Is it ok to serve underarm? – and other controversial questions about tennis behaviour
Is the surprise underarm serve a legitimate tactic or gamesmanship in club level tennis? How about moonballing or grunting? When is it ok to question your opponent’s line calls? We try to answer these tennis ‘grey area’ questions and guide you through the etiquette minefield…
When does a legitimate sporting tactic become gamesmanship? And where do the dark arts become outright cheating? Tennis, like life, is full of grey areas – and attitudes shift and change over time.
The sudden, unexpected underarm serve is a great example of how sporting ethics can evolve. When Michael Chang sprang it on Ivan Lendl in 1989 it was a shock tactic – and duly shocked everyone watching.
But it remained vanishingly rare until Nick Krygios added it to his armoury of purist-provoking weapons. Rafa Nadal accused the Australian of ‘lacking respect’ for his opponent and the crowd for doing it it, but in recent years, as it’s become more familiar and widely used (and even Andy Murray throws the odd one in), the underarmer has become generally, if grudgingly, accepted as a legitimate tactic at the pro level.
But what about at the recreational level of tennis? Is it ok to spring an underarm serve surprise on your friend in the club box league?
This is a perfect case of a tennis grey area. There’s nothing in the rules of tennis that says you can’t underarm serve. It’s not even one of the unwritten rules of tennis etiquette that helps the game to function at the grassroots level. But a lot of people don’t like it.
So…
Is it ok to serve underarm in amateur tennis?
Ultimately, the answer is that it all depends on context. The only reason to suddenly underarm serve is to surprise your opponent and win the point. So whether it is ‘acceptable’ or not depends on how you – and your opponent – feel about a ‘win at all costs’ mentality.
If both parties agree that the overriding purpose of the match is to determine a winner and a loser, then any tactic within the laws of the game should be legit. But if your fellow player thinks the stakes are pretty low and the main purpose of playing is the mutual enjoyment of playing good, honest tennis, each trying to hit their best shots and practise their technique, then it’s wise to keep the underarmer in your locker. And if you do decide to use it anyway, don’t expect to be invited for another game any time soon.
Of course, this ‘agreement’ isn’t usually verbally stated, so you might be quite ignorant of how your opponent views the game. And that’s what leads to trouble, bad blood and seething resentment off the court.
So really it’s all about ‘reading the room’. Over time, it’s quite likely that the surprise underarm serve will come to be fully accepted at all levels of tennis – after all, it does actually require skill to do an underarm well and accurately, and it’s quite a high risk tactic.
Here are some more notorious tactical and behavioural tennis questions, along with suggestions on how to navigate them…
1) Is moonballing an acceptable way to play tennis?
Moonballing – consistently hitting slow, loopy, very high balls deep down the middle of the court – can be a horribly effective tactic at club-level tennis. It’s also very controversial and a surefire way to lose friends quickly – particularly in singles play.
The moonball is most commonly employed by a weaker player to frustrate a stronger player, denying them the opportunity to hit ‘proper’ groundstrokes and waiting for them to lose patience and make an unforced error (such as by attempting that most difficult of shots, the baseline overhead smash).
Whether it’s ok to moonball an opponent into submission is often fiercely divisive within a tennis club. For some, it’s perfectly fine: there’s nothing in the rules, after all, to say you have to hit the ball low and hard over the net.
But a majority of recreational players would probably agree that excessive moonballing is bad sportsmanship. It’s another ‘win-at-all-costs’ ploy. For someone with the technique, patience and shamelessness to keep hitting moonballs, it’s almost like having a tennis cheat code. You can do it, but really, where’s the glory in ruining your opponent’s afternoon on the court by denying them an enjoyable match?
So by all means throw in the odd high one, but unless there’s anything important riding on the game, don’t just monotonously moonball your opponent to death. Otherwise you’ll soon find nobody wants to play with you anymore.
That leads us to a follow-up question…
2) Is it ok to call out your opponent for moonballing?
I know of one club player who so despises moonballers that when he encounters one he actually shouts ‘Moonball!’ every time his opponent resorts to the loopy lob, in an attempt to shame them into stopping.
I would argue that that’s not the best approach. Shouting insults during points is clearly worse gamesmanship than moonballing, and will probably be counterproductive anyway since moonballers are notoriously shameless.
Instead, learn how to beat a moonballer – for it can be done!
3) Is loud grunting ok in club tennis?
In the professional game, grunting is legal, but excessive shrieking, gasping and general noise-making during shots can mean you fall foul of the Hindrance Rule and be judged to have deliberately distracted your opponent, costing you the point.
In the amateur game, any kind of grunting becomes less acceptable the lower the standard. So it’s perfectly fine for really good, fast-running athletic players who whack each ball hard to grunt as they make contact. But a gentle club night slicer, dobber or moonballer (see above) should try to keep quiet – otherwise it’s just embarrassing for all concerned.
4) Is it ok to question your opponent’s line calls and demand lets?
If your opponent suddenly makes a glaring mistake on a line call, then of course it’s ok to question it. Nine times out of ten they’ll at least offer to play a let. But tread carefully here, and don’t start querying every other shot that goes near the lines.
At the club level, with no umpires or Hawkeye, it’s absolutely essential that everyone makes line calls honestly, otherwise competitive tennis becomes unworkable and pointless. It follows then that you should trust and accept your opponent’s line calls, just as you would expect them to trust and accept yours.
But what if your opponent is obviously cheating? Horribly frustrating as it is, the best advice is to be zen about it. Don’t get into a fight and don’t retaliate by deliberately cheating and calling their shots out. Just finish the match and then take the cheater off the list of people you play with. A reputation for making dodgy line calls spreads fast – and in the long run, that’s the best defence against cheats.
5) Is it ok to target the player at the net in doubles?
In doubles play, the person at the net is in an attacking position, but they’re also vulnerable. Is it acceptable to deliberately smack the ball as hard as you can at them – to win the point, or to intimidate them into retreat?
This one definitely depends on context. If it’s a tight, competitive match between players of similar, competent ability, then targeting the net player is much more forgivable than if you’re trying to scare or bully a weaker player.
Similarly, if you’re way ahead in the match then maybe rein the super-aggressive play in a bit. But be careful not to make your ‘reining in’ too obvious. If you’re always hitting the ball full pace to the stronger player and half pace to the weaker it can seem pretty patronising. Find the balance and be sensible – and remember that tennis is meant to be fun!
6) Is it ok to intimidate your opponent during the warm-up?
The warm-up before a singles tennis match is one of the many weirdnesses of tennis. It’s hard to imagine football teams opening a contest by helping each other get loose with some shooting practice.
When you’re doing a warm-up, it’s always difficult to judge how much to put into your shots. You want to get into a rhythm and perhaps see if you can spot a weakness or two in your opponent’s technique, but without giving away too much about your own strengths and vulnerabilities. Then there’s feeding at the net – how hard do you whack it at them?
I actually think this one is pretty simple. Be sensible, help your opponent warm up in the same way you’d want them to help you. In other words, don’t be a drongo.
Conclusion – how to navigate tennis grey areas…
Ultimately, all rules are agreements between parties on how to conduct themselves – it’s just that not all of them are actually written down. And it’s in those grey areas where the letter of the law and the ‘spirit’ of the game don’t quite align that trouble thrives.
However, in most controversial cases the golden rule is to communicate openly with your opponent about how you expect the game to be played. If you and your opponent are on the same wavelength and happy to underarm serve, moonball and smash the ball at each other at the net, then sure, anything goes. But if you both wildly disagree, and you decide to do those things anyway, don’t expect to make any friends!
Andrew is a keen club player and Secretary at Bristol Central Tennis Club, England.
See also:
The joy (and etiquette) of mixed doubles
How to beat someone who is better than you at tennis
How to deal with nerves during a tennis match – 4 practical tips
