Frequently-Asked Questions About the Rules of Table Tennis

Question. What score do you play to?

Answer. Official games are played to eleven points. Each side serves for two points, then the serve switches to the other side. You must win by two points. At 10–10, the score is deuce and the players alternate serves. A match is the best of any odd number of games, typically best three out of five or best four out of seven.

Question. Are volleys allowed in table tennis, as they are allowed in tennis?

Answer. No. If you volley the ball (hit it prior to its bouncing) over the table surface you lose the point. If you try to volley the ball after it has missed the table, the point is yours, since your opponent failed to make a legal return.

Question. How many times can a serve be called a let when the ball hits the net before landing on the receiver’s side of the table?

Answer. There is no limit to the number of net serves.

Question. Can a player make a good return while holding the racket with both hands?

Answer. Yes.

Question. If an otherwise good return hits the net post and then lands on the opponent’s side of the table, is that a legal shot?

Answer. Yes. The rules do not talk about the “net”, but rather about the “net assembly”. The latter consists of both the net and the posts.

Question. Is it legal to switch racket hands?

Answer. Yes.

Question. Is it a legal return when the ball, instead of bouncing on the opponent’s side of the table, skids or slides across the table?

Answer. Yes.

Question. Who wins the point when a heavily spun ball returns under its own impetus over the net to the side of the table of the player who hit it last?

Answer. If the receiver of that spinny ball fails to touch the ball before it touches the hitter’s side of the table, the hitter scores the point.

Question. Is it a legal serve when the serve is so short that the ball bounces once on the server’s side of the table and then bounces more than once on the receiver’s side of the table?

Answer. Yes.

Question. Is it a legal service when the ball, once it reaches the opponent’s side of the table, bounces off the side of the table?

Answer. Yes.

Question. There are four different boxes on the table. If I were to start on the right box of my table, would I have to serve to the diagonal box of my opponent, or does it not matter?

Answer. When playing a singles game, you can serve from any position to any position. In a doubles game, you serve from the right side of the court to your opponent’s right side of the court.

Question. Are sandpaper-covered paddles legal?

Answer. No, they are not.

Question. Is it an illegal serve if, during the toss, the server attempts to hit the ball, but misses the ball totally and the ball falls to the ground?

Answer. Yes. The receiver scores the point.

Question. Can you lose a point on your own serve?

Answer. Yes. Regardless of who served, the winner of the rally scores a point.

Less-Frequently-Asked Questions

Question. How many times can a player change a racket during a match in a USATT-sanctioned tournament?

Answer. No limit, but the player can only change their racket if it is accidentally damaged so badly that it cannot be used.

Question. Player A makes a short drop-shot return and accidentally drops the racket on the table. Player B fails to make a good return. Who scores the point?

Answer. Player A scores the point, as long as the racket, as it is dropped, does not touch the net.

Question. Player A makes a very low-flying return from the side of the table. The ball travels below the level of the net bracket, and when it reaches Player B’s side of the table, it does not bounce but rolls along the table’s width so player B can not make a good return. Who scores the point?

Answer. Player A scores the point.

Question. In a singles match, player A serves from his right side of the table to the left side of player B. Player B catches the ball and argues that player A should serve to his right side. What is the ruling?

Answer. Player A scores the point because his serve was good. Player B’s action was not justified.

Question. What is the correct umpiring decision when the ball breaks during play?

Answer. It is a let.

Question. Is it legal to hit the table with the racket while playing?

Answer. Yes, as long as you do not move the table, and the table must not be intentionally damaged.

Question. A player serves, and when the ball makes contact with his racket, it “dies”. Examination of his racket reveals that his racket is wet. Do any of the players score the point?

Answer. The receiver scores the point. A player is supposed to keep their equipment in good shape, including seeing to it that both the ball and their racket are dry before they serve.

Question. A player makes a good serve. When the ball makes contact with the receiver’s racket, it “dies”. The receiver discovers that the ball is wet. Examination of the server’s racket reveals that his racket is wet. Who scores the point?

Answer. The rally is declared a let. The receiver can not be penalized for his opponent’s wet racket.

Question. When, during a game, can a player ask for or accept coaching without being penalized for it?

Answer. From his partner in a doubles game or during a timeout. One timeout per match per player or pair.

Question. How many times can a player ask for a timeout?

Answer. In a tournament with international participation, only one one-minute timeout per match. In U.S. tournaments without international participation, the tournament director decides in which events or stages of events timeouts are allowed. Timeouts should only be allowed in umpired matches.

Question. Who are the tournament officials who can disqualify a player for unsportsmanslike behavior?

Answer. Only the tournament referee can disqualify a player.

Question. The server tosses the ball, then catches it in the air with his free hand before the ball starts falling (the racket makes no contact) as he decides to serve from the other side of the table. Is this allowed?

Answer. No, it is not. Once the ball is tossed from the hand, it is in play, and failing to complete a good serve causes the opponent to score the point.

Question. How often can a player clean his racket during a game, other than rubbing it against their clothing?

Answer. A brief interval for toweling or more thorough racket cleaning is allowed after every six points from the start of each game and at the change of ends in the last possible game of a match.

Question. How long is the break between two consecutive games?

Answer. The breaks last a maximum of one minute.

Question. A player makes an accidental good return with the edge of his racket. His opponent protests arguing that the edge of the racket is not covered with approved covering. Who scores the point? Or is it a let?

Answer. The player who made the last good stroke, even if it was with the edge of the racket, scores the point. An otherwise good serve or return made with the edge of player’s racket is good. The edge of the racket is exempt from the requirement of having to be covered with approved covering, as is the handle of the racket and the player’s hand below the wrist.

Question. Just before successfully hitting a high ball, a player shouts loudly “Yes”. His opponent has no chance of returning the ball, but does not want to accept the hitter’s scoring the point. He argues that he was distracted by the noise. Whose point is it?

Answer. The rally is declared a let, as would be the case after any other disturbance that occurs when the ball is in play.

Question. Is it legal to hold the racket with the left hand when serving and switch to the right hand when playing, and vice versa?

Answer. Yes it is.

Question. Can an object off to the side of the table (a wall or lamp) be used to ricochet the ball back onto the opponent’s side of the table, given it is in the act of returning a volley?

Answer. Absolutely not. When the ball hits anything except the net before it lands on the opponent’s side of the table, the opponent scores the point.

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