Club Rules and Code of Conduct

General Court Etiquette

The following is an extract from British Tennis website on court etiquette which reflects our approach.

  • Please do not walk behind players whilst a game, a rally or coaching is in progress, this is to avoid distracting other members and most importantly to avoid any potential accidents on court.

  • If you are trying to cross a court please wait until you are invited to and it is safe to do so.

  • If a stray ball comes onto your court don’t knock it back immediately, wait until the owners are ready and then hit it to the server’s end.

  • During play and particularly between games, keep the amount and volume of conversation down to a minimum necessary to play and enjoy your own games. Too much chatter or disagreements can be disturbing to those playing nearby.

  • If in social friendly matches there is some doubt over a line call, offer to play the point again rather than cause undue aggravation and time wasting.

  • Do not criticise your partner or opponent, be positive and offer encouragement instead.

  • Overall, use your best judgement and we all want to be competitive but don’t let your emotions get on top of you!

  • Thanks for reading and enjoy playing!

Line calls

  • Only call the lines on your side of the net;

  • Call clearly on the basis of what you honestly believe to be correct;

  • If you are not certain, or did not see the ball clearly, the ball was good and the doubt must be given in favour of the opponent;

  • If occasionally you have serious doubt over a line call, ask your opponents politely if they are certain as to the accuracy of their call, and if they are, move on and play the next point;

  • If there is doubt over a line call, consider offering to replay the point.

Keeping score

  • The server should announce the score before each point.

  • If the server forgets or does so inaudibly, the receiver should request the server to make an audible announcement of the score.

  • On each court are scoring posts, use these when crossing to the other side of the court to keep track of the score in the set.

Mobile phones

  • Mobile phone calls should not be made or received on court: leave the court to make or receive a call;

  • Mobile phones taken onto court should be switched off, or put on silent or vibrate mode, so as to avoid creating a distraction.

Clothing and footwear

  • Players should wear recognised sports clothing of any colour together with suitable footwear;

  • Suitable footwear is required both to promote safety as unsuitable footwear can provide insufficient grip, and also to prevent damage to the courts.

Guest Policy
Enfield Chase is a membership based club with some of the best value tennis facilities in the area. Members must accompany and are responsible for the behaviour of guests in line with the guidance on this page at all times.

Guests are allowed up to 5 times each, at £5 per person per visit (which can be put in an envelope with your name on in the cashbox on the bar in the main hall, or paid to the same bank account as membership fees go to) after which they must individually decide whether or not to become members of the club themselves or not.

Floodlight usage

The floodlights are on all courts and are free of charge. To avoid unnecessary energy costs in lighting more courts than are necessary, where possible you should play on odd numbered courts first (1, 3 & 5) as the lights are setup to include the two middle posts as well as the corner posts from one single light switch. Even numbered switches (2, 4 & 6) only power two corner posts.