What is the rule in tennis doubles if the opposition change the sides they receive On? Ie “Jim” was receiving from the ad side for the first 11 games, then started on the deuce. I was in a match yesterday and the first point was played with the opponents on different sides of the court they had played for the rest of the set. They lost that first point then realised and wanted to start the game again. We were 6-5 up and serving. This was for the win. I thought that actually meant they lost that game; although, I didn’t want to win that way. I said they could continue from 15-0 if they wanted.
1 Answer
ITF Rule 27 (Correcting Errors), section e covers this:
During a standard game or a tie-break game in doubles, if there is an error in the order of receiving, this shall remain as altered until the end of the game in which the error is discovered. For the next game in which they are the receivers in that set, the partners shall then resume the original order of receiving.
So in your case, as the error was only discovered after the first rally, you should have continued the game with the opponents returning in that order. Neither replaying the game from the beginning nor switching the order within the game would have been correct.
