Follow the ball after it touches the net
The landing place decides whether the usual net-cord let applies.
A serve must travel to the diagonally opposite service court. If it brushes the net and then lands in that correct box, the standard rule calls a let and the server repeats the same service. If it clips the net and lands outside the correct box, the serve is a fault. The sound of the ball on the net tells you only where to start looking; the landing tells you what usually happens next.
The rule also covers a less common contact before the bounce.
ITF Rule 22 includes a serve that touches the net, strap or band and then touches the receiver, the receiver’s partner or something they wear or carry before the ball lands. That is a service let. This detail matters when a player is close to the service line and the ball never reaches the court.
Why does the server get another try?
A service let removes that particular serve from the count.
The rule treats an otherwise good net-cord serve as a restart of the delivery, rather than as a played point or a service fault. That is a rule outcome, not a judgment about whether the receiver could have returned the ball. A ball may trickle over the tape or land sharply in the box; under the standard service-let rule, both are replayed if they meet its conditions.
A first-serve let repeats the first serve.
Suppose the server begins a point, hits the net and the ball drops into the correct service box. No first fault has occurred, so the server takes another first serve. The score stays where it was because the point never began on that delivery.
A second-serve let repeats only the second serve.
Now suppose the first serve was a fault. The second serve clips the net and lands in the correct service box. Rule 22 says a service let does not cancel a previous fault. The server takes another second serve; the first-serve fault remains. This is the practical distinction to remember when a commentator says “let” after a fault.
What if the receiver was not ready?
Readiness is another service-let condition, separate from the net.
Under ITF Rules 21 and 22, the server must wait until the receiver is ready, while the receiver must play to the server’s reasonable pace. If the serve is delivered when the receiver is not ready, it is a let. A receiver who attempts a return is considered ready, so a missed return cannot normally be turned into a let by a late claim of unreadiness.
Do not confuse this with every interruption during a rally.
ITF Rule 23 generally replays the whole point when a let is called during play. Its exception for a service let on a second serve preserves the earlier first fault. The word “let” therefore needs a little context: did it concern the serve itself, and had a first fault already happened?
⚠️ Check whether the event uses no-let play
An approved alternative can keep a good net-cord serve in play.
The ITF Rules of Tennis list a “no let” alternative for the net-touch situation in Rule 22(a). Where that format applies, a serve that touches the net, strap or band and remains good is played rather than automatically replayed. The existence of this alternative does not mean every tournament uses it; consult that event’s published format before predicting a call.
No-let does not make an out serve good.
Even in no-let play, the ball still has to satisfy the applicable service rules. A net cord followed by a landing outside the correct service court is not a winning surprise serve. This is why the useful viewing question stays the same: where did the ball go after touching the net?
Read the next point without losing the score
The serve number matters more than the interruption.
When you hear a let, identify whether the server was on a first or second serve. Then watch the bounce in the diagonal service box and check whether the competition uses the standard let rule. Once the delivery is replayed, the point score has not changed; only the serve attempt has been reset as the rule allows.
The same scorekeeping habit helps later in a set.
Service order and point counting become especially easy to lose track of in a tennis tiebreak. A let does not advance that tiebreak score, and it does not change whose turn it is to serve. If you are following a major event, the US Open viewing guide offers a separate way to organize match context; use the event’s own rules for any format variation.
One check for the next net-cord serve
Watch the bounce, then the server’s next delivery.
On the next serve that catches the tape, note whether the ball lands in the correct service box and whether the player is on a first or second serve. If the official calls a standard service let, expect that same serve number again, with the point score unchanged. That two-step check explains the pause more reliably than the net sound alone.
Sources & method
Rule details were checked on October 2, 2026 against the ITF Rules of Tennis, Rules 17 and 19–23 and Appendix VI, as reproduced in the official 2026 WTA Rulebook. The example situations and viewing guidance are editorial explanations, not accounts of a particular match. Individual competitions may adopt approved alternative procedures.