why do people cheat on line calls?

[sportsmad]

I have lost count of the amount of times i have seen a ball hit in only to have the opponent call it out.It has happened to me heaps and i have seen it happen to other people.I have heard it said that you wont lose a game on bad line calls,i think this is false because the line cheats are at their best when the game is tight offern screwing with your head and makeing you lose it mentally regularly walking away with false victory.do these people actually think they won?
I play by the motto if i didnt clearly see it go out it was in.great shot :)

[EricW]

It's terrible, I know. When I played HS tennis last year (and i will start again 5 weeks from now!) it seemed if it was close, it was out. Everytime! The funniest was when I spectated and watched the shots and the calls, it was pathetic.

[Phil]

I have a theory on cheaters: They cheat on line calls because they are assh*les.

Yes, I realize that I've left out the key quantitative, psychoanalytic and socio-historical data that was used in arriving at this conclusion, but I'm giving you the "executive summary" here.

Look at it this way...do you know ANY cheater who is actually a nice, decent person off the court? I don't. They're all, somehow, creeps any way you cut it. They are people that I don't really want to know. My friends and my regular tennis partners don't cheat...and none of them are a-holes. Coincidence? I think not.

[EricW]

I have a theory on cheaters: They cheat on line calls because they are assh*les.

Yes, I realize that I've left out the key quantitative, psychoanalytic and socio-historical data that was used in arriving at this conclusion, but I'm giving you the "executive summary" here.

Look at it this way...do you know ANY cheater who is actually a nice, decent person off the court? I don't. They're all, somehow, creeps any way you cut it. They are people that I don't really want to know. My friends and my regular tennis partners don't cheat...and none of them are a-holes. Coincidence? I think not.

I know plenty of nice people who i've seen bullsh*t calls..

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Look at it this way...do you know ANY cheater who is actually a nice, decent person off the court? I don't. They're all, somehow, creeps any way you cut it. They are people that I don't really want to know. My friends and my regular tennis partners don't cheat...and none of them are a-holes. Coincidence? I think not.

Actually I do know a couple of bad line callers who are failry pleasant off the court and I even socialize with them. Since I only play social tennis with them I don't get bent out of shape at their bad calls. I know they are going to make bad calls and with that knowledge I can choose to play with them or decline. Then there are a number of twits that cheat and have a crappy disposition to boot. I would not play with them if I was paid to.

I think people generally make bad line calls because.

1. They want to win so bad they will call almost anything close to the lines out, or
2. They have bad eyesight (I am not kidding), or
3. Both

[sportsmad]

or
4. they are assh*les. lol

[Phil]

Actually I do know a couple of bad line callers who are failry pleasant off the court and I even socialize with them. Since I only play social tennis with them I don't get bent out of shape at their bad calls. I know they are going to make bad calls and with that knowledge I can choose to play with them or decline. Then there are a number of twits that cheat and have a crappy disposition to boot. I would not play with them if I was paid to.

I think people generally make bad line calls because.

1. They want to win so bad they will call almost anything close to the lines out, or
2. They have bad eyesight (I am not kidding), or
3. Both

If a person HABITUALLY makes bad line calls INTENTIONALLY, then they are cheaters. I would not categorize someone with a legit eyesight problem as a cheater; that's understandable. Although...I wear corrective lenses and my eyesight is not great, but I give my opponent the benefit of the doubt on anything close. As for your #1, I guess I just don't know anyone like that very well-none of my friends or regular playing partners willfully cheat. In my experience, cheaters are a-holes, on and off the court.

[Dr. Van Nostrand]

Sometimes I get a kick out of playing a cheater for the satisfaction of beating them in spite of however many bad line calls they made during the match. But overall they are a group to avoid.

They are just as bad as people you play against occasionally who manage to "forget" the game score or set score and then want to argue about it generally when they are losing and losing by a lot. I have less tolerance for people that pull that stunt.

[drakulie]

2. They have bad eyesight (I am not kidding),

There was a study on this done a few years ago. I think it came out in tennis magazine??? Anyway, it was pretty amazing to see how many people made bad line calls even though they knew they were being watched and tested. In fact, many times they played balls that were out thinking they were in.

The result:::many people could simply not clearly see where the ball landed.

The result showed that it is very difficult to track exactly where the ball lands-especially at the higher levels where the ball is traveling much faster.

Just look at the pros, they are incorrect over 80%???? of the time when they challenge calls.

[dowjones]

Calling lines as a player is not that easy. All the movement and concentrating on setting up to hit the ball keeps you from focusing on where the balls lands sometimes. I've called balls out that were in, out and balls that were out, good. I try to correct my bad calls especially in favor of the opponent and not so much when I cheat myself. Reversing an in to an out after your brain realizes what really happened just feels cheesy.

[pNoyr3D]

I agree with dowjones, calling the ball while playing is a hard thing to do especially how fast the balls go these days. I know I make bad line calls all the time and it's mostly the seeing where the ball landed factor.

My coach told me "When in doubt, call it out!"

[For All I know]

I agree with dowjones, calling the ball while playing is a hard thing to do especially how fast the balls go these days. I know I make bad line calls all the time and it's mostly the seeing where the ball landed factor.

My coach told me "When in doubt, call it out!"Wait .... are you sure he didn't say: "When in doubt, don't call it out." ?

If not, you may want to question your leader's integrity.

[equinox]

I consider myself very fair with linecalls.
I've always given benefit of doubt to my oppositions shots.
I get asked why i didn't call shots out all the time.

I laugh when i play a close service return and the net player decides to call it out. It's not there call to make..

I've played 2 two clearcut no doubts cheaters.

One guy who calls the ball OUT before it lands IN with topspin..he yelled out and the ball landed 3/4 court and we stopped playing. He refused to give up the point. we replayed on 1st hinderence.

Another who called OUT two identical serves down the T in a row. Guess he really wanted to win that game.

My ex-mixed partner was pretty bad on calls at times, especially when things got *****y with opposite female.
Overruled her several times and had a firey lift home..

[Kabob190]

when i get tested for eyesight i am perfect. but it is not easy to make line calls on court. its not about eyesight for me, its that i have enough to concentrate on without having to make line calls. i do the best i can, i call it in when in doubt but i know i am am going to make mistakes.

[chess9]

There was a study on this done a few years ago. I think it came out in tennis magazine??? Anyway, it was pretty amazing to see how many people made bad line calls even though they knew they were being watched and tested. In fact, many times they played balls that were out thinking they were in.

The result:::many people could simply not clearly see where the ball landed.

The result showed that it is very difficult to track exactly where the ball lands-especially at the higher levels where the ball is traveling much faster.

Just look at the pros, they are incorrect over 80%???? of the time when they challenge calls.

Yes, this is the answer, though some guys will call close balls out rather than in. The a**hole factor is alive and well.

I play some mixed doubles with some very good women and the woman on my team always calls close balls OUT. :) I've overruled her twice but she gets very mad at me when I do so. :)

Personally, I would much rather play an out ball than call an in ball out. If my opponent complains once about a close call I will usually give it to him. If he complains twice, he is SOL. :)

Let's face it, amateur tennis relies upon our desire to actually beat our opponent, not cheat him.

-Robert

[tennisfreak]

For me at least, I don't see the point in beating someone when you know in the back of your mind, you had to cheat for the victory.

That being said, I have made some bad calls in my life. All of it having to do with not seeing the ball clearly, due to various circumstances.

There are times where I have called a ball out and realize after I made the call, it was probably in. Also, many times, I have played a ball and realize right after I had played it, that it was out. These kind of calls seem to be sort of an instinctual reaction in which my brain thinks it had to be out, due to the way the ball was traveling through the court. When I think I've made a questionable call , I usually kept playing because changing the call at that point would be lame, imo.

I have also gotten an extra look from my opponent when I call a ball out, but I usually stick to my original call, unless I know for sure I've made a mistake.

[kevhen]

Yeah it happens alot but it depends on the integrity of who you are playing as some people are very honest but others occasionally hook and then a few others just happen to make the occasional mistake.

[buder]

I've played very few level-1 cheaters -- someone who calls a consciously sighted "in" ball "out". I've run into many, many, many level-2 cheaters: people who resolve doubt in their favor. Psychologically, level-2's don't feel like they're cheating because they did not see the ball "in" (nor did they see it "out"). They unconsciously resolve "unsighted" into "my point". My sense is that our entire biological system is geared toward this type of delusion. People act in the service, broadly, of avoiding pain -- and for many, losing is just too painful. None of this is conscious: as long as they don't see the ball clearly "in", they don't have the conscious sense of cheating.

When someone is standing at the baseline and a 70+mph ball lands in front of them, and this shot is "out" by less than an inch, and they call a it "out" (but they did not see it "out" because the human eye does not record data accurately at that speed, from that angle), I feel like I am seeing the principal of rationalization writ large. The human mind is very sophisticated because it actually allows us to call this kind of unsighted ball "out". The point is: if we all played by the rules, we would call many, many, many balls that were in fact "out" as "in" (because the human eye has physical limitations). The reason we need ShotSpot is precisely because there is a whole class of shots that cannot (because of speed/angle) be clearly seen. Anybody who says a fast serve or baseline bomb was out by an inch is a level-2 cheater. The worst of this breed cannot see this psychological trick within themselves. Many of the people reading this very thread are level-2 cheaters and they don't know it. They win many matches based on how they handle unsighted balls. If you are playing fairly, than you should be playing alot of "out" balls as "in". In fact, if you don't have a reputation at your club for playing "out" balls, than, by default, you might have a mild strain of level-2 cheating'itus.

[anybody who has ever played on clay understands that a low, fast shot can often look out, but inspection reveals an abnormally long skid mark, with a micro-millimeter of that mark touching the very outside edge of the line. Level-2 chearters call this "out" because the ball really did seem out. The act of calling this type of ball "out" has hardened into a habitual response. Perhaps natural selection favors people who rationalize sense data to their benefit; perhaps level 2 cheating is built into many peoples' hard wiring]

Nature abhors a vacuum (in tennis this translates into: nature abhors uncertainty). Cheating, therefore, is a biological reflex.

[the point of my post is this: people are often not consciously hooking you. In fact, these people are not actually cheating: they are quite literally deluded]

[jackson vile]

It is human nature to cheat, or take/make advantages

[SoBad]

Wait .... are you sure he didn't say: "When in doubt, don't call it out." ?

If not, you may want to question your leader's integrity.

Well, that's what the rules say, but in reality college team coaches (at least in Big East) accross divisions routinely advise players to call close balls out. Watching NCAA matches makes you blush sometimes...:sad:

[skraggle]

When I played juniors in So Cal in the seventies, there was an entire family that cheated on line calls. They were so bad that before anyone would play them, they called for a line ref...

[Slice Approach]

I have always played with the understanding that if you can't definitively call the ball "out", then you have to call in "in".