foot fault on him in a match tiebreak, and he didn't know that they weren't allowed to do that. And so they conceded the point and they lost that match.

Carolyn 1:58

Yes, yes. It was like uh 10-9 in match tie break, and he served an ace, and the opponent said, No, that's a foot fault. So I think the point of this rule is like you can't do that. You can't initially say that's a foot fault. So sorry.

Erin 2:13

And there are, I've seen a lot of people egregiously footfall. It's just part of their routine. I hate to say that. Yes, but I also feel like at our level, and I will say our level from two five to four five, even like our listeners, is I don't, it doesn't make a huge difference in your serve if you're half a step inside the baseline or stepping on the baseline. It might make a difference in pro for pros. Like I know a lady who plays out of my club and she footfalls on every serve. It's literally her routine. And some people get really irritated with her and you just we just let it go because it's not like she has an amazing serve that she's just acing everybody because she's stepping on the line. So anyway, yes, you cannot call it on your opponents. Part of that um rule is you can if you've warned them enough and attempt it to get an official, but in rec tennis, they're unofficiated matches. So that's why that rule kind of goes out the window.

Carolyn 3:09

That's right. So that's right. Okay, on to number three. You may not catch or stop a ball before it bounces. I know I want to do that. Like I'm a foot behind the baseline. Here comes a ball. You don't want to chase it to another court. So I use my racket to stop it. Well, that's not allowed. They depending on who you play, um, they will say that's my point.

Erin 3:28

Yeah. I've seen a lot of men do that though. Like I've uh watched a match the other night and literally like

Equipment and Physical Issues

Erin 3:33

someone knew it was gonna bounce out, and so they just grab it and then, but nobody complains in men's tennis. In women's, they do.

Carolyn 3:38

They would they do people complain and say sorry because they're like, oh, that ball could have dropped in.

Erin 3:43

Uh no, it was flying 18 feet out, but you know, we like we like to argue, right? Okay, what's our next one? Four. If you've served first in a set tie break, your opponent will serve first in the next set. And we actually re-worded this based on our last rules card. We simplified everything. That's why we've put out this new rules card. We've just simplified everything to statements. But um, remember we had a long discussion about who serves and what side we go on. Yes.

Carolyn 4:10

Do you remember what the answer is? Yes. So if you serve first in the set tie break, the opponents will serve first in the next one.

Erin 4:17

Right, exactly. Oh, you know what? I was thinking of sides of court. I was thinking of when someone when you change ends.

Carolyn 4:22

And that's a that's another one that we didn't include on this, but we probably should have because that's a big one. And what's the rule on that, Aaron?

Erin 4:29

The rule is you look at your feet when you end the set and you put your feet on the other side of the card. Right. That's the most simplified way of looking.

Carolyn 4:38

It's whatever end, not the beginning, it's where you end the set tie break, and then you switch.

Erin 4:43

Exactly. And Rebel Good, our rules guru guy, who helps us with our rules card, who we always have him, you know, check it over before we answers all our questions or crazy questions we have. Yes, and he answers a lot of them. He always says, look at your feet and walk to the other side of the court, and that's where you will begin the next set. Yes, that's right. Very simple. Okay, number five, if a racket is dropped or a shoe comes off, play on. Yes. That is not what like people like to call a let. You literally, it is part of the game. If you lose your shoe or you lose your racket, you are now at a disadvantage, but everybody plays on until the point is over. Yes. You could actually still win the point by dropping your racket or losing your shoe if the other team, I guess, is distracted and maybe, or you know, they don't even have to be distracted. Let's say they just don't get the ball and you know, in the on your side of the court as a winner. But yeah, you play on in that situation.

Carolyn 5:35

That's right. Okay, number six, you win the point if a serve hits your opponent before it bounces, or if the ball hits a

Service and Court Position Rules

Carolyn 5:42

player before it lands out. So I know I've actually served and hit my opponent's partner. Net player, like someone at the net. Yes. I felt terrible and then I took the point.

Erin 5:55

And then she fist pumped and was like, yes, that's my point.

Carolyn 5:58

Right, right. And I've had the opposite happen to me.

Erin 6:01

So I've actually never been hit, but I I'm I know I told this story on one of our 200 plus podcasts. We played years ago, we played a team, and I uh I think my partner served so long that it actually hit the baseliner that was the receiver. It didn't hit the net person. I don't know. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't know if it was a serve or just a shot. And we said, Oh, we felt bad. The woman got hit, was like on her leg or something. And we were like, that's our point. And she was like, Well, I tried to get out of the way. And we're like, Well, trying to get out of the way and actually getting out of the I mean, you see a lot of players jump out of the way of the ball because you cannot get hit right with the ball before it lands out and is basically the point is gone, is is dead.

Carolyn 6:43

So and I even had a friend who said that somebody said, you know, the ball flew out, but the woman asked, Did that touch your hair? Oh, because if it touched the role, if it touches our hair, it says anything, right? Yeah, then you lose the point. Wow, and she was like, No, it didn't touch my hair.

Erin 7:00

Well, if it was like her swinging ponytail or something, maybe that's funny. Number seven, if you win the toss or the racket spin, but we said if you win the toss, you can choose one to serve or receive, two, end of court, or three, you can defer, which requires your opponent to make the choice. How many times have you had anyone defer? Never. We almost did. I played a match last night, we almost deferred. So I said to my partner last night when we just couldn't decide what we wanted to do, I said, if it made a difference of which side her and I were playing, we would serve first because we could kind of check out our opponents and then decide who I wanted to hit against or who my partner wanted to hit against, but it really didn't matter. Plus, it was a tri-level match, it's summertime, we're having fun, hopefully. Um, so we were just like, eh, whatever. I think we chose to receive because we wanted to just get in the match and get a couple returns and you know, see what they were like.

Carolyn 7:54

But yeah, I normally always choose server receive, but I think from now on I'm gonna defer just to make it so that people were like, what is wrong with this person?

Erin 8:03

And I also did say this on our podcast, but um several months ago, I don't even know what match I was watching, a pro match on TV that I was watching the warm-up, and then you know, they were spinning and taking their photo and all that stuff. One of the pro players deferred. Some famous person that knows what they're talking about on TV said, I have never seen someone defer. Well, we've got to start doing that. I know, right? Just to rattle people. But you know what else I do? What? Sometimes I do this. I'll go, I'm gonna receive

Hindrance and Permanent Fixtures

Erin 8:33

and uh and I'll stay here. And someone has said to me, That's two choices. I'm like, oh, sorry. Yes, okay, well done.

Carolyn 8:38

Someone did that to me too. And I had to be like, Oh, you can't choose which one do you want to choose? Like, that has happened. And I actually saw men arguing about it at the state championship in a court beside me because the person said they wanted to defer, and someone said, You can't do that. Yes, you can, absolutely. And you can, it's on a rules card, it's an absolutely defer. Please go to a rules card. So people are confused about it. So I think that's important that it's in there.

Erin 9:03

That's funny. That's kind of like a gotcha. It's like you get the choice, but you're like, I'm gonna give the choice back to you. I love it. Let's try it.

Carolyn 9:09

Okay, number eight, you should always give your opponents the benefit of the doubt when making line calls.

Erin 9:14

Yep.

Carolyn 9:14

You should not say, when in doubt, call it out. That's what I always unless it's the playoffs. No, I'm just kidding. Or the benefit of the doubt goes down, the more serious you are. Um but yes, yeah, your opponents get the benefit of the doubt. So you can't say, Oh, I didn't see it. Let's replay the point.

Erin 9:32

Never replay the point. That's a really good point, Carolyn. The other thing too is, and I've had this happen and it is infuriating. And I should have argued it at the time. I I don't know. I just who wants to get in an argument. Right. I don't have the energy. I'm just trying to get a ball on the other side of the court, hopefully, more than one time. Keep track of scoring. But I have had someone tell me in singles, I think the ball was out. And so she took the point. And now what I say, even in practice, and I'm not trying to be a jerk, but you can't think the ball is out. You either know the ball is out or you're unsure and you give up that point. Right. I mean, there it's very cut and dry, right? Yeah. But people like to like, oh, let's repay the point. I'm not sure. Yeah.

Carolyn 10:13

Or somebody will ask you, like, did you think that ball was out? And you say, or I thought it was in, and they still call it out. Exactly. You know, even though you're not supposed to, because if they ask you, you're then supposed to go with what the opponent says. But see, we could have had a million other rules. Yeah, there's so many other rules.

Erin 10:29

We'll do another card. But we're we wanted to keep it to 10 and be as simple as possible. So uh okay, number nine, in order to claim a hindrance, you must stop play immediately. So give us an example.

Carolyn 10:42

Oh man, okay. Somebody throws up a lob and says, Watch out. I've had this happen so many times. The person then at the net goes for an overhead and hits, you know, why right as they're saying, watch out. It messes them up, but they still hit the ball. Hit the ball into the net. And then they say, You can't do that.

Erin 11:00

Yes. So that's too late. You have to catch the ball. I have literally never seen anyone do it. I haven't either. You know what? I can't think that quickly on my feet. That's the problem.

Carolyn 11:08

Yes. Like in my head, I'm going, you're not allowed to do that. And then you're hitting the ball. And then I hit the ball, and then I'm like, I shouldn't have hit it. This is all going through my head. Yeah. And I lose the point.

Erin 11:18

Yes, exactly. But in it, if you are calling a hindrance, which you are allowed to call hindrances on your opponents, if they've distracted you somehow, you have to catch the ball before you hit it. Yeah. Before you hit the next ball. You can't decide that you were hindered after you've played out the ball. Even if you like hit the next one and then the play, like even if you didn't mess it up or hit it into the net or you know hit it out, you still can't play the next ball and then the ball comes back to you, and then you're like, I was hindered a two balls ago. Right, right.

Carolyn 11:46

Which I think happens a lot. People then say something and you're like, well, you played it.

Erin 11:51

Exactly. So okay, last one, at least on this rules card, is if a ball hits a permanent fixture, like a scoreboard or a bench and lands in the correct court, the ball is out. And I've had this happen to me a lot of people a couple times.

Carolyn 12:05

Yeah. And every time we didn't know after the first time I knew the rule, but everybody else in the court didn't know it.

Erin 12:12

Yes. So there is a caveat to this, which there are to all the rules, which we're gonna talk about. Um,

Rules Card Access and Closing

Erin 12:17

but someone contacted us. Um, I think Leah, who we did um her questions at one point. Remember, we had a whole list of questions from Leah. Oh, yes. So she she contacted me, and there are local courts that she plays at that the scoreboard is part of the net. So it's not like the one that we might bring that you can order off Amazon or something and stick on the top of the net. It's one that's actually affixed to the net. And we contacted Rebel about that specifically. And if it is part of the net, even if it hits the scoreboard and somehow crazy rolls over, spins over to your opponent's um side and it's a winner, that's considered part of the net. That ball is still good.

Carolyn 12:55

Yeah, that they consider it part of the net, not an actual scoreboard, like a permanent, they don't consider it a permanent. No, that is a permanent.

Erin 13:03

Oh, yeah, it's not a permanent. You're right, you're right.

Carolyn 13:05

Because if it hits a permanent fixture, you lose the point.

Erin 13:07

But the other scoreboards that that we general we generally see in our area is are the ones that come out of the post that are tall, right? That like everybody can see from courts far away. Those, if it hits that scoreboard and lands in the correct court, it's out. Or if it hits a, like it says, a bench or what else would be sitting there. I don't know, a light pole. Last night someone hit a shot on our court and it went up and it hit the lamp, like way up in the air. Whatever, you know, whatever however high lamps are, light poles, and came down in our court. But we're like, okay, that was a that it's not your point.

Carolyn 13:41

You can find a rules card under the resources section of our website, which is secondservpodcast.com. If there are any rules you wish you would have known when you started playing USTA matches, please contact us so we can include them in our next card. Also, if you are enjoying our podcast, we would greatly appreciate a five-star rating wherever you listen to podcasts so others can find us. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the courts soon.