Rules Quiz 3.

Question 3.
Stretching to reach a ball you lose hold of your racquet and it flies out of your hand. Amazingly it hits the ball which goes up and your opponent doesn't return it. Do you win this rally? Or is it a let?


Answer to Question 2. (changing a racquet between points)

There are two things to think about here: one is to say that there should not really be a bag or any object alongside the tin. This is covered in the rules ('15.3 A player must not place within the court any object(s), clothing or equipment.'). We very often do this for our everyday games but that is for security, not so that we can have access to our bag between points.

The other thing is that changing equipment is considered to be time wasting - and when your stuff is not at the tin you will have to leave the court - which is not allowed without the referee's permission. Referees are also told that they must not allow you to change racquets (or shoes) just because you want a change and there is nothing actually wrong with the old one (I'd guess you were losing at this point!). So even if you are changing because the racquet is clearly cracked then you should explain that to the referee.

But if the racquet is there on court, I guess that changing once would be ok. But I think it would be good to ask if it's ok before doing it - some referees might not like it and even if there is no referee it is more polite. And you should ask yourself if you could maybe wait until the interval between games.