Why are players allowed to break service rules

it is understandable as they are from different era and pick up the game with the rule of their time so most will not think what they are doing is wrong. Look at the recent "Who is the King" tournament in China, only the young generation follows the current rule and all veteran players do as they please and no one really cares. They even use speed glue freely in front of the camera. I too wish the rule can be strictly enforced but in reality it is a tough call.

TurboZ said:

it is understandable as they are from different era and pick up the game with the rule of their time so most will not think what they are doing is wrong. Look at the recent "Who is the King" tournament in China, only the young generation follows the current rule and all veteran players do as they please and no one really cares. They even use speed glue freely in front of the camera. I too wish the rule can be strictly enforced but in reality it is a tough call.

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I tried to question an opponents serve in a VETTS tournament when I was having great trouble with it as he was dropping the ball and shielding it, the umpire said "I can't be bothered with this and walked off" and this typifies today's attitude towards the rules on serve.
An England coach from many years ago told me "tell your players to cheat until they are called then change what they are doing" the points they gained until called are already theirs!

DTE said:

I tried to question an opponents serve in a VETTS tournament when I was having great trouble with it as he was dropping the ball and shielding it, the umpire said "I can't be bothered with this and walked off" and this typifies today's attitude towards the rules on serve.
An England coach from many years ago told me "tell your players to cheat until they are called then change what they are doing" the points they gained until called are already theirs!

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Get your racket, aim at his head and throw it. If he asks why, tell him "I can't be bothered with your life.". Did this once in a tennis tournament except I hit the judge with a tennis ball and got disqualified. It was worth it tho.

Getting fair and consistant enforcement of the service rules is a very vontentious thing. It SHOULD be simple enough to spot and call out blatant or grey area serves as it is the responsibility of the player to ensure his or her serve follows the rules clearly.

The thing holding this back where there are umpires is the will to enforce the service rules. Umpires already know they are in a bad spot already and play the nice guy. Everyone is different. Players will get away with whatever the umpire allows.

In USA where there is no umpire for nearly all matches... You are out there on your own. You could catch the first serve stop play see the tourney director and demand a certified umpire. Good luck as there is only one for the whole tourney most times and maybe two.

When you are in your club or visiting a club... and you run into this you could ignor it and cope... ask nicely... demand... go balistic and walkout... go gangster... but are the last three ways really the way to go?

In Korean amatur tt I face this ALL the time. 95 percent of amature players are O40 O50 and have been serving hidden how they want for years. You think they will change just because ittf says do it this way?

When visiting clubs I am faced with this nearly each match. I am more than a little subtle about it when i give the ball back by serving it to them under my arm. Many of the opponents dont care about the service rule. It is all a fun game to see if they can upset their opponents if they object.

In a Korean amature tourney whethere it is club city state or National open there are no umpires. You ALWAYS have another player sitting behind the scoreboard flipping the score but they are not umpires and most do not a third of the rules.

You have ANY kind of dispute about a point you can try to bring it up but the best you will get is to replay the point. Try griping about the serves and you will get told to handle it yourselves. I would get tossed in jail for handling it physically with a royale rumble so in practical terms one must simply play on if they want to play the sport here.

Still the tt action is so good and everywhere I wouldnt trade it for anything.

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If the server is facing the umpire on the side then they may get away with it since the umpire is still able to see the ball and can't tell if it is being covered

Oh my, I was thinking about this very topic last night before I went to sleep.
Yes, I think this topic is a very serious one, and demands international attention.
The Australian Junior TT Championships are being held in early October, and all the past few years, I have been constantly frustrated with illegal serves.
Australia's top 4 or 5 obey the service rules fairly well, throwing the ball straight and well up in the air, very much like the recent French cadets competition.
However, so many other state representatives barely even toss it, and when they do, it's always about 10cm, behind their backs and then they serve, with unfathomable spin and speed on the ball due to the lack of time the ball is allowed to drop.
This obviously gives them a "slight" advantage which puts hundreds of hours of returning serves to waste.

Sorry for the rage, just letting people know that this is a very common crime in national table tennis.

kjanko said:

Get your racket, aim at his head and throw it. If he asks why, tell him "I can't be bothered with your life.". Did this once in a tennis tournament except I hit the judge with a tennis ball and got disqualified. It was worth it tho.

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ahahah...well deserved!
That was a nice one!

I remember this match, I think it was Hunor Szocz; he was called for something like 5 or 6 faults in one game and at least 8 in the match. Everyone seemed to complain that the ref was over the top in calling faults and taking points away. There was one point where the opponent said to the ref something like, "His serves are fine. Just leave him alone and let us play the match."

So when they don't call them, people complain, and when they do call them, people complain. You cannot win.

Simply because umpire can't be sure that the serve is legal or illegal.

The culture on serving has gotten a LOT better but still too many jokers get unfair advantages illrgal serving.

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Very low and sick to not serve legal.
Serve legal or kill yourself.

Alborz said:

Simply because umpire can't be sure that the serve is legal or illegal.

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If that's the case, then the umpire should call a fault serve.

Tinykin said:

If that's the case, then the umpire should call a fault serve.

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Really? I don't know that!

Yep. Here's the actual rule.

2.6.6.1 If either the umpire or the assistant umpire is not sure about the legality of a service he may, on the first occasion in a match, interrupt play and warn the server; but any subsequent service by that player or his doubles partner which is not clearly legal shall be considered incorrect.

So, it's really up to the player to show the umpire that his serve is legal, not for the umpire to guess.

tinykin said:

so, it's really up to the player to show the umpire that his serve is legal, not for the umpire to guess.

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amen brother!