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

by Anonymous

Q: Brian-halfway through the 2nd set 1 ball went over the fence and couldnt be retrieved.When can you crack open a new can?we turned in the 2 old balls and got the new can....ok'ed by one opponent.When we got back to the court his partner said no way Jose as it was our serve.Too late we turned in the old ones...and used the new can.

A: If you lose a ball within the warmup or the first 2 games of a set or game that started with new balls than you would get a new one (and in most cases we would give you 3 new ones)as a replacment. Any other time you would replace the missing one with one of like wear. In your case you should gotten a used ball to replace the missing one