A doubles team decided to put both players inside the service box that the server must serve to. Are they allowed to do that? Would two players inside a service box be considered a distraction, or is that allowed as long as they don’t do anything else to distract the server?
— David Sinett, Boca Raton, FL
You must have been comparing last year’s Friend at Court to the 2014 edition. USTA Comment 15.1 has been changed to make it align with Rule 26, Case 5, which states that the receiver and partner, “may take any position on their side of the net, inside or outside the court.” The old USTA Comment 15.1 said both partners could not line up on one side of the court under certain conditions. The revised one says that they can both be on the same side, but that the serving team has the right to know which one is receiving the serve. It’s not a hindrance unless one or both players are doing something other than standing there, and doing it solely to distract (The Code, Item 35).
Except where noted, answers are based on the ITF Rules of Tennis and USTA's The Code.
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