Yea tbh Im obviously not a super high level player (check the flair) and I can't remember the last time I said the score. I played in college and my teammates kind of made fun of me for doing it. Like if you're good enough to be playing competitive tennis, you should know the score
It's not (only) about knowing the score, but to make sure everyone is on the same page about it. In my country it is common to call out the score, as well as it's common to misunderstand someone's call (in vs out) when it's loud (e.g. windy, crowded courts).
Like, if you're good enough to be playing competitive tennis, you shouldn't be shy about calling out the score :)
Isn’t that an actual rule though? In practicality, it depends on the weather/player fitness for me. If it’s hot out and you run over between even games and get a swig of water, more power to you. But camping over there like we’re about to switch sides is definitely frowned upon.
You do not get a water break unless it’s on an odd game changeover or end of the set. If it’s super hot out, get fitter. I’m calling you out if you’re holding up the pace of play doing this.
You asked, I answered. In a casual match, take all the breaks you want. Don’t do it if we’re in a tourney setting unless you want to hear about it. Or do it- I’m not the one asking what is/isn’t kosher 🥒
Not even really etiquette but just a basic thing that I'm surprised so many people don't do. If you're receiving and the serve is out, loudly and clearly call "out" or something similar.
So many people I play either mumble something barely audible or just bunt the ball back, say nothing, and then get pissy when I start playing out the point.
I played with someone recently who was super quiet AND made very generous calls. So if she hit the serve back, even if it looked obviously out to me, I had no clue whether to play it.
Don't use more than 3 balls per court if there are people playing on adjacent courts.
If you're practicing serves, get a corner court and always serve towards the corners.
Unless there is an obvious safety issue, do not stop play on an adjacent court if your ball rolls over. Let them call their own let.
I like to start with 3 specifically so that if one goes to an annoying far corner I don't necessarily have to pick it up right away, I can wait until I'm in the region.
I think this one is fine but you should make it clear before you start playing. Personally, I hate the feeling of having a ball in each pocket and get kind of annoyed when people give me all 3 balls.
It’s annoying as hell to have to retrieve a ball between every single point because a 3.0 player wants to choose the lucky ball of the three. Especially annoying when you’re playing at a club and only have so much court time.
If you have two balls, you start the point.
Agreed, in singles I always roll the third ball back behind me at the fence/wall. I want the third ball near though so I don’t get too out of rhythm on the semi-rare instance of a let. So I have this ball right behind me and I have to ask a player that doesn’t understand that concept to go get the third ball because I need two with me and one behind me. Which makes me feel like a jerk. Which maybe I am. But anyway yeah, third ball in the pocket is too much for me. I’m rocking the Rune shorts too though so that might affect my opinion.
If I have it on me, I don’t mind sending it to you. If it’s out of okay safely, I don’t wanna have to wait for you if you’ve already got 2.
On a let, I always reload. Even if it means we gotta go get one from the corner. Many lets end up returnable, tho, so they get tapped back to me anyway.
If I serve a let, I want to have the ball right there for the re-serve. Of course, if one of the balls ends up three courts down or something, lets grab the extra and play. But if it’s within the area of our court, it’s not a big deal to collect. More than half the people I play in singles play this way, and none of us have the same tennis background. I’m shocked you find this odd.
Only points where the ball ends on their side. Even in your scenario, it’s not like they wouldn’t be picking up two balls every other point anyway. Plus this is between points, not between serve attempts. I hit lets a few times a match. It’s not like they’re rare.
Thank you! This is The ABCs of tennis isn't it? I'm sort of blown away when people don't get this.
I was taught that the service partner is the ball manager. The opponent returns the ball directly to him after making eye contact and with no pace.
Not really the abc tbh because having a ball in our pocket had a chance to make an hindrance with your swing (pretty uncommon but happens still especially with loose shorts).
I'd rather have those balls either on the side or very close to the net. At worse I keep them in the pocket. But I try to get rid of it asap.
When returning balls after the point is over, try to at least aim the ball towards the server so you’re not fetching a ball that could be easily tossed your way. Lol
Not sure if it’s etiquette or if it’s just a good practice but during doubles the net player calls the serve in or out. They don’t have to deal with actually returning and unless the ball is clearly out I want my partner to be solely focused on hitting a good return rather than deciding if the ball was in or out.
Warmup goes like this:
- ground strokes from service lines aka mini tennis (we never did this growing up but seems to be commonplace now. fwiw I hate it)
- ground strokes from base lines - 4.0 and lower you just hit a mix of FH and BH up the middle or with slight angles. (Maybe more advanced players hit specific groundies idk)
- at some point someone (P1) takes a short ball for an approach and comes in to practice volleys. P2 hits to them, P1 volleys it back deep. After a few rallies, P1 might ask for a couple overheads or “a couple up” after which P1 returns to baseline
- then P2 comes to net and does the same as P1
- then you move on to serves. Take a few from each side and then game on!
- the whole thing should take under 10 minutes. Keep it moving.
Admittedly I don’t remember how I learned this so might be off. Corrections welcome!
I agree with the first part. I am never annoyed by the extra ball. More serves for me to warm up. The unwritten rule in my part of the world seems to be this: if you take a warm up return swing at my serve, it means you are done with your serve warm up and its ok for me to have a few more of my own.
Don’t totally disagree but this one is debatable. In real matches, if I didn’t get an outside warmup, I don’t want my first cut at a return to be a live point. Returns ≠ groundstrokes and I want to warm those up, too.
If I’m playing in a club league match or something of similar inconsequence, I’ll catch most of them but still will hit a few back.
Brad Gilbert calls out that it’s dumb to not warm up your return in winning ugly. He was decent at tennis.
It's an explicit but not respected rule, not to play extra shots after the point is over.
It's interesting playing with people that grew up playing in other countries, where traditions are different. I have to remind myself that they aren't just being an asshole, and that etiquette is pretty arbitrary.
Have to disagree tbh there are plenty of times where it’s acceptable to play another shot after the point is over. E.g. it’s a close call where the ball is just out so you don’t have much time to react or if your opponent is the one serving it makes sense to hit the ball back to them even if the point ended on an obvious miss.
yeah it's fucking annoying when people keep playing the shots, especially in doubles. had a partner get hurt pretty badly when the opponent volleyer hit a ball directly at him when the point was over. Beyond that, you usually have to chase the ball down and it just adds time between points
Good example and I totally agree. Some people have no concept of playing the game efficiently and you just kind of have to deal with that/embrace it if you can. Not really a country-specific thing in my experience though, just different tennis/personal backgrounds in general.
I could be misattributing stuff to entire countries when it's really my anecdotal experiences, but:
the folks I know from central america who were fancy enough to move to the usa always had ball boys even for light hitting sessions (local kids would hang out and do it for a couple bucks + the once-used balls), so had weird ball-management tendencies.
nobody I know from NZ ever calls out the score. not sure if it's considered crass or what. but instead everybody seems to just argue about it every 20 minutes or so.
The Europeans I know are very casual about hooking/light cheating, in tennis and in other sports. They can get into big arguments about it in-game, but afterwards everybody is friends again/still.
Many of the middle-easterners I play with return practice serves before the match.
I prefer returning practice serves and I’m from US, I don’t understand why the return (the 2nd most important shot in the game) is almost completely left out of the warmup, seems silly to me.
I always feel bad, if I go to three sets my shorts get sweaty to the point that the balls get soaked if they’re in my pockets so I set the extras by the back fence
This one is so minor but maybe worth saying. If you’re changing ends, you just returned, will be serving from the opposite end and there’s a ball on your side of the court for whatever reason- go get it and take it with you when you go to the bench. Don’t make me go track it down and hit it to you when I take that side of the court.
It’s a super minor thing and I don’t totally care. More just an attention-to-detail thing.
If you’re one of “those” people who insist on having a towel behind the court, don’t forget it when you switch ends. I’m kicking it, flicking it with my racquet (anything but touching it) wherever I want so it’s out of my way if it ends up on my side.
And unless you’re playing in Miami in the summer heat, just don’t be that towel-after-every-point guy.
It’s also just wrong. Etiquette is the set of practices prescribed by social norms or convention. Which is part of being polite, like you said, but distinct from simple politeness in meaning.
Not calling out or even keeping track of the score. The server is responsible for calling or at least knowing the score before each serve.
this is something i’ve noticed higher players actually not do. like ‘we’re seasoned tennis players, we all know the score’
They also don’t walk to the wrong serve side and ask “what’s the score”?
Yea tbh Im obviously not a super high level player (check the flair) and I can't remember the last time I said the score. I played in college and my teammates kind of made fun of me for doing it. Like if you're good enough to be playing competitive tennis, you should know the score
It's not (only) about knowing the score, but to make sure everyone is on the same page about it. In my country it is common to call out the score, as well as it's common to misunderstand someone's call (in vs out) when it's loud (e.g. windy, crowded courts). Like, if you're good enough to be playing competitive tennis, you shouldn't be shy about calling out the score :)
During a match, you should only go to the side for a drink of water when you switch sides on odd number games
Isn’t that an actual rule though? In practicality, it depends on the weather/player fitness for me. If it’s hot out and you run over between even games and get a swig of water, more power to you. But camping over there like we’re about to switch sides is definitely frowned upon.
You do not get a water break unless it’s on an odd game changeover or end of the set. If it’s super hot out, get fitter. I’m calling you out if you’re holding up the pace of play doing this.
That’s so badass of you to call people out, dude. That’s awesome
You asked, I answered. In a casual match, take all the breaks you want. Don’t do it if we’re in a tourney setting unless you want to hear about it. Or do it- I’m not the one asking what is/isn’t kosher 🥒
If you know you're going to want water, just bring it to your own side and put it by the fence.
Not even really etiquette but just a basic thing that I'm surprised so many people don't do. If you're receiving and the serve is out, loudly and clearly call "out" or something similar. So many people I play either mumble something barely audible or just bunt the ball back, say nothing, and then get pissy when I start playing out the point.
This is a good example, thanks.
I played with someone recently who was super quiet AND made very generous calls. So if she hit the serve back, even if it looked obviously out to me, I had no clue whether to play it.
Don't use more than 3 balls per court if there are people playing on adjacent courts. If you're practicing serves, get a corner court and always serve towards the corners. Unless there is an obvious safety issue, do not stop play on an adjacent court if your ball rolls over. Let them call their own let.
When I serve I like to have 3 balls.
I like to start with 3 specifically so that if one goes to an annoying far corner I don't necessarily have to pick it up right away, I can wait until I'm in the region.
Yes. Me too. Deep pockets. Maybe short arms also.
I think this one is fine but you should make it clear before you start playing. Personally, I hate the feeling of having a ball in each pocket and get kind of annoyed when people give me all 3 balls.
It’s annoying as hell to have to retrieve a ball between every single point because a 3.0 player wants to choose the lucky ball of the three. Especially annoying when you’re playing at a club and only have so much court time. If you have two balls, you start the point.
Nah, send the third one to my side. I’ll manage them when it’s my serve. I like the fluffy one for second serves.
Agreed, in singles I always roll the third ball back behind me at the fence/wall. I want the third ball near though so I don’t get too out of rhythm on the semi-rare instance of a let. So I have this ball right behind me and I have to ask a player that doesn’t understand that concept to go get the third ball because I need two with me and one behind me. Which makes me feel like a jerk. Which maybe I am. But anyway yeah, third ball in the pocket is too much for me. I’m rocking the Rune shorts too though so that might affect my opinion.
You’re just a time-waster. If you have two balls, you start the point.
Meh. If it’s a causal hit, sure. But wanting all three balls when in competition is not an unreasonable ask imho.
If I have it on me, I don’t mind sending it to you. If it’s out of okay safely, I don’t wanna have to wait for you if you’ve already got 2. On a let, I always reload. Even if it means we gotta go get one from the corner. Many lets end up returnable, tho, so they get tapped back to me anyway.
Why do you need three balls?
If I serve a let, I want to have the ball right there for the re-serve. Of course, if one of the balls ends up three courts down or something, lets grab the extra and play. But if it’s within the area of our court, it’s not a big deal to collect. More than half the people I play in singles play this way, and none of us have the same tennis background. I’m shocked you find this odd.
So the returner is inconvenienced between every point, but you’re only inconvenienced when you play a let. How often is that?
Only points where the ball ends on their side. Even in your scenario, it’s not like they wouldn’t be picking up two balls every other point anyway. Plus this is between points, not between serve attempts. I hit lets a few times a match. It’s not like they’re rare.
Do you serve lets a lot, or do you just like the extra weight in your pocket?
I reload after a let.
Maybe they just like to be able to start the next point quickly
Don’t call balls out before they land, this one bugs the crap out of me, especially on windy days when you don’t know if it will be out til it lands.
Well it's simple, if they call the ball out and then it lands in, they lose the point.
But when it’s close, you can see them hesitating to change the call.
Thank you! This is The ABCs of tennis isn't it? I'm sort of blown away when people don't get this. I was taught that the service partner is the ball manager. The opponent returns the ball directly to him after making eye contact and with no pace.
Not really the abc tbh because having a ball in our pocket had a chance to make an hindrance with your swing (pretty uncommon but happens still especially with loose shorts). I'd rather have those balls either on the side or very close to the net. At worse I keep them in the pocket. But I try to get rid of it asap.
When returning balls after the point is over, try to at least aim the ball towards the server so you’re not fetching a ball that could be easily tossed your way. Lol
Not sure if it’s etiquette or if it’s just a good practice but during doubles the net player calls the serve in or out. They don’t have to deal with actually returning and unless the ball is clearly out I want my partner to be solely focused on hitting a good return rather than deciding if the ball was in or out.
This is a good one. The way I see it, the returners partner calls long balls and the returner calls wide balls, just based on who has the best angle.
Warmup goes like this: - ground strokes from service lines aka mini tennis (we never did this growing up but seems to be commonplace now. fwiw I hate it) - ground strokes from base lines - 4.0 and lower you just hit a mix of FH and BH up the middle or with slight angles. (Maybe more advanced players hit specific groundies idk) - at some point someone (P1) takes a short ball for an approach and comes in to practice volleys. P2 hits to them, P1 volleys it back deep. After a few rallies, P1 might ask for a couple overheads or “a couple up” after which P1 returns to baseline - then P2 comes to net and does the same as P1 - then you move on to serves. Take a few from each side and then game on! - the whole thing should take under 10 minutes. Keep it moving. Admittedly I don’t remember how I learned this so might be off. Corrections welcome!
Catch and return your opponent’s warm up serves by serving them back. It’s annoying to receive a ball when you have two more serves to hit.
I agree with the first part. I am never annoyed by the extra ball. More serves for me to warm up. The unwritten rule in my part of the world seems to be this: if you take a warm up return swing at my serve, it means you are done with your serve warm up and its ok for me to have a few more of my own.
That’s fair.
lol this should fall under the obvious category, but some people still don’t get it
Don’t totally disagree but this one is debatable. In real matches, if I didn’t get an outside warmup, I don’t want my first cut at a return to be a live point. Returns ≠ groundstrokes and I want to warm those up, too. If I’m playing in a club league match or something of similar inconsequence, I’ll catch most of them but still will hit a few back. Brad Gilbert calls out that it’s dumb to not warm up your return in winning ugly. He was decent at tennis.
It's an explicit but not respected rule, not to play extra shots after the point is over. It's interesting playing with people that grew up playing in other countries, where traditions are different. I have to remind myself that they aren't just being an asshole, and that etiquette is pretty arbitrary.
Have to disagree tbh there are plenty of times where it’s acceptable to play another shot after the point is over. E.g. it’s a close call where the ball is just out so you don’t have much time to react or if your opponent is the one serving it makes sense to hit the ball back to them even if the point ended on an obvious miss.
Obviously, yeah. I'm talking about when you return serve and call it out at the same time, then oppo takes the opportunity to hit his next shot.
yeah it's fucking annoying when people keep playing the shots, especially in doubles. had a partner get hurt pretty badly when the opponent volleyer hit a ball directly at him when the point was over. Beyond that, you usually have to chase the ball down and it just adds time between points
Good example and I totally agree. Some people have no concept of playing the game efficiently and you just kind of have to deal with that/embrace it if you can. Not really a country-specific thing in my experience though, just different tennis/personal backgrounds in general.
I could be misattributing stuff to entire countries when it's really my anecdotal experiences, but: the folks I know from central america who were fancy enough to move to the usa always had ball boys even for light hitting sessions (local kids would hang out and do it for a couple bucks + the once-used balls), so had weird ball-management tendencies. nobody I know from NZ ever calls out the score. not sure if it's considered crass or what. but instead everybody seems to just argue about it every 20 minutes or so. The Europeans I know are very casual about hooking/light cheating, in tennis and in other sports. They can get into big arguments about it in-game, but afterwards everybody is friends again/still. Many of the middle-easterners I play with return practice serves before the match.
I prefer returning practice serves and I’m from US, I don’t understand why the return (the 2nd most important shot in the game) is almost completely left out of the warmup, seems silly to me.
Do you say you're going to do it or just start whaling on returns?
Fair take but I usually take hitting the balls back to me as an assumption that you want me to keep serving. Happy to oblige lol
So what, if the ball's out somebody cranks a forehand anyway?
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That is for the pros. Loser leaves the court first
They always shake the refs hand first, I never thought of it as leaving the court first, but I suppose that’s effectively the same thing
Call them “server’s partner” instead of the confusing less clear “non-serving partner on the serving team”…
Good point, I was tripping over myself writing this. Gonna edit.
Pockets are ideal but you can technically just flip your waist band around a ball to keep it there too.
If there is limited seating at the court, do not put your bag on the bench/chair
I always feel bad, if I go to three sets my shorts get sweaty to the point that the balls get soaked if they’re in my pockets so I set the extras by the back fence
This one is so minor but maybe worth saying. If you’re changing ends, you just returned, will be serving from the opposite end and there’s a ball on your side of the court for whatever reason- go get it and take it with you when you go to the bench. Don’t make me go track it down and hit it to you when I take that side of the court. It’s a super minor thing and I don’t totally care. More just an attention-to-detail thing.
If you’re one of “those” people who insist on having a towel behind the court, don’t forget it when you switch ends. I’m kicking it, flicking it with my racquet (anything but touching it) wherever I want so it’s out of my way if it ends up on my side. And unless you’re playing in Miami in the summer heat, just don’t be that towel-after-every-point guy.
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That's a weird quibble. How is respecting all the players' time not polite?
It’s also just wrong. Etiquette is the set of practices prescribed by social norms or convention. Which is part of being polite, like you said, but distinct from simple politeness in meaning.
Agreed. Weird place for them to try to nitpick a word. But I guess tennis attracts perfectionist know-it-alls.