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

by Shore Warrior

Q: Tournament play. The first serve went off the server's racquet into an adjoining court. The adjoining court players went to retrieve and return it. Is the next serve a first or a second? Does it matter when the ball is returned? In our match it seemed to matter...the server insisted on waiting for the ball to be returned so he could declare an interruption of play and get a first serve. We wanted the other court's players to hold it until our point was played out. Thanks.

A: This exemple is very easy to explain by remembing that under the rules of tennis a player cannot create or call a let on or for themselves. So in this case the first serve was a fault and the server would only be entitled to a second serve. Brian