My doubles partner swallowed a small flying bug and began coughing in the middle of a point. All of us kept playing, and my team won the point. Could our opponents have stopped play, claimed a hindrance and taken the point? Could my partner or I have stopped play, called a let and replayed the point? Or should the point have been played to completion like it was?
— William Riggan, Norman, OK
We know the what, where and how. Now we just have to figure out the who (was hindered) and why. Regarding your opponents, they could have stopped and replayed the point because the coughing fit hindered them. But they could not claim the point because the hindrance was caused by “an unintentional act of the opponent(s)” (Rule 26). As for you and your partner, you could have stopped and replayed the point because your partner was hindered by “something outside the player’s own control” (also Rule 26). Or you could do what you did: keep playing.