Rules Quiz - Serve

1. Jimmy has an extremely successful service game. He has mastered the art of hitting his serve deep into his opponent's court. This typically is sufficient since it keeps his opponent on the defensive. But that isn't enough for Jimmy. He wants to win the point outright on his serve, so he has been practicing a new power serve. The power serve requires changing his service motion to hit the ball with a sidearm style in order to the ball harder. In a game with John and Margy, he hits a serve so hard that John cannot react in time and the ball blows right by him for a service winner. Jimmy is pleased with himself...until Margy claims that Jimmy used an illegal serve with his sidearm motion. Who is right?

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2. Jimmy's power serve is effective, but can be a little wild. Jimmy's opponents sometimes try to intimidate Jimmy by having the non-returner stand near the front inside corner of the service court to force Jimmy to hit his serve wide. Other teams use the opposite approach by having the non-returner stand outside the court. That is the strategy used by John and Margy. John, a big man who is a little slow-footed, stands 3 feet outside the sideline. Jimmy cranks up one of his hardest and wildest serves ever...and promptly hits John right in his forehead. While not the way he expected to win, Jimmy is jubilant that he won the point because he hit an opponent with his serve. John claims that Jimmy can't possibly win on a serve that hits anywhere out of bounds. Who is right?

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3. After he saw the success of his power serve, Jimmy wanted to add to his repertoire with a soft short serve. Jimmy was effectively mixing his regular serve, power serve, and and short serve against Margy and John. He was winning his serve with outright winners and return faults. Then Jimmy hit a short serve to John that landed on John's kitchen line. John could not get to the ball and Jimmy thought he had yet another winner. But Margy claimed the serve was out. Jimmy said all lines are considered in-bounds. Was Jimmy right?

See tomorrow's post for answers.