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UIL TENNIS RULES

1. Point Penalty System

All players are warned prior to the start of the tournament.
1st offense Point
2nd offense Game
3rd offense Default from Match or Tournament

Penalty points are cumulative throughout the tournament.

2. Playoff for Second Place

In tennis district and regional tournaments the loser in the finals will play the winner of the third place match (to determine second place) unless these two contestants (or doubles teams) played each other in the semi-final round. The tournament director must start the finals and 3rd place matches at the same time.

3. Receivers Service Box

The receivers partner shall not stand in the receivers service box before or during the serve. If a player does so, he shall be warned that if he does so again he is subject to being penalized under the point penalty system.

4. Coaching

The school coach may coach players only during the 90 second changeover at the end of odd games and during the 10 minute rest period for split sets. Only the school tennis coach may give instructions. The coaches must coach in a manner which does not interfere with play on adjoining courts. A coach may enter the court a long as he/she is off in time for the serve to begin within 90 seconds.

5. Over Rule

(The umpire will over rule only on the appeal of the player.)
This rule was changed in September, 2003.  Appeal is no longer required for an over rule.

6. Scoring

The scoring for team tennis (Fall) is no-ad. The scoring for individual tennis in the district, regional and state is regular scoring (ad) with the 12-point tiebreaker in all sets.

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HTUA PRIDE

(The following article was written by Ginny James during her recent Presidency. We are posting it here as a standard guideline for future reference)

We are just starting our busy Spring season, and I would like you all to read this information carefully so that we can maintain our reputation and appearance as professional officials. Keep these guidelines in mind as you work your assignments.

We have a wonderful group of officials in Houston, and we want to maintain the high standard of professionalism for which we have become known.

There are a few officials who need to improve their work ethics, appearance, and standards as officials. I am sending this information out to everybody, and it doesn't apply to each and every one of you. However, I have received complaints about a few officials regarding some of the following.

HTUA DRESS CODE

Always wear the official USTA uniform, which consists of the USTA polo shirt, khaki pants or shorts, khaki belt, white tennis shoes and socks. The USTA cap and visor can be added. You can substitute a dark navy cap or visor, but there should be no logos on it. Always keep your shirt tucked into your slacks or shorts. It should never be hanging out, even during hot weather. Never wear sweat pants as part of your uniform. Your complete uniform should be neat and clean.

Try to wear the official USTA jackets, sweaters, windbreakers, etc., during cold weather. Sometimes we get caught without enough clothes, so we have to improvise. As a rule, however, try to adhere to the official clothing. Often you can layer non-compliant clothing underneath the official clothing to give you extra protection.

ROVING AND REFEREE GUIDELINES

As a rover and/or referee, you are usually the only official at a site. Often the days are long, but you should try to be as visible as possible to the players. You will need to be at the site 30 minutes to an hour ahead of the start (depending on the number of courts and whether or not you need to install singles sticks). Always measure all the court nets ahead of time.

You should not spend your time sitting on the bleachers. It is okay to take a break from time to time, but most of the time should be spent at the net post roving from court to court. By being at the net post, you are in the best position to make decisions as to foot faults (remember, no warning!) and overrules. Remember, in USTA tournaments, an overrule should be immediate. You should only overrule good balls that are called out, and only overrule if there is no doubt that the ball is out. If a player is playing out balls, then they are playing according to the code and giving their opponent the benefit of the doubt. Don't step in and overrule on balls that are out that the player is playing as good. Unfortunately, I have had
reports that one or two officials spend almost all of their time in the bleachers or sitting down somewhere. Please don't get that reputation!

Another important duty is to time the warm ups of the matches. Try to meet the players when they arrive on court, toss the coin for the choice of serve, and then time the warm-ups, notifying them with the verbal "two minutes," "one minute," and "time." During the warm-ups, you can be monitoring other courts nearby. Don't watch the warm ups for the five minutes. This is wasted time. Also, if you think a player is stalling, be sure to time the time between points (25 seconds) and the changeovers (90 seconds). If the player is consistently exceeding the time limits between points, then give a time violation warning. You can also give a soft warning, such as "You need to play a little faster. You are really pushing the 25 seconds." Always try to be pleasant when you have to give a warning or point penalty.

As matches finish, the winner(s) should go immediately to the tournament desk to report the score so that another match can be sent to that court. You may need to remind a player who is slow leaving the court. Time is of the essence here. If you are close by the tournament desk, it may help to just let them know that the court is open. Two-way radios can also help with communicating open courts.

As a rover, you should always check with the referee when there are unusual circumstances. You should have the referee's phone number for such instances. Do not default a player at a remote site without checking with the referee. There may be a bona fide reason the person has not shown up for the match.

As a rover and/or referee, you should not be playing in a tournament in which you are assigned as a rover and/or referee. This is a conflict of interest and is not fair to the other players.

Do not leave your site until the last ball is struck or you have been relieved by a replacement official or you have been told by the referee to leave.

If you encounter a problem during a tournament and need a ruling about anything, please feel free to call me on my cell phone at 281-788-5561.

PLAYING IN A TOURNAMENT

As an HTUA member, you are normally not allowed to play in a tournament you are officiating. It could be perceived as a conflict of interest. The only time you could do such a thing is at a large national tournament in which you have been eliminated from play. Please adhere to this guideline in the future.

HTUA KNOTTY PROBLEMS

I think it will help all of us to learn from knotty problems that some of our fellow officials have encountered. This is how we learn. We can't always make the correct decision, because often we are called upon at the spur of the moment. We don't have time to look up that rule that we studied a few months back in our certification school. Sometimes there is no rule, and you just use your best judgment. Sometimes, after pondering over a situation, maybe you wish you had ruled otherwise. It's great when a split-second decision turns out to be the correct one! If that's not the case, then we can learn from these Mistakes and improve our officiating.

If you have such a case, I would like for you to send me the description so that we can add it to our local list of "Houston Knotty Problems." I will keep any incidents confidential, so you don't have to worry about being embarrassed.

Here is a knotty problem that was encountered at a college match:

During the tiebreak, a ball fell from a player's pocket. She immediately called "Let," because the ball was rolling on the court. The opponent stated "She can't call a let on a ball that rolls out of her pocket!" What is your decision as a roving official? How about as a solo chair official? Let me hear from you.

Ginny James
President, HTUA

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FROM THE TREASURER

To assure sucess of our policy of speeding up the delivery of checks to working Officials we need to send invoices to the tournament directors as early as possible. Therefore the lead Official should e-mail the invoicing information to the Treasurer as soon as possible. The invoicing information should include the following:

Name of tourment/dual match/event
Date(s) of tourment/dual match/event
Name and address of whom should receive the invoice
Names of the working Officials
For each Official the arrival time and the departing time for each day worked

Thanks to each of you for your cooperation.