Keeping a ball violates tennis etiquette

FLUSHING, N.Y. — Andre Agassi took a victory swing, whacking a tennis ball into the upper deck at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Sitting high in Section 133, Melody Rajacic wound up with the specially stamped Wilson I.

Good thing she caught the ball after Agassi won. Because at the U.S. Open and other organized tournaments, it's a rule: Fans must throw back foul balls.

Instead of keeping balls that fly into the seats, spectators are expected to politely return them. Sometimes the chair umpire will hold up play and ask for a ball to be tossed from the crowd to a ball boy or ball girl.

"I know if I was a fan, I'd want to keep the ball," defending champion Andy Roddick said. "I'd probably get in trouble for not throwing it back."

"It's like Wrigley," he said.

Last fall, Steve Bartman became a public enemy in Chicago when he did as many folks would have done. He reached for a foul ball during a baseball playoff game at Wrigley Field, and some fans blamed him for costing the Cubs a trip to the World Series.

There is little chance that anyone paying $180 or so for a lower-promenade box at Flushing Meadows would dare risk spilling their Evian water to lean over the 9-foot padded wall to grab a lemon-lime ball that costs about $1.

Outfielder Kenny Lofton of the New York Yankees saw the ball-return tradition for himself last week when he attended the tournament to watch Venus Williams.

"That's weak," Lofton said yesterday before a game against Tampa Bay. "Fans should be allowed to keep the balls. They've got more balls."

Rajacic's prize with the "US Open" stamp featured two small parallel marks, caused by racket strings. She planned to put it on display — "or maybe eBay," she said, joking.

As for a ball hit into the stands during a match, Rajacic said, "I think you should keep it. Why not?"

Sitting one row in front of her, Cathy Hamilton disagreed. "The balls are pressurized a certain way," she said. "It would change the way the game is played."

To Agassi and other tennis types, that's the crux of it.

Six fresh balls are put into play after nine games — the warmup period counts for two games — and they wear down quickly. Substituting a juiced ball for a lost, dull one would alter the pace.

"It's a basic necessity because it's not like baseball, where every ball is new," said Agassi, a two-time U.S. Open winner. "If a ball is newer than the next ball, it plays differently, plays faster. It would be a serious disadvantage for a returner not to know what ball's being used, whether it's a new one or an old one.

"That's why you notice most players take a few balls, choose them and then give them back, because they're basing the ball they're using on a certain amount of even wear and tear, as well as what serve they want to hit."

On Monday, Nicolas Kiefer got upset and knocked a ball into the far reaches at Arthur Ashe Stadium during his loss to Tim Henman. It got returned, naturally.

And what if a player began spraying them into the seats on purpose to gain an advantage?

"Hopefully the umpire wouldn't let someone get away with hitting the balls in the crowd," Roddick said.

Spent balls at the Open are donated to youth-tennis programs in the area.

Martina Navratilova, winner of 167 WTA Tour singles titles, offered a compromise.

"Maybe keep track of that fan and give them the ball back after you've played your seven or nine games with it," she said.