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The rules of tennis cover the mechanical playing of the game but don’t cover your personal behavior.

There are many customs and traditions that have evolved over the history of the sport that make matches more enjoyable for all involved.

There is a code of conduct in boxing, the most confrontational of individual sports, and there is a code in tennis as well.

Most boxers, except for perhaps Mike Tyson, of the ear biting wing of the Tyson clan, learn that code in the course of their training.

A boxers training is more formal and intense than that of a club level tennis player, and in its course they are schooled in what not to do as well as what to do in the heated action of a bout.

Most club tennis players are never as deeply immersed in the culture of the sport they play and as a result their education in the various aspects of the game is most often limited to hitting shots and positioning with just the most cursory knowledge of the rules and customs.

A few things you should know are:

• You as the receiver are obliged to play at the reasonable pace of the server.

• You as the receiver are expected to retrieve any and all balls ending up on your side of the court at the immediate conclusion of the point and return them to the server or servers partner. (Note the word immediate!)

• When you return the balls to the server you must fist make eye contact and only then return the ball gently and directly to them preferably on one bounce if your skill level enables you to do so.

• If a ball from another court somehow bounds or rolls onto your court during a point, stop play immediately, call a let and the return the ball to the offending court only after you have ascertained that they are paying attention and are ready to receive the ball from you.

• Do not, I repeat, do not return a first serve that was out by a big margin! Either let it pass to the back fence or catch it and pocket it until the end of the point. If you do return the out first serve you may well be required to give the server two serves because you have in essence broken the continuous play rule and disrupted the servers second serve delivery.

• Any and all unsolicited coaching you might feel is appropriate to give a doubles partner who happens to be at a lower playing level than you perceive yourself to be is rude and condescending and must be avoided.

These are but a few of the guidelines that I suggest you follow to make your tennis experiences more fun and enjoyable.

Log on to USTA.COM and read “The Code” for more information.

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Howie Burnett is a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association and tennis director at the Island Country Club on Marco Island. Burnett welcomes questions on strokes, tactics or etiquette. To reach him, call the tennis shop at 394-4464 or e-mail him at islandclubtennis@hotmail.com.