We have arrived at the part of The code that shifts to the sport’s pre-match rituals. This section of the document contains two principles under the subheading ‘WARMING-UP’. I didn’t notice it at the time, but the first two numbered principles we covered in this series appear under the general subheading “PRINCIPLES.” In other words, the first two principles The code his Principles, and the next forty-four are something quite different. That seems strangely inconsistent to me.
In any case, we will spend the next few weeks in this warm-up area. In keeping with the Overthinking ethos of this site, we’re going to explain each of these principles in great detail. (Unbearable was the first word that came to mind, but painstaking is better.)
A warm-up is not an exercise. A player must give the opponent a five to ten minute warm-up.
USTA Friend to Court 2025, The Code, Principle 3 (Partial Excerpt)
Principle 3 begins with the philosophical reminder that the warm-up is not an exercise, and then moves directly into defining the length of a courteous warm-up. As with the previous principles, I refer to the 2001 edition of the USTAs Friend at court as an accompanying text. It’s the first definitively credible version I have, and it’s been helpful in understanding how many of our modern norms go back to much older traditions. It also provides a clear picture of how the game has developed over the past twenty-five years.
In the 2001 edition, Principle 3 begins similarly by noting that a warm-up is not an exercise. We’ll skip that concept for now and come back to it next Wednesday when it better fits my post calendar. The real focus today is what comes next. In 2025, the guideline is that players must provide a warm-up of five to ten minutes. However, in 2001 it was determined that players had to provide a five-minute or ten-minute warm-up if there were no ball persons.
The first difference between the versions is the shift to gender-neutral language, which is a positive update that brings the Code in line with modern expectations of inclusivity. The second difference is much more intriguing. The length of the warm-up once depended on the presence of ball persons. This implies that enough recreational matches were ever played with that luxury to merit specific mention. I struggle to imagine many unofficial matches where ball handlers were provided on a regular basis. It makes you wonder which exclusive, high-end clubs the original authors belonged to.
Somewhere along the way the underlying logic changed. The older editions of The code awarded ten minutes when no ball persons were present. In modern recreational play, warm-up time has almost universally been reduced to five minutes, even though ball people are never part of the equation. The USTA effectively cut the time in half without changing the underlying conditions. Recreational players are being shortchanged, and the shift makes little practical sense.
This historical detail reinforces how much tennis was once shaped by assumptions rooted in elite environments. The mention of ball persons in the text suggests expectations of matches in professional settings rather than the reality of the players who form the broader base of the sport. Recreationally, having a chair umpire is an occasional novelty, and ball handlers would be an unheard of luxury. The mention of ball persons in 2001 illustrates the gap between the origins of the sport and the way it is played today.
When I returned to competitive tennis as an adult, my first official match was a mother-daughter event. A five-minute warm-up was strictly enforced by a roving official, and I was honestly amazed at how quickly that time passed. For juniors and adult players aged 18 and over, five minutes is now the standard. However, in senior events, ten minutes remains the norm because older athletes have different physiological needs. Sufficient warm-up time is essential to prepare joints, muscles and connective tissue for competition. A longer warm-up improves injury prevention, physical confidence and early game quality.
I am low-key annoyed that the five-minute warm-up time is strictly enforced at the USTA League National Championships, without any apparent consideration of age. Unlike sanctioned tournaments, these events do not offer practice courts or warm-up courts on the day of competition. Players are also warned, sometimes very sternly, that it is forbidden to enter an unused field for a few minutes of extra warm-up time.
I have an even more recent bitter data point. At the 55 and over Nationals, I’m pretty sure the assigned warm-up time for our first match had not yet expired when the traveling official announced the time. Players travel across the country to participate in these championships. It seems reasonable that the USTA would adopt a ten-minute standard for this environment. No National Championship should be won on the basis that players need less time to fully warm up.
This brings me to a semi-hot take. Tennis should return to the ten-minute warm-up standard across the board. The five-minute model feels more like a concession to scheduling efficiency than a reflection of what players actually need to enter a match safely and competitively. A longer warm-up allows players to establish rhythm, calibrate movements and find timing without feeling rushed. It reduces the risk of injury and supports more consistent early game quality for players at all levels. It’s hard to defend a standard that prioritizes clock management over player preparation, when a simple shift to ten minutes would better serve the sport.
- 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.)
#code #warmed