Another Tennis Q & A Session

Question: What call is made when a tennis ball falls from a skirt from the player who just served? What happens if this occurs a 2nd, 3rd and 4th time?

Answer: "Friend at Court - Rules of Tennis" says: Can a player’s own action be the basis for that player claiming a let or a hindrance? No. Nothing a player does entitles that player to call a let. For example, a player is not entitled to a let because the player breaks a string, the player’s hat falls off, or a ball in the player’s pocket falls out.

Another quote from "Friend at Court - Rules of Tennis": "Can the server’s discarding of a second ball constitute a hindrance? Yes, If the receiver asks the server to stop discarding the ball, then the server shall stop. Any continued discarding of the ball constitutes a deliberate hindrance, and the server loses the point."

Question: I looked on the USTA website and found the rules of scoring a tiebreak. I could not find anything about serving to the deuce or ad side. Does the tiebreak begin with the server serving to the ad side? What happens after that? Is it different for singles and doubles? Did I just miss this section in the rules or is it not in there?

Answer: All tiebreaks begin with the server starting in the deuce court. After the first point, each subsequent server begins in the ad court for the Match and Set Tiebreaks.

In the description of the tiebreak in "Friend at Court - Rules of Tennis" they do not cover where to stand during any portion of the tiebreak. In the portion of the Rules of Tennis called "Serving" we find the following:

"In a tie-break game the service shall be served from behind alternate halves of the court, with the first service from the right half of the court."

If you play the 9-point sudden death tiebreak, the first three servers serve two points each starting in the deuce court and the last server plays three points (if needed) beginning in the deuce court. If you get to 4-4 in the tiebreak game, the receiving team has the choice of who will receive the last serve.