THE RULE
Rule 22 covers service lets, saying that a serve “that touches the net . . . and is otherwise good . . . shall not count and the server shall serve again.” A lot of players don’t like that rule and just want to play those serves as good— which is permitted under Appendix V to the Rules of Tennis, if a tournament so chooses. Presumably, that also means players in a friendly match could decide to ignore service lets.
THE RULEBREAKER
Marc Nelson, 39, a 4.5 player from Marlboro, N.J., doesn’t like Rule 22— but he doesn’t like Appendix V, either. “The average men’s professional tennis player seems to hold serve more than 85 percent of the time. That’s boring,” he complains. “With the way the pros serve now, the receiver needs more of an advantage.” His simple, but elegant, solution: “If a serve hits the net and lands in, it should still be counted as a fault.”