The SERVE, FAULTS and FOOT FAULTS

Rule 5.7.2. covers where your feet must be at the time of serving, “at the time the server strikes the ball, one foot is in contact with the floor inside the service-box with no part of that foot touching any boundary of that box;”

It is very important to obey this rule because if the referee calls you on it, it is a point to your opponent and there is no review allowed. The receiver may not ask for a let or a point in relation to his opponent’s possible foot faults.

Foot faults are difficult to call because the referee must also check that, after the server’s strike, the ball hits the front wall above the cut line (the line on the front wall).

So, referees watch to see if players prepare for their serve with at least one foot in the box and not on or touching any lines. If you do that, you will not get called. However, if you do have a foot on the line, as you prepare, you will be called on it.

Most players have a “move and drag” style of serve. This is where they throw the ball up towards the centre of the court and drag their back toe across the service box line as they simultaneously hit the ball and move to the centre of the court, the T.

The referee must be certain of a rule breach before he can call it and it is very hard to see if the foot has slid onto or past the service box line before they strike. Players do tend to get away with an inch or two of encroachment into the middle of the court, before their strike.

Below are two examples of players doing just that.

There is a general apathy to calling foot faults but to my mind, it is essential that they should be called when they occur simply just because it is a point to the opponent and not to call it, is denying them of a point.

OTHER FAULTS

Other faults will occur if the served ball hits any of the ‘out lines’ or the cut line on the front wall or bounces strangely off the top of the glass back wall or hits any area of the court above any of the ‘out lines’ or below the cut line on the front wall or goes out of the court altogether.

The referee must call “fault” if he is certain that the ball has done any of the above but only if certain. If he is uncertain, he should make a mental note of his doubt but stay silent and wait for the receiver to ask him directly. If a reveiver should do this, then the referee may say that he was uncertain and ask the players to play a let. If the receiver does not query it, then the referee makes no comment in relation to it.

Receivers may stop the rally at any point, but usually do so immediately or at the end of the rally should they lose it.

It is recommended that receivers play on if a referee has not called a fault because the receiver knows that the referees silence means that it is not definitely a fault in his opinion at that moment and hoping for “a let” based on a referee’s uncertainty is a big gamble. Receivers are advised to try to win the rally before raising the query, should they lose the rally.

The receiver could ask the referee even after winning the rally, just for confirmation that everybody is on the same page.