Brian Dimsho is a USTA certified official and the resident official of the Orange County Grand Prix.

by Bosco

Q: During a tie breaker in a men's doubles tourney my partner was receiving serve. I called our opponents first serve long just as my partner was returning the ball. The return was a winner between our two opponents. The USTA official over ruled my call & awarded our opponents the point. What is the official ruling in this case?? I thought we should play the point over as my partner returned the ball successfully.

A: In the case where no USTA Official is on your court you are playing under the Code of Tennis, than had you immediately corrected your out call, and the return was good than you would replay the point. But in this case with an Official on the court your incorrect call was over-ruled by the Official so the point ends with the overrule and your opponents win the point no matter what happens with your return, our if it was the first or second serve. You can find this and other rules ans cases on the USTA web site follow the links to Officials/Rules. Brian