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17. In doubles when one partner calls a ball out and the other one good, the doubt that has been established means the ball must be considered to have been good. The reluctance that some doubles players have to overrule their partners is secondary to the importance of not letting your opponents suffer from a bad call. The tactful way to achieve the desired result is to tell your partner quietly that he has made a mistake and then let him overrule himself. If it comes to a showdown, untactful honesty is preferable to tactful dishonesty.
18. Normally, asking for a replay of a point is a sign of weakness and of failure to exercise line calling responsibilities, and should occur only on rare occasions. One of these is as follows. Your opponent's ball -- a serve or otherwise -- appears out and you so call, but return the ball to his court. Inspection reveals that your out call, which stopped play, is in error. Since you actually returned the ball a let is authorized. Had you not returned the ball the point would have been your opponent's. (See last sentence in par. 19.) Another possible replay situation occurs when, just as C is returning A's good shot, A's overzealous partner, B calls A's shot out. If C hits a placement he wins the point; otherwise, the point should be replayed.
18.1. When you are hindered attempting to return a shot that you could not have returned even had there been no hindrance, a let is not authorized. Incidentally, a request for a let does not mean that the let is automatically granted. For example, a request for a let because you have tripped over your own hat should be denied.
19. Once an out (meaning a ball has landed outside the court), fault, or let call is made play stops, regardless of what happens thereafter. This policy is sound, though sometimes maddening. For example, with you at the net your partner serves a bullet that the receiver barely gets to the net for an easy setup which you whack away, but the receiver has yelled "fault" as he was returning the service. Inspection reveals that the service was good. You first feel that your putaway shot should count for the point. But suppose that you had missed the putaway. Your immediate cry would have been for a let because the out call distracted you and made you miss. A rule can't work one way one time and work another way another time. It is unfortunate that a miscall was made on such a good service, but you must trust your opponents' intentions to be fair, remember that since they are human they are going to make some mistakes, and realize that since they returned the service a let may be called. The validity of the principle here notwithstanding, most good players who have made a weak giveaway type of return because of an opponent's good forcing shot will give the opponent the point in spite of the out call. The important thing is that a player should not let his ineptitude as a linecaller cause his opponent to fail to win a point that he almost surely would have won had the correct call been made on his forcing shot.
20. All points in a match should be treated with the same importance, and there is no justification for considering a match point differently than the first point. Also, some players will insist that on occasion even though a ball is good they want it to be out so badly that they will unconsciously call it out, this reasoning is difficult for a strong-willed fair-minded player to accept.
20.1. All points played in good faith stand. For example, if, after losing a point, you discover that the net was four inches too high, the loss stands. If the third point of a game is played in the ad court, there is no replay. If you lose a match using a 9-point tie-break, then discover the tournament was using 12-point tie-breaks, the loss stands.
20.2. As a general guide, when it is realized during a point that a mistake was made at the beginning, e.g., service from the wrong court, the point will not be interrupted, nor will corrective action be taken until the point is played out.
20.3. Each player is responsible for "housekeeping" on his own court. If he fails to remove stray balls and other objects he may expect to pay for the consequences.
20.4. When a player is injured in an accident caused by his opponent, it is the player who must suffer with respect to the match, not the opponent. For example, A accidentally throws his racket and incapacitates B so that B is unable to resume play within the time limit; even though A caused the injury, it was accidental, and B must be defaulted, not A.
21. As a driven ball -- in contrast to a ball dropping vertically -- strikes the ground (or asphalt or cement, but not grass) it will leave a mark in the shape of an ellipse. If this ellipse is near a line and you cannot see court surface between the ellipse and the line, the ball is good. If you can see only part of an ellipse on the ground this means that the missing part is on the line or tape. Some players will call a ball of this kind out on the basis that all of the mark they can see is outside the line; this thinking is fallacious. An ellipse tangent to a line literally, touching the line at only one point) still represents a good ball; this is tantamount to saying that a ball 99% out is 100% good.
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