Where’s the love for tennis etiquette?

It seems to me that with the advent of every match played, the tennis etiquette, that was once so important to the game we love, has now been lost in the shuffle. I would say that, with all due respect to the players of yesteryear, the players of today are bigger, stronger, faster and yes, better. However, whereas there used to be a select few players who were known to demonstrate less than proper etiquette, now it seems to be the gold standard.

My feeling is that the game should not sacrifice its etiquette in favor of a higher standard of play. Further, why must this be so anyway? Of course, this is just my two cents, but I believe that tennis club professionals and coaches are simply not teaching and/or emphasizing the development of this tennis etiquette. We coaches and pros must stress proper manners and decorum even before we begin to teach the game skills. Mindsets must be changed going forward to return to a more civilized competition for the benefit of everyone.

For your enjoyment I have listed some friendly reminders concerning points of etiquette that seem to have been long forgotten:

• Call the score before each point.



• When is doubt, call it...IN! Unless you are 100% sure that a ball is out, you must play it as if it is good.



• Do not interrupt play on other courts. This includes the using of loud and/or bad language, unnecessarily hitting balls onto another court and unnecessarily entering another court.



• Wait until the point is over before entering or crossing a neighboring court. Always remember to cross the court at the net.

Hope to see you on the courts...

That’s it...nuff said.