Table Tennis / Tennis Scoring Help!?

Question

In table tennis if the ball hits the receiving player before bouncing who wins the point? The person that hit the ball or the person that got hit by the ball? And the same question but for tennis. Thanks :)

Answer 1

Hi there,

The answer is quite simple: the player who is hit by the ball looses the point.

The rule and underlying reasoning is pretty straightforward: if you are hit by a ball, then you "prevent" the ball from bouncing, hence the ball cannot be called out because fo you. So the player who played the ball can never loose the point, since his ball can't possibly be called out in such a case (and that's "your fault").

This logic, however, can be contested, for instance when you are clearly standing several feet behind the baseline and you are hit by a ball, the ball would clearly have gone out... (In a friendly game, all players might mutually agree to bend the rules if all players agee that the ball "would" have gone out, without discussion).

But the rule want to avoid discussion, and avoid contestation... Because... OK if you're five feet behind the baseline and you're hit by a ball... But what if you're just one foot behind the baseline, and the ball hits your racket? Or what if you're standing ON the baseline, or even slightly inside the court, and you're hit by a ball that has a lot of topspin? (How many topspin-heavy balls have you ever called out before they bounced, only to see that they end up a foot inside the court?) Or what if your arm (eg in table tennis) is over the table and gets hit?

So this rule upholds the only logic that can avoid all discussions: if you "prevent" the ball from bouncing out, you loose the point. Period.

The only EXCEPTION is made for tennis, on the serve, and only when playing single matches. When you are receiving a serve, you will typically be positioned on the baseline or even behind the baseline, hence should you get hit directly by a serve, it is deemed obvious and undisputable that the ball would have gone out, there is no need for it to bounce to proove that it was out. So in that case the serve IS called out.

Exception on this exception: tennis serve in double matches. Player 1 from team A receives the serve, player 2 from team A is positioned well inside the field (typically around the T-section of the service line)... If player 2 gets hit by the serve, the point WILL go Team B (who is serving).

To be completely complete: this exception does NOT apply to table tennis, where the receiving player is simply NEVER allowed to touch the ball before it bounces, or he looses the point.

Kind regards,

Thomas