Last night I played a tournament match against a guy who is a level 3 LTA coach.
On one point I hit a first serve, my opponent made a blocked return which was going about 2-3 feet long and just as his return passes over the baseline, he calls my serve out. A good 3-4 seconds after my serve had landed.
Later on in the match he does exactly the same thing. I asked, "Are you sure?". He said he was sure. I said, "It's just that you waited for your return to go out before you called my serve". He said, "Ok, take 2". I refused to take 2 - I'm not even sure why he offered that.
Looking this up this morning in the code, principle 17 states:
So the ball hadn't actually landed. It was just about to land. So he hadn't broken the code. However, he wasn't calling promptly.
I guess the code should say, "All calls should be made within 2 seconds of the ball landing". I think that's reasonable since professional line judges probably call within 0.5 seconds.
On one point I hit a first serve, my opponent made a blocked return which was going about 2-3 feet long and just as his return passes over the baseline, he calls my serve out. A good 3-4 seconds after my serve had landed.
Later on in the match he does exactly the same thing. I asked, "Are you sure?". He said he was sure. I said, "It's just that you waited for your return to go out before you called my serve". He said, "Ok, take 2". I refused to take 2 - I'm not even sure why he offered that.
Looking this up this morning in the code, principle 17 states:
Prompt calls eliminate two chance option. A player shall make all calls
promptly after a ball has hit the court. A call shall be made either before the player’s return shot has gone out of play or before an opponent has had an opportunity to play the return shot.
So the ball hadn't actually landed. It was just about to land. So he hadn't broken the code. However, he wasn't calling promptly.
I guess the code should say, "All calls should be made within 2 seconds of the ball landing". I think that's reasonable since professional line judges probably call within 0.5 seconds.