Every Wednesday this site publishes a post on a topic related to the rules and regulations of tennis. If the domain name “Fiend at Court” didn’t give it away, this blog was founded from a rules-oriented perspective. Today’s post resumes the series on “The Code,” which defines the traditional expectations of the sport. Before the holiday break, we had just completed Principle 3. We now continue where we left off. Principle 4 covers service warm-up procedures and related on-field behavior.
Warm-up serves are taken before the first serve of the match. A player must take all warm-up serves before the first serve of a match.
USTA Friend to Court 2025, The Code, Principle 4 (Partial Excerpt)
It may have been tempting to believe that Principle 3, which concerned the tennis warm-up in general, fully described that phase of a match. However, The Code’s editors determined that warming up the service warranted its own separate principle. Although taking all serves before the start of a match is now ubiquitous in tennis, it was not always so. That may be why we have a separate principle for it.
When I first learned the game as a young junior in the 1970s, serves were warmed up immediately before each player’s first service game. There are clear pros and cons to structuring this way. For example, those warm-up serves were typically only hit on the deuce track, which could make a difference in harsh sun or wind conditions. It also created a lack of continuity in the early matches of the match, keeping the players out of the competitive flow. As an advantage, in doubles this practice meant that everyone warmed up their serve from the side of the court where they would be serving. In addition, each player had the opportunity to observe his opponent’s service movement immediately before facing a live ball during the competition.
The modern approach streamlines the start of matches and brings recreational play in line with the warm-up procedures seen on professional tours. However, I can’t help but notice that moving all services before the match reduces the warm-up time allotted to players. When The Code was first created, the standard warm-up was 10 minutes, excluding services. Although the guideline was later updated to 5-10 minutes, in official matches it is almost always kept at 5. In other words, that practice has subtly compressed the match warm-up time even further.
For players currently active in the sport, it is probably not surprising that all warm-up serves are done before the first point of a match. That normality is exactly what matters. This language was likely added to the Code because it marked a shift in standard practice of the time and needed to be made explicit to ensure uniformity. However, it also serves as an anchor for what follows within this same principle. We will investigate that aspect next Wednesday.
- Friend at Court: The Handbook of Tennis Rules and RegulationsUSTA, 2025
- Friend at Court: The USTA Handbook of Tennis Rules and Regulations, USTA, 2001. (On paper.)
For readers who may be new to the organized tennis landscape, the Friend at Court is the USTA’s compendium of all the rules governing sanctioned play in the United States. It contains the ITF tennis rules, USTA regulations, and additional guidelines specific to competition in this country. The Code is nested in the Friend at Court. That section describes the “unwritten” traditions, expectations, and standards of behavior that govern player behavior. The Code is the ethical framework that governs how recreational and competitive players behave every time they take the field.
#Prematch #warmup #services