There are rules USTA players should know but oftentimes don’t. We don’t know all the rules (or are confused by some of them) and we’ve been playing for many years.

It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or a seasoned player many rules in tennis are confusing. Carolyn and Erin have been playing USTA tennis for many years and still don’t know all the rules.

We talked with Adna—a USTA league player who is fairly new to the game—and she talked about a situation that happened on the tennis court and no one knew what to do. That conversation was the inspiration for this series of podcasts.

Some things we discuss are:

  • What do you do when a racquet comes out of your hand?
  • What happens when a ball hits the scoreboard and lands in the correct court?
  • Can you stop the ball with a racquet when the ball is flying out of the court? 

We love rules!

We even made a rule card (found here) after talking to Rebel Good, who sits on the ITA National Officials Committee.

Carolyn loves to read and follow rules. She reads some of the rules USTA players should know out loud to see if Erin can guess the correct answer. This is why this series of episodes needed to be recorded. We’ve been playing for several years and still come up with things that happen and we don’t know the rule.

Keep a Rulebook on Hand

Rebel Good has been on with us in the past and he breaks down the rules in a pretty simple way to understand. Often times if you just stop and take a minute to think about what seems like the most logical answer, you can guess correctly. But, Rebel has also pointed out to us that adult recreational players often guess incorrectly.

Almost 400,000 adults participate in USTA leagues each year. We are guessing that many of them don’t know all the rules that USTA issues but they should. It would certainly cut down on arguing over rules.

It’s always good to have a rule book from your local league *and* a current copy of the Friend At Court document.

This will help alleviate problems on the court if players take the time to read through these documents ahead of time or refer to them when a problem comes up during matches.

Other episodes that might interest you: