Taking Lord’s Full Name in Vain a Sin on Court

Frustrated high school tennis players in Tennessee can yell “Jesus!” or “Christ!” without censure. What they can’t do is scream “Jesus Christ!”

Those two words were shouted by Bearden High’s Cameron Boyd after he lost serve in the third set of the Class AAA championship doubles match--and he and partner Brandon Allan were disqualified.

Jan Genosi, the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Assn. official at Thursday’s match, came onto the court and awarded the victory to Scott and Andrew Felsenthal, citing the profanity rule.

Genosi said the state association closely follows U.S. Tennis Assn. rules, which permit players to yell “Jesus” and “Christ”--just not in the same breath.

“You allow ‘Jesus’ and you allow ‘Christ,’ but you won’t allow them together?” Boyd asked Genosi. “That’s ridiculous.”

State tennis rules call for an automatic default on a first offense for visible or audible profanity or obscenity or physical abuse of a player or official.

“I don’t have any leeway,” Genosi said. “I’m going by the rule.”

Bearden Coach Ann Ham said she had not heard that phrase included in warnings about forbidden profanity.