My brother and I play on a brutally sunny court. In a recent match my brother's mirrored shades sometimes reflected rays into my eyes. I played on blindly because he wouldn't have been able to see without sunglasses but it made me wonder, could I have requested he take them off?—Sean Gardiner, Cranford, NJ
How competitive are you and your brother? Is he also wearing a yellow shirt that hides the ball? You can always ask him to remove the glasses, but nothing in the Rules or The Code would force him to do without them. While an occassional reflection from mirrored sunglasses might be a distraction, it's not a hindrance. If your brohter somehow could angle his head properly at just the precise time, and if he did so intentionally—and if someone could prove it—it would be the loss of point under Rule 26, "If a player is hindered in playing the point by a deliberate act of the opponents(s), the player shall win the point." But that's an awful lot of ifs.
Except where noted, answers are based on the ITF Rules of Tennis and USTA's The Code.
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