A foot fault occurs when a player violates the requirements for foot positioning before hitting a serve. Violations of foot positioning before hitting a serve include touching the baseline or court, stepping outside the imaginary line between the sideline, or touching the extension of the center line.
In other words, your feet have to remain legal until after you strike or miss the ball. Therefore, a foot fault is treated the same as any other type of service fault because the service is not completed until after contact is made with the racket or not.
The reason someone says watch your feet is because of the implications of service faults. Service errors or foot faults usually happen through either very small movements, such as a toe touching the line, or very large movements, such as stepping over the extension of the center line. In either case, the official makes the same determination. The rules do set forth, by location, the area where a player may legally initiate a serve. The silver lining is that most service errors can be corrected through several habit improving techniques, including a consistent starting position, a correct toss, and video checks, instead of requiring a complete overhaul.
This article outlines what constitutes a foot fault, what occurs when you are called for this fault, the most frequent ways a player creates a foot fault, and several straightforward drills to correct this error.
A server is said to commit a service foot fault by violating the foot-position rules during their service motion (for example, the server touches the baseline or court, steps outside of the imaginary extension of the sideline, touches the imaginary extension of the center mark, and or changes position during the service motion by either walking or running more than slight foot movement).
Because a foot fault violates the serving rules, it ends up counting as a service fault.
The Foot Fault Rule in Plain English
According to the ITF Rules of Tennis, a player must serve from behind the baseline and remain within any imaginary extensions of the line marked at the center of the court.
4 Ways to Receive a Foot Fault Call
Here are four ways to touch the line inappropriately while sending your serve out of bounds.
- A server takes any step away from the spot they originally stand without returning to that spot.
- A server touches the line while taking their serve.
- A server touches the line outside of the lateral imaginary line when they take their serve.
- A server touches the line at either end of the imaginary centerline while taking their serve.
If a player commits any of these four infractions, it constitutes a foot fault, which results in the loss of that player right to serve after serving out of bounds.
What Does “During the Service Motion” Mean?
According to the rules, the definition of a service motion being completed is when the racket contacts, or does not contact, the ball.
So with reference to foot fault enforcement, what you do with your feet before the time of contact with the racket and ball is important.
What Happens When You Foot Fault?
In tennis, if a server breaks any service rule, they are penalized by losing the point. A foot fault is treated like any other fault. Players often are not as concerned with a foot fault on their first serve as they are on their second serve. For example, if you miss your first serve (first fault), then a subsequent foot fault is considered a second fault and you lose that point.
The reason is that a double fault equals a lost point, a fundamental part of the scoring. But Rule 18 (the foot fault rule) is also considered a service fault.
Common Foot Faults & What Causes Them
You may often see the following typical tendencies of players. These trends are based on coaching observations, rather than authoritative or conclusive findings.
- Players tend to creep closer to the baseline with their front foot, meaning they move the foot toward the baseline as they make contact with the ball.
- As players serve, the back foot tends to slide toward the imaginary center mark, for example when a player serves from an extreme angle or uses a slice.
- When a server tosses the ball too far in front of, or to the side of, their body, the server moves in order to catch the ball.
Note. According to USTA officiating guidelines, a foot fault is being anywhere on or over the imaginary line of the baseline. Therefore, even a minor drift has a significant impact.
How to Avoid Foot Faulting With These Easy Fixes
Here are a few tips and some advice we often provide our students:
#1 Build a Consistent Start Position
Set up before serving, with both feet behind the baseline and staying within the imaginary extensions of the center mark and sideline.
Coaching hint: get a home base with a consistent distance from the line and width of stance, to minimize starting your serve differently every time.
#2 Treat the Center Mark Extension Like a Real Line
A USTA Rules article states that you cannot step on the imaginary extension of the center service mark throughout your service motion, and doing so is a foot fault.
Coaching hint: if you drift, aim your stance a little more along the line instead of around yourself.
#3 Make Your Toss Easier to Control
This is also a coaching heuristic: the more movement there is in your toss, the more movement there is likely to be in your feet to follow the toss. A slightly lower toss, more in front of your hitting shoulder (not too far in front) often decreases stepping.
#4 Use Video as Your “Truth Teller”
A phone video from can reveal foot faults you don’t feel in the moment.
- Side view (to catch baseline touches)
- Behind view (to catch center-mark and sideline extension issues)
Quick Drills to Clean it Up
These are practice ideas you can run in five to 10 minutes:
Shadow-Serve Checkpoint (No Ball)
- Go through your motion slowly and freeze at ‘contact.’
- Check: are you still legal up to that moment? (Use video.)
Tape or Chalk Guide
- Put a small strip of painter’s tape just behind the baseline (practice courts only, be safe).
- Your goal is to keep your foot off the line area through contact.
“Toss-Only” Reps
- Do 10 tosses in a row that land in the same spot (then serve).
- The goal is consistency, not power.
Calling Foot Faults in Real Matches: What’s Reasonable?
Foot faults are often a matter of sportsmanship in many recreational games where there is no official.
Two helpful points from the USTA Code for unofficiated matches are:
- A foot just touches the line is a foot fault, and the Code also encourages you to try to avoid foot faults by understanding how they occur.
- You only call a foot fault if you use all reasonable means, for example, you warn the server and try to contact an official. On the receiver side, the foot fault is of sufficient magnitude that it stands out as flagrant.
Practical tip non rule If you feel a player is foot faulting, a calm Hey your foot is getting close to the line on your serve often remedies the situation more quickly than arguing about whether the player violates the rule.
FAQs About Foot Fault Errors
Have questions, feel free to reach out or see if you’re questions was answered below.
Is it a Foot Fault if My Toe Barely Touches the Line?
The USTAs The Code provides guidance for unofficiated matches regarding foot faults. You commit a foot fault if your foot just touches the line. Officiated matches rely on the judgment of officials; therefore close calls are not always seen clearly from the other end of the court from an officials perspective.
Can I Jump While Serving?
Certainly In Rule 18, there is a case ruling that allows the server to have either or both feet off the ground during the service motion. However, the critical factor is what happens during the service motion with respect to contacting a restricted zone.
Can I Cross the Center Mark Extension During My Service Motion?
According to the USTA rules article, if a player crosses the imaginary extension of the center service mark during their service motion, they are called for a foot fault.
In Doubles, Can I Stand Behind the Baseline Between the Singles & Doubles Sideline?
According to the official Rule 18 decision for this case, an individual cannot do this in singles competition, but it is permissible in doubles competition.
Does a Foot Fault Automatically Lose Me the Point?
A foot fault on the service line is a type of service fault. Therefore, only the second consecutive fault, aka double fault, prevents you from continuing with the current rally and losing your chance to gain a point immediately because of a foot fault.
Take Tennis Lessons in Mountlake Washington to Improve Your Game & Prevent Faults
A foot fault occurs when there is a problem with your foot position before you serve. This can include your foot touching the line at the back of the court by the baseline, drifting out of bounds beyond the sideline, touching one of the center court lines in the middle of the court, or moving illegally, for example by walking or running.
If you are a parent looking for the next step or you are a new student looking for help developing a reliable serve that complies with the appropriate rules, I recommend contacting Basha Tennis in Mountlake Terrace, WA and asking about lessons and beginner level instructions tailored to juniors and adults. Also, when you are at Basha Tennis, check out the blog to see what helpful tennis advice is provided, and look through the glossary of tennis terms to get familiar with them before playing.