Permanent fixtures decide when the point is already over.

How the call is made

1. First decide whether the ball was still in play. A fault, let, double bounce, or out call may already have ended the point.
2. Identify what the ball touched: the court, a line, the legal net area, a player, or a permanent fixture.
3. If the ball hit a permanent fixture before bouncing in the correct court, award the point against the player who hit the ball.
4. If the ball bounced in the correct court before hitting a permanent fixture, award the point to the player who hit the ball.
5. For serves, treat contact with a permanent fixture, singles stick, or net post before the ball lands as a service fault unless a separate service-let rule applies.

What counts as a permanent fixture

Permanent fixtures are the fixed or recognised objects around and above the court. They include backstops, sidestops, spectator stands and seats, spectators, other fixtures around or above the court, and court officials or ball persons when they are in their recognised positions.

The idea is practical: once the ball touches one of these objects, normal rally play cannot continue. The rules then use the timing of the touch to decide who wins the point.

Fixture contact before a legal bounce loses the point

If a player hits a shot and the ball touches a permanent fixture before it has landed in the correct court, that player loses the point. It does not matter that the ball might have been heading in, might have been unreturnable, or might have clipped part of the court first outside the correct area.

Common examples are a lob hitting a roof or light above an indoor court, a shot striking a back fence before bouncing, or a ball hitting the umpire's chair before reaching the court.

Fixture contact after a legal bounce wins the point

If the ball first lands in the correct court and then touches a permanent fixture, the player who hit the ball wins the point. The opponent did not make a legal return before the ball became unplayable, so the point is already decided.

This is why a deep shot that lands inside the baseline and then hits the back fence is good. The fence contact does not cancel the legal landing; it confirms that the opponent did not return the ball in time.

A serve hitting a fixture is a fault

A serve has its own sequence. If the served ball touches a permanent fixture, singles stick, or net post before it hits the ground, it is a service fault. It is not treated like a normal rally shot that can be saved by a later bounce.

That is different from a service let. A serve that touches the net, strap, or band and is otherwise good is replayed. A serve that touches a permanent fixture before landing is not replayed as a let.

Singles on a doubles net has a special boundary

When singles is played on a court with a doubles net and singles sticks, the singles sticks define the net area used for the singles match. The net posts and the parts of the net outside the singles sticks are permanent fixtures, not playable parts of the net for that singles point.

That distinction changes close calls. A rally ball that hits a singles stick and then lands in the correct court can be a good return. A ball that hits the outside net post, or the part of the net outside the singles stick, is treated under the permanent-fixture rule.

Not every net structure is treated the same

In doubles, the net posts are part of the net setup for the doubles court. In singles with singles sticks, the outside net posts are permanent fixtures. That is why the same-looking contact can be judged differently depending on whether the match is singles or doubles and whether singles sticks are being used.

Officials start by identifying the match format and court setup before deciding whether the ball hit the legal net area or a permanent fixture.

"Out of play" means the point has been decided

Tennis does not use "out of play" as a single magic phrase for every situation. A ball can be out because it lands outside the relevant lines, dead because a let is called, no longer playable because it hits a permanent fixture, or still live because it touched the legal net area and landed in.

The practical question is always sequence. What happened first: legal bounce in the correct court, illegal fixture contact, out landing, net touch by a player, double bounce, or a let?

A ball can pass outside the net post and still be good

A return does not always have to pass directly over the net. In the right situation, a player can hit an around-the-post shot outside the net post, above or below net height, if the ball lands in the correct court and no permanent-fixture rule has been broken.

This is a separate rule from fixture contact. The shot is judged by whether it is a good return, not by whether it travelled through the usual space above the middle of the net.

"It hit something, so replay the point"

That is usually wrong. Permanent-fixture contact normally awards the point one way or the other. A replay is more likely when a let is called for outside interference during play, but the hindrance rule specifically treats permanent fixtures differently from unexpected outside events.

For example, a stray ball rolling onto the court can create a let. A player hitting the back fence with a shot before the ball lands in court does not create a let; the player loses the point.

"It was going out, so I caught it"

A player should not catch or stop a ball before it bounces and then claim it was obviously going out. If the ball is still in play and the player touches it, the rules treat that contact as decisive unless the situation qualifies as a good return.

Letting the ball land is the clean way to prove it is out. Stopping it early can turn a likely winning call into a lost point.

How officials enforce these calls

Officials work from the first decisive event. They watch for the legal landing, then for fixture contact, player contact, net contact, and any possible let. If a ball clearly hits a fixture before landing in the correct court, the call is against the striker. If it clearly lands in and then hits a fixture, the striker wins the point.

At recreational level, the same logic applies even without a chair umpire. Players should agree on the court setup before play, especially for singles played on a doubles net, because the status of singles sticks and outside net posts can change the ruling.

Source material

• ITF Rules and Regulations
• ITF Rules of Tennis
• USTA Friend at Court