By TS Caladan | Tuesday, August 16, 2022

It is a myth that we must have lines to play tennis.

Possibly, in the future, there won’t be lines. We don’t consider the future, here in the present, the Things to Come.

What will “our sport” look like in the future? It will be obvious to players of tomorrow that lines will be eliminated in their entirety. You see, they were never needed in the first place. Tennis only had LINES because that was the way it was done and no one had the nerve to change tradition, modernize it or think of a better way.

World TeamTennis and Tennis exhibitions have used a carpeted court that got rid of those nasty lines, but these were on occasions and are mostly forgotten today. WTT brought back its multi-colored hard court in recent years though it had lines distinguishing the colored sections of the court.

Let’s bring the future NOW! Why not revolutionize tennis and make it more exciting with a cooler court design? The exact same game could be played with painted hard courts once the correct contrasting colors were decided.

Tennis could be made much more exciting if we broke from the “normal” colors and dared to use different and attractive color-combinations never put together before. The game would also be more fun to play without lines.

SPACE is another example:



Why are smaller courts necessary?

Smaller courts are necessary because the traditional court has not changed in 142 years!

Way, way back then, the ball traveled in slow-motion compared to the laser blasts of today from powerful new racquets and synthetic strings. There was all the time in the world to reach the soft groundstrokes and the easy serves. But now, wow, has the speed of tennis changed: There is no time to return lightning serves and super fast shots. The traditional singles court and service square have become TOO LARGE because of the advancement of racquet technology over years.

Why are LINELESS courts necessary?

They’re not; they’re simply more exciting and fun to play on. Why have an old-fashioned tennis court when you could hit a tennis ball on a court that appeared from the future? Why not take tennis out of the past and make the sport more futuristic in appearance?

‘Space’ is another lineless concept that could attract not only the general public, but professional players.

In the game 'Space' you must strike the dark areas of a smaller court that is divided by a 3-foot wide, lighter area. Players cannot hit as before with a full court; the shots must be directional. The middle of the court’s length and width have to be avoided.

The distance from the net to the back of the service square is only 18 feet, rather than the usual 21 feet. The width of a Space court is 2-feet shorter than the normal 27 feet, which shrunk the target for serve even more. Serves must be spun in and not slammed!

Lets are played and there are no foot-faults. As long as servers start behind what was a baseline, they can step into the court. They also have the freedom to stand anywhere they want, as long it’s beyond the court. Rounded corners are pleasing to the eye and would not be a problem for Hawk-Eye.

There are alternatives to tennis other than Paddleball and Pickleball. We can hit tennis balls with tennis racquets on new court-designs that filter out the big serve and powerful groundstrokes.

The problem is: New and improved designs have not been introduced as if it’s a crime to change tennis? The crime is not changing tennis. The crime is not instituting innovations, innovations that could solve many of the big problems in the modern game.

How about some futuristic-thinking person take a massive step and build and promote a true alternative to the classic game, have it stand on its own alongside tennis?

Lineless, cool, creative games will never exist, never be available to tennis fans unless courageous promoters decide: LET’S BE DIFFERENT. Why wait? Let’s have the future now. Let’s build smaller, lineless courts. Let’s experiment and develop smart games for the youth (other than Pickleball).

The only thing that’s really important is getting young people to want to grab a racquet and strike a tennis ball. It has to be fun. Innovations, exciting/colorful racquet-sports will produce that interest and renew the enthusiasm of older fans. Now, let’s really quantum leap into the far future with...



Roval was first introduced in the June 21st, 2006 issue of Tennis Week Magazine and was barely noticed outside of the magazine and Nick Bollettieri. The lineless game has sat on the shelf for 17 years waiting to be resurrected by a brave advocate that can see its value.



“The game of tennis needs innovation. Your new court design would completely change tennis strategy. I wish you the best of luck.” - Nick Bollettieri (9/12/06).


Roval was suggested for the U.S. Open: “...the general concept of introducing this new game on the World of the Future fairgrounds is an intriguing one. I hope Queens goes for it.” - Kent Oswald, editor of Tennis Week Magazine in 2006.

You play Roval by serving at the far end of the court. Servers must serve from the same spot and cannot serve closer, to the side. Lets are played. Foot-faults are not called. As long as the server began beyond the solid color and in the middle, they can step into the court during the service motion. Servers are two feet farther away and must hit a smaller area. You got two serves. Serves must be spun in to be good.

The inner “island” of the stretched-donut court is called a “Soval” (Service-Oval). Serves must strike the Soval to begin the point. As soon as the Soval is hit, it becomes an OUT-area. The Soval is painted the same as outside of the court, which is an OUT-area. In this way, players can play on a really cool (lineless) design.

Roval is a return to the first tennis where powerful groundstrokes and super serves did not dominate the game. The curved court will have players construct a point, come to net, volley, lob and hit to that extra two feet length.

Also, the smaller court becomes an excellent practice court to train on. Finesse, touch-shots, lobs, volleys will happen a lot and the normal court will seem huge after playing Roval. Even though the middle has been removed, more dropshots and lobs will occur with that extra two feet of length.

On a Roval court, power and big serves are factored out. Accuracy is of prime importance and Men have no stranglehold in that department. Women can play the touch and finesse game just as well. If Roval was played by the professional tennis community, one day it would happen: A pro woman would win against a top professional male player without any handicaps! Even. Wouldn’t the world be fascinated by that event? And that can happen on a Roval singles court.

John McEnroe spoke at the 2007 U.S. Open concerning the problems in tennis: How young players do not come to net, volley, and construct a point anymore. It was Boom, point over!

McEnroe said: “My solution...smaller courts. An idea worth trying.”

McEnroe had suggested that the service line should be shortened by “three inches.”



Professional hard court and grass court tennis have been taken over by “Serve-Bots” at times. Ace, ace, ace, ace, is not tennis. To some people, this was boring. Fans want to see long rallies, as well as dropshots and lobs and angles.

Smaller courts could provide that excitement in the game from the old days. Tennis must change for the sake of the fans, the players and for the sake of tennis.

Colorful, lineless racquet games are steps in the right direction.

Writer TS Caladan (aka Doug Yurchey) has researched modern and ancient mysteries and played tennis for more than 60 years. He was #1 in high school and #4 on Edinboro’s college tennis team. He was a background artist on The Simpsons and is presently working on his 16th published book. TS Caladan's previous books include: The Best of TS Caladan, Mandela Effect, Mandela II and Collected Comedy of TS Caladan.