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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: Suppose a player has a nervous habit of tapping the table with his bat intentionally after every time he/she hits the ball. Is there a rule that would protect a player against this distracting behavior by his/her opponent?

-submitted by Dave Wiener

A: Accidental touching the table with the racket during play, without actually moving the table, is tolerated without comment (when an umpire is assigned to the match). Intentional tapping, such as you describe, is not tolerated. This situation is not addressed by the rule but it can be handled by applying rules dealing with behavior of players and the rules addressing intentional damage of equipment. The situation you describe is a typical umpires judgment call. I'd find appropriate to warn the player informally on the first occasion, without pulling out the yellow card. On the second occasion, a formal warning with the yellow card. After that, it should be a penalty point, and after that two penalty points. After that, the referee should handled the situation.

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