How Tennis Permanent-Fixture Rules Work Explainer
A permanent fixture in tennis includes surrounding fences, backstops, spectator stands, fixed equipment, and the chair umpire or line officials when they are in their recognized positions. The net, posts, singles sticks, cord, strap, and band are treated separately as parts of the net system.
Timing decides the point. If a ball in play hits a permanent fixture before it first lands in the correct court, the player who struck it loses the point. The ball never completed a legal return, even if it then drops into the opponent's side.
If the ball first lands in the correct court and then touches a permanent fixture, the player who struck it wins the point. A deep lob that bounces in and then reaches the back fence is therefore a winner if the opponent has not already made a legal return.
Indoor courts add roofs and fixed structures to the same analysis, subject to approved local rules. Officials establish whether the ball bounced, what it touched, and in what order. The distinction keeps the court boundaries meaningful while recognizing that the surrounding venue cannot be played as a continuing surface.
The player who hit the ball loses the point.
The striker wins the point if the opponent has not returned it.
No. The net and its specified fittings are governed as the net system.
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