Tip of the Week: Hitting Balls Between Points

iStock-92668870

 

Two players were disqualified during a women’s doubles match at the French Open yesterday after one of the players hit a ball (in between points) that hit a ball girl in the head. Most of the spectators did not agree with this decision and I have read many comments on social media saying that the player did not mean to hit the ball girl.

As most tennis fans are aware, this happened to Novak Djokovic at the US Open a few years back and he was also disqualified. The bottom line is that if a player hits a ball in between points and hits another player, a ball person, a linesman, a referee, or a spectator, they should be disqualified. The intent (a mistake, accident, or on purpose) should not matter.

Here is my advice for all players: if you are hitting a ball to get it to the side of the server, hit it so it bounces before it gets to your target. Put some air under the ball and practice getting it to land between the net and the player on the other side of the court. This is a good way to practice your “touch” or “feel”, as well as eliminating the possibility of someone getting hit with the ball.

This may all seem obvious but in both of the instances I mentioned above, the players hit the ball through the air with some pace and the ball struck the person before it bounced. In addition, the players had just lost the point and the ball was hit in response to their miss. As I said, the intent is not even a consideration, but at the professional level, the ball shouldn’t even be hit in between points. They have ball persons for all matches-when the point ends, their job is to retrieve the balls and get them to the servers side-let them do their job!

In our matches that do not have a ball person, just try my idea of the one bounce rule above. It is a great habit to get into and will help us all when we graduate to the big leagues.

 

Bethpage
Century

March/April 2024 Digital Edition