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The Rules Of Tennis
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The
Singles Game
8. Foot Fault
The Server shall throughout the delivery of the Service:
a. Not change his position by walking or running. The Server shall not
by slight movement of the feet which do not materially affect the
location originally taken up by him, be deemed "to change his position
by walking or running".
b. Not touch, with either foot, any area other than that behind the
base-line within the imaginary extensions of the centre-mark and
side-lines.
USTA Comment: The key to understanding this rule is to realize
that the Server's feet must be at rest immediately before beginning to
serve. Immediately thereafter, the delivery of the service begins with
any arm or tennis racket motion, and ends when the tennis racket contacts the
tennis ball (or
misses the tennis ball in attempt to strike it).
If either foot touches the Tennis Court, including the baseline, or the
imaginary extension of a line specified in Rule 8b. after his feet are
at rest but before he strikes the ball, he has committed a foot fault.
There can be no foot fault if the Server does not attempt to strike at
the tennis ball. As long as the Server makes no attempt to strike at the ball,
it is immaterial whether he catches it in his hand or his tennis racket or lets
it drop to the ground.
USTA Comment: This rule covers the most decisive stroke in the
game, and there is no justification for its not being obeyed by tennis players
and enforced by officials. No official has the right to instruct any
umpire to disregard violations of it. In a non-officiated match, the
Receiver, or his partner, may call foot faults after all efforts (appeal
to the server, request for an umpire, etc.) have failed and the foot
faulting is so flagrant as to be clearly perceptible from the Receiver's
side.
It is improper for any official to warn a tennis player that he is in danger of
having a foot fault called on him. On the other hand, if a tennis player asks
for an explanation of how he foot faulted, either the Line Umpire or the
Chair Umpire should give him that information.
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