To download a .pdf copy of the Rules
of the Court 2006, courtesy of Tennis Canada, please
click
here.
To download a .pdf copy of THE CODE:
GUIDELINES FOR UNOFFICATED MATCHES, also courtesy of
Tennis Canada, please click
here.
General Rules 1. The Clubhouse is for the use of
members and their guests only.
2. Club property should be respected.
3. Proper tennis attire and soft-soled
shoes must be worn while on the courts.
4. For the safety of all members,
no bicycles, skateboards, roller blades or baby carriages
are allowed on the courts.
Court
Etiquette 1. Always enter the playing area
by the gate closest to your assigned court.
2. Cross courts only during time changes
or when there is a break in play.
3. Inappropriate language will not be
tolerated.
4. Do not cross onto other courts in order
to retrieve balls. You may be interrupting play by so
doing. Be courteous to follow tennis players when asking
them to retrieve your tennis balls; wait for a break
in play.
5. Pick up and remove all clothes,
towels, lids, cans and balls from court area before
leaving.
Extra Suggestions courtesy of About.com
Be
Fun to Have On Court
Besides the rules of tennis there are
also some important unwritten laws which come under
the title of tennis etiquette. Tennis is a social game,
a game involving simple politeness and consideration.
Everyone will enjoy the game so much more if those standards
are maintained.
Here are some of the rules which are most
important:
Talk quietly when standing near
tennis courts that are in use.
Never walk behind a court when
a point is still in play. Wait until the point
is over and then cross as fast as possible.
If people are already on your
court, don't disturb them until their time is
up.
Always come prepared. Bring not
only balls, but towels and water to drink when
it is hot.
Wear sneakers for tennis. Other
shoes may wear out quickly, hurt your feet,
or damage the court.
When you're ready to play, put
racket covers, ball cans, jackets etc., out
of everyone's way. Do not use net posts to hang
clothes or towels, this could interfere with
play.
To see who serves first, spin
your racket or toss a coin. If you win the toss,
the choice is yours. You may serve first, or
you may choose to receive first or to pick which
end of the court you want to start playing on.
As a third choice you may make your opponent
choose first.
When sending balls back to a
neighbouring court, roll them on to the back
of the court. Never send them back while play
is in progress.
Offer to bring new balls or organise
a system to decide who brings the balls.
Retrieve balls for your partner
and your opponent.
Don't criticize your partner,
offer encouragement.
Call your own lines and let your
opponent hear the call. If the ball is good
say nothing and play on.
Always respect the linecalls
of your opponent.
If there is a disagreement, offer
a let. In other words, replay the point, even
if it was a second service.
1. Ball management.
Even the most efficient tennis players spend more time
between points than playing points. Getting the balls
in the server's hands is the biggest time-waster. While
a brief rest between points is often needed, many players
slow the game down by a factor of two or three by failing
to collect balls and get them to the server efficiently.
Here are a few tips that will speed up the game and
make it more fun for everyone:
Balls should be kept either in
hand, in a pocket or ball clip, or against the
fence directly behind the center mark.
Any time your opponent has to
walk a significant distance to get a ball, look
around your side to see whether you can use
that time to collect a ball that's similarly
far away.
If the server needs a ball, the
player closest to a ball should get it and send
it to the server.
Send a ball to the server so
that he/she can catch it easily with one hand.
Advanced players seem to be able to get the
ball to bounce once, softly, to the server,
but most less advanced players should make the
ball bounce twice to ensure that it arrives
at a low speed.
Never hit a ball hard toward
the server's side with the intention that he/she
will eventually collect it off the fence. Aside
from the possibility of hitting someone who's
not expecting a ball to be coming, you'll also
probably cause the ball to bounce off the fence
and roll either too far away or into the court
where it will become a hazard. Also, it's rude
to make the server pick a ball up off the ground
when you could have sent it so that it could
be caught after a bounce or two.
2. Keeping score.
The server must announce the
score at the start of each game and at the start
of the second point and each subsequent point
in each game.
If the receiver cannot hear the
server's announcement of the score, he must
ask the server to speak louder. You can't wait
until the server believes he has won the game
to try to reconstruct the scoring point by point.
3. Line calls.The
Code addresses this topic quite well, but here a few
points that many players often overlook:
If you're not sure whether your
opponent's shot is in or out, it's in.
If you return a first serve that
your opponent can clearly see is out, your opponent
won't be sure why you're not calling it out.
It's often hard for the receiver to tell on
fast serves, and you must give the server the
benefit of the doubt, but if you can see that
you confused your opponent by playing an out
ball, offer to replay the point. See The Code's
interesting discussion of calling serves in
or out.
In doubles, you should not call
balls wide when they land near the far sideline,
unless the call is obvious and your partner
was somehow hindered from seeing the ball land.
If you are the receiver, and
your partner is on or near the service line
at the start of a point, your partner has the
best view of whether a serve is in or long.
You can make a call if he doesn't, but always
defer to his judgment. (You generally shouldn't
disagree with your partner's calls anyway.)
4. Demeanor.Try
to look like you're having fun, even if you're playing
badly. Your opponent does not want to see you looking
miserable, at least in a friendly match, and you're
likely to play better if you try to present a positive
state of mind.
Court
Etiquette
Be
Fun to Have On Court