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Paul Kovac	See if you can Stump the Ump... E-mail questions to Paul Kovac - your friendly on-line USATT umpire. Please note: Questions which have answers that are easily found by consulting the rules may not merit a reply.

Q: Is it ok to warm up with one racquet and then switch to a different racquet for the match? Or stated another way, does the match actually start when you begin your warm up with your opponent, or does it start at the first service? Rule 18.1 seems to indicate that the match starts after the warm up practice. I read rule 4.8 to require a player to show their racquet at the start of a match or when it is changed during the match. If a player asks to see your racquet while you are warming up and then you later change it before the match, must (should) you then show it to them?

- submitted by Randy Brooks

A: We're talking about matches at sanctioned tournaments, when a qualified umpire has been assigned to your table, aren't we. In that case, a part of the procedure before the play starts is that the umpire inspects your racket. This should happen before the 2 min practice. Nevertheless, whenever it happens, after the umpire inspects the racket and finds it OK, you have to use that racket and you may change it only when the racket is accidentally damaged to the extent that it loses the legality or can not be used. Note that the two conditions, losing the legality or "can not be used" are not the same.

After the damage by accident, the racket may become illegal if the covering tears. On the other hand, if the racket breaks at the handle and the covering stays undamaged, the racket is still technically legal, but it can not be used in the normal way and, therefore, a player may change such a racket. The replacement racket does not have to be identical, to that which is being replaced, but the umpire has to inspect it for legality and the opponent has the right to inspect it as well.

- answered by Paul Kovac - your friendly on-line USATT umpire