You can’t change your bat during a match - it’s the rules

At this years Australian Open William Henzell was leading Simon Gerada 3 sets to 1 and 10-3 in the 5th set. Simon Gerada was agitated about being down 7 match points and hit his racket which subsequently broke. Simon then conceded the match to William.

I was discussing this with Alois and suggested that Simon should have got another bat and played out the last point so that William Henzell could have his “moment of glory” in defending his Australian National Title. It was then that Alois told me of the rule that you are not allowed to change your bat in a match any more. I was quite surprised by this rule but it is definitely the current rules.

Interestingly if the bat is “accidentally” damaged so badly that it cannot be used, then the bat can be replaced. Now it could be argued that Simon “accidentally” broke his bat and so may have been able to replace his racket if he had requested to do so. Alternatively the umpire could have decided that Simon intentionally broke his racket and therefore Simon would have lost the match on the spot anyhow.

It is my feeling that the rule probably came into being because of the need to test rackets after matches for illegal speed glue. If players were allowed to change bats whenever they pleased, it would be hard for officials to keep track of which bats were used and how many needed to be tested.

Back in times past, players certainly were allowed to change their rackets. I don’t believe this rule is very relevant for the top players in the world as they would rarely if ever want to change a racket during a match. It probably more affects players who use a combination bat (with long pimples for example) and are trying to confuse an opponent by using a slightly different variation of rubber on their bat.

So in case you didn’t know, the rules are quite clear: you are not allowed to change your bat during a match unless it is accidentally damaged so badly that it cannot be used.