going over the court time

[patrick922]

we were playing doubles and he started the final set with about 15 minutes left. however we finished the set in about 30 min, so we went over our court time by about 15 min or so. however no one was gonna use the court after us so we decided to keep playing.

do you think it is ok to go over the court time if no one will follow?

at my club when we dont have people after us, we keep playing for another 15 min or so past our court time and no one at the club said anything until now. it was yesterday and it snowed the day before so there werent many people at the club so i guess one of the managers [this manager is really a b*tch] kept a close eye on the court times [usually it is full so they cant really tell]. and told us that we went over our court time.

 

[J011yroger]

Any clubs around by me let you stay on as long as you want. It is the people who book time after you that throw you off. Or if there is a lesson or program scheduled. But if the court is open, I have stayed on until close. Several times I have been the last person playing when the establishment closed, and they let us stay on after the facility should have closed in order to finish out our match, friendly and tournament. I have pretty good street cred around by me, and get along with everyone besides, but I don't really think I am getting special treatment.


J

 

[Ronnie92]

I do it everytime. I can't stand playing with nerds who complain about it. If it's not going to use, screw it.

 

[movdqa]

I would simply ask. Tennis clubs are usually run as businesses
and getting extra court time is a service/product/benefit that
they charge for. If they have no problem with it, then play on.
If they ask you for a few bucks, then it's your decision.

 

[El Diablo]

Per above -- you need to learn the club policy. The notion that you shouldn't have to pay because nobody was using the court is ridiculous; one would then only play when it was expected to be slow at the club and stay on as long as you wanted. Not the way most businesses operate.

 

[Craig Sheppard]

I think you're fine to stay on provided court time is free and no one is waiting. Personally if they were going to charge me, I'd get off. But if not, I'd keep hitting until someone showed up. It's up to the next people to come and say "hey buddy, we have the court", and then I'd quickly leave the court.

 

[Solat]

Here is my perspective as the person who runs the court hire at my club.

The hirer is paying for a service for a prescribed amount of time, now my club's policy is 1 hr block minimum, then 30 min blocks ontop of that. Now the courts are very rarely fully booked so I do not chase people away after their prescribed time, however i expect them to leave within 15 minutes of it. I believe if you go over that extra 15 minutes you are into the next 30 min block and should pay for it. I do not chase people for the money but will charge them if they come in to pay for it.

If they choose not to pay, after playing over time i take note against their booking so that next time i know they have previously stiffed the club. If it becomes a habit (3 times or so) i will then either enforce the paid block or request payment after the hire to reflect the time they played.

There is no advantage in enforcing the limit because tennis is not a timed game, so there needs to be flexibility. However if courts are fully booked then when the next court rocks up you are off. If you want to guarantee a court for any length of time you have to take out membership

 

[Geezer Guy]

The club I play at is pretty small and friendly. As long as no one is waiting, you can play over a bit for free to finish out a match.

Obviously, you should use reasonable judgement and not try to take advantage of their good will.

They would probably get a bit peeved if you routinely went in and paid for 1 hour, and played all afternoon.