Crazy Rules in Tennis You Didn’t Know Existed

All of us have been playing a match where a scenario that doesn’t come up frequently occurs and we wonder who earns the point. This interesting occurrence might be when the ball bounces and comes back to your side thanks to all the backspin. Both players or teams come up to the net to share their knowledge and eventually, after fierce competition on who is correct, they find a solution that benefits everyone on the court.

However, what if you were wrong all along. Perhaps the solution you came up with ends up being unfair and you stole your opponent’s valuable set point they were longing for. In this article, we will look into some of the most crazy and shocking rules that I suggest you add to your personal mental rulebook.

Serve Positioning

One of the most questioned scenarios is where you or your opponent can stand when serving. Picture this. You're playing singles and returning your opponent’s serve, but they are standing outside of the singles court. In other words, the server is in the doubles alley. Is this allowed in tennis? The answer is no.

During a match, you are not allowed to stand outside of the court you are playing on. Now, just to be clear, this is applicable only for serving, for you are welcome to stand anywhere on your side of the court when returning your opponent's serve.

Thus, when serving you must stand between the extension of the singles line and the extension of the center mark. If not, your opponent will stand farther out and give them an unfair advantage, as well as crazy angles to work with. On the other hand, serving in doubles is a different story because the double’s alley is part of the court you are playing on.

Hitting Your Opponent When Serving

Another situation that can take place in both singles and doubles is when you happen to be serving, but your serve goes nowhere near the box and you end up hitting the returner in the air. The ball could literally hit their face, shoe, or their racket. Surprisingly, the server wins the point automatically, but I do not recommend anybody to start aiming their serves directly at the returner.

In the rules of tennis, your serve must bounce once, otherwise there is no possible way to know if it's in or out. You simply can't call a ball in or out until it actually bounces. Therefore, the returning team must reward you that point thanks to what the rulebook states. In fact, the rule even applies if your opponent successfully blocks the ball into play before it hits them.

Calling a Double Bounce

Now, let's say you and your opponent are rallying back and forth, then out of nowhere you happen to hit the tape. You get a let cord and the ball barely dribbles over the net. Next, your opponent barely chases it down and you swear that the ball bounced twice before they hit back to your side. Hence, you stop playing and call it your point thanks to the presumed double bounce.  

It is actually your opponent’s job to declare whether the ball bounced twice or not. Technically, you could call it a double bounce on them and stop the play, but you would lose the point since only they are allowed to determine the call. Fortunately, this rule is fair, for you could be the one chasing down the ball that barely dribbled over and assure your opponent that you got to the ball in a single bounce. In my opinion, it sure is a phenomenal way to practice good sportsmanship and put to the test your honesty.

Touching the Net

In the middle of a point, your opponent might hit the ball extremely high and centimeters from the net. Next, you run forward for the ball and all of your momentum is carrying you even further. You end up hitting the ball successfully, but after hitting your shot you run into the net. Again, this could be your body, shoe, racket, or anything else you could think of.  

Automatically, you lose the point and; interestingly, it is customary for you to be the one to make the call. To add, this specific event is truly common at the beginner level. Players will be right on top of the net to smash an overhead and their follow through smacks the top of the net. Another common thing for beginners to do is dump their easy overhead into the net, but it happens to all of us at some point.

Ball Retreats to Original Side

The last one of these rules happens more often than you think and it is the one I am excited to talk about. Whether it is an extremely windy day, you hit the frame of the racket, or there is loads of backspin on your shot, you hit the ball over to your opponent’s side and then it comes back on your side. Many people argue about this occurrence, but at the end of the day, if your opponent never touched the ball, it is your point.  

Inside the rulebook, once the ball bounces a second time, the point is over. It is quite frankly the definition of a winner. Additionally, there is no rule on where the secondary bounce has to be. The subsequent bounce doesn’t have to be inside the court, otherwise the pros wouldn’t get an ace when they serve and the ball hits the back fence after it lands inside the box.

Where Would You Hit the Ball?

What if the situation is reversed and you get close enough to the ball that goes back over to the original side? We are aware that if the ball hasn’t bounced twice the point is not over, so on this occasion, you have the privilege of reaching over for the ball. It is also clear that normally you may not reach over for a ball and can only hit your shots on your side. From here, you are welcome to tap the ball into their side of the net, making sure you don’t touch the net and creating the highlight of the entire match.

Final Thoughts

Tennis can be known for having some quite simple rules to follow. You serve into the box you are facing diagonally and then work to keep the ball between the lines. However, we have seen that it can become way more complicated than what I just mentioned. Learning some of these unusual rules from our sport’s rulebook will certainly benefit you during future matches. What’s more, you might even win some points that your opponent must be rewarding you with. The next time you are on court, everything will be under control with your new umpiring skills.