Here's one I received yesterday:
In a recent adult USTA doubles match, Team A hit a shot that landed in the proper court (though very close to the net) on the wide of Team B. After the first bounce, the ball rose on the rebound, clearly hitting the net tape/cord (but no other part of the net) on the rise, and continued its ascent into the air when Team B was able to get to the ball for the put away. Both teams were confused on who won the point. Team A thought they had won the point since the ball had touched the net after the first bounce. Team B claimed the point because they had not touched the net, nor had the ball bounced twice, and the ball had only touch the net tape/cord, legal during any other shot in play.
How would you rule in this one? Not sure how the official ruled but will try to find out and post it real soon.
5 comments:
The ball is dead and Team A wins the point
Why would the ball be dead it has not bounced twice nor has it hit a permanent fixture, ball is live until it does that.
No more comments on this? I was really looking forward to more of a discussion. Every official I have talked to about this situation has given me a different answer.
I ruled that Team B won the point: the ball did not bounce twice; the ball did not hit a permanent fixture after the first bounce; the ball did not fall into the net, but bounced off the net chord similar to a let, just after the first bounce. If you disagree with my ruling, can you please explain why a bounce affects weather the net chord is a permanent fixture vs part of the court? I am genuinely interested to see if I ruled correctly or not.
I've talked to at least 10 very experienced officials and we can't come up with a unanimous decision on anything and noone is absolutely sure about anything.
We talked about this Tuesday like Randy said and lots of different opinions. My thought is Team B won the point for the reasons you stated above. My rational too is how is this any different from a ball that goes over the net but the bounce then carries it back over to the other side without the players hitting the ball. In the rule book they are allowed to reach over and hit the ball..or they can even run around the net post without going into the court to hit the ball. The net is not a permanent fixture, the ball only bounced once and any other time the ball hits the net in that scenario it is still a live ball.
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