Brian Dimsho is a USTA certified official and the resident official of the Orange County Grand Prix.

by Ray B.

Q: Recently, during a tournament match, my opponent became quite upset with his partner for over-ruling one of his line calls. As the match progressed, he became more upset, when he finally lost it and threw his racquet into the net. However, the racquet missed the net and hit my partner in the arm. My partner was injured and could not continue the match. We were told by the club pro, (who was running the tournament) that we had to default because the player who threw the racquet did not injure my partner intentionally. Was this fair?

A: Ray, Go back and claim that match as a win! (Unfortunately Ray you can't now) But I have to disaggree with the Club Pro who may have gotten confussed with the rule in this case. Rule 37 of The Code "Injury caused by a player" States, "When a player accidentally injures his opponent, the opponent suffers the consequences". Like if the server's racket flys out of his grip strikeing and injurs his opponent to the extent that his opponent is unable to continue the match within the time limit, the opponent must retire and server wins match even though the server caused the injury. But in the case that you discribe the injury was caused by a deliberate act and the rule states "that if the injury to the opponent was caused by a deliberate act that the injuried player or team wins the match by default". The rules of tennis are very clear that thowing a racket in anger is considered a deliberate act. You can learn more about this and other rules of tennis by obtaining the "Friend at Court" rule book from the USTA