Eleventh edition of the Official Rules issued

All the talk as the paddle season opened was about the change in the Official Rules under which play would continue on a net cord service.

Some changes in wording were necessary to emphasize that, although many paddle tennis rules were derived from tennis, there were situations where they were different in certain respects.However, there were a few substantive changes in the Eleventh Edition of the Official Rules.

The Rules Committee, under direction from the Board of Directors, had been asked to make the calling of lines by players in an un-officiated match, less “hard and fast” and more “forgiving.” This was accomplished by expanding the comment following Rule 10 by incorporating most of the wording from the “The Etiquette of Platform Tennis.”

The “Continuous Play” regulation found in Rule 24 had a new paragraph (c) inserted which read: “During a service game, the server is permitted a maximum of 20 seconds between the finish of play on a point and the delivery of the next service.” While rarely an issue, it was determined that, on some occasions, players may be exceedingly deliberate or talkative between points, to the extent that play was slowed and the delay was sometimes used as a tactic to upset opponents.

Finally, in Appendix B, a new diagram was added to illustrate the new standards for racquets with wrap-around rims. This enabled new manufacturing techniques to be used in the production of (possibly better) paddles for the game.

Source: Platform Tennis News, Fall 1996