When Can You Reach Over the Net in Tennis?

Can you or can you not reach across to your opponent's side of the net to hit the ball? 

Here's the USTA rule, and a photo of an example from the Australian Open. 

 

"OFFICIAL RULING: A player may break the plain of the net on a follow through from a shot as long as the ball was on that player’s side of the court when the ball was struck. (The player can only reach over to play a ball in the situation stated in the paragraph below).

The player in either situation may not touch the net, or the opponent’s court with anything he wears or carries or with any part of the body.

If the spin or wind brings the ball back over the net to the side of the player(s) who hit the shot, the opponent(s) may then reach over the net and play the ball. They may not touch the net or the opponent’s court. This is the only situation when a player may reach over the net to play a ball. If the opponent does not play the ball and it bounces on the side of the player who hit the spin shot, that player who hit that shot wins the point."

Here, Feliciano Lopez has to reach across the net to hit a ball that bounced on his side of the court, then jumped back over the net before he got to it. Lopez made an alert, heads-up play, hitting the ball with the back of the racquet face, backwards toward his legs, into the net, for a winner. 

Not even all the pro's know the rule: In another match Fernando Gonzalez thought he'd won a point when his opponent's ball had so much backspin it back over the net, only to be surprised when the chair ruled against him.

 

Comments

[Ehkzu]

It's plainly not "plain" -- it's "plane."

[JimF]

Thanks for "ex-plaining"

I can't edit the quote from the rules, but I'll add a "sic" . The grammatical rules are plain, but tennis' on the net's plane are plainly supreme.