Some of your weirdest/worst/unimaginable on court experiences

[Jakes On A Plane]

Thought this might open up some good stories.

Here is one: In our first match at Adult 4.0 Sectionals this past summer, my partner and I went to a 10-pointer. We were down 7-9. Had we won this point, our opponents would have had to close it out with the "tighter" of the two players serving. My partner hits a body serve that our opponent blocks right into my kill zone. I smash it down the middle where the returner get a frame on it. It came back over the net, but some 6 or 7 feet wide of the line on my partner's side. I don't know what possesses my partner, but he ran up to it and caught it before it bounced. Our opponents got an umpire to confirm the rule and we lost match. :evil:

Anybody else got some good ones?

 

[jonnyjack]

haha, he's a 4.0 and he did that at sectionals?!?!

a 3.0 teammate of mine has the same bad habit of catching out balls too. he did the same thing on match point against him at mixed districts in a match tiebreak as well. so technically we lost the match but the opponents never said anything or didn't know or something. the spectators from both teams (including me) were two courts over and i just said to my other teammate who was watching, did you just see that? a spectator for the opposing team just shook his head disapprovingly, haha.

in combo 6.5 districts later that year, i was partnered with the same guy and our opponent hit a high ball headed towards the side fence. my partner leapt up and tried to catch it with his racket. luckily it hit the fence first, but barely, so the point was over. the opponent wanted to call him on it but i told him it hit the fence first but luckily there was a roving umpire watching our match at the time and confirmed that the ball hit the fence first.

 

[Cindysphinx]

How's this for "worst"?

We were playing the finals (ladies 3.5 senior) at nationals. We lost Court one. My partner and I won Court Two.

My teammates lost the first set on Court Three, but they mounted a comeback in the second set and won it. With everyone watching, it was all coming down to a 10-point tiebreak. An official stationed herself at the net post to supervise the tiebreak.

The score was 5-6. Our player hit the serve and a long rally ensued. Our net player poached and crossed, but then she made a move like she was going to cross back. Her partner at the baseline yelled, "Stay, Karen!"

Alas, when she yelled this, the ball was traveling toward the opponents. The opponent lined up her shot, played the ball, but missed into the net. She complained to the official, who said, "Hindrance, replay the point."

Rather than 6-6, the score remained 5-6. We lost the replayed point and then lost the tiebreak 8-10, IIRC.

I don't think my teammates will ever get over it.

 

[woodrow1029]

Why on earth would the official allow the hindrance after the player played the ball and missed it? That's just wrong. And, why on earth would he say "replay the point" and not award the point?

 

[Joeyg]

Why on earth would the official allow the hindrance after the player played the ball and missed it? That's just wrong. And, why on earth would he say "replay the point" and not award the point?

Because, dear Woodrow, there are USTA umpires out there that do not know what they are doing (present company excluded, of course).

 

[woodrow1029]

Because, dear Woodrow, there are USTA umpires out there that do not know what they are doing (present company excluded, of course).

Oh yeah. I forgot they're not all as good as me.

 

[Cindysphinx]

Why on earth would the official allow the hindrance after the player played the ball and missed it? That's just wrong. And, why on earth would he say "replay the point" and not award the point?

Ya got me.

I guess she was thinking that the hindrance was more of the "hat falling off" variety (unintentional)?

I think she just didn't have the guts to award the point to our opponents so late in such an important tiebreak in the deciding match. So she split the baby in half.

Like I said, I don't think our ladies will ever get over it. It was the first match they had lost all season.

 

[sureshs]

Did the official see the point or not? If not, she would have gone by what the player said, and if the opponents did not object, she would not have known that the player made a play on the ball.

 

[Cindysphinx]

Did the official see the point or not? If not, she would have gone by what the player said, and if the opponents did not object, she would not have known that the player made a play on the ball.

As I said, she stood by the net post during the entire tiebreak.

 

[I Heart Thomas Muster]

During a high school doubles match the losing team had one player at the baseline and one at the net when the match ended. The player at the baseline was a hot head and had been screaming the whole match. When it was finally over he let out a final scream and threw his racquet full strength. I swear that racquet looked like a heat seeking missile and his partner's head was the target. The racquet smacked his partner in the back of the head and he crumpled. I felt bad for the guy. Besides getting a racquet to the back of the head, you could tell he was embarrassed by his partner's antics.

 

[ssgator80]

The racquet smacked his partner in the back of the head and he crumpled.

I would have got up and shoved that racquet where the sun dont shine. It would be the last racquet that little ***** would throw at me.

A guy who I have been hitting with had a funny story about racquet throwing. He was a coach for a HS. A match was playing and his player was losing. The player turned toward the fence and threw his racquet. The racquet went over the fence and landed in a dump truck that was going by. The kid asked the coach what he should do. Told him to shake his opponents hand - match over.

 

[I Heart Thomas Muster]

My high school coach didn't tolerate racquet throwing. Even if you were twirling the racquet and it slipped and hit the ground you were running laps.

It's funny, I just played in a small Central California conference but I'll be damned if we didn't have our share of drama queens and crazy tennis parents.

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

Thought this might open up some good stories.

Here is one: In our first match at Adult 4.0 Sectionals this past summer, my partner and I went to a 10-pointer. We were down 7-9. Had we won this point, our opponents would have had to close it out with the "tighter" of the two players serving. My partner hits a body serve that our opponent blocks right into my kill zone. I smash it down the middle where the returner get a frame on it. It came back over the net, but some 6 or 7 feet wide of the line on my partner's side. I don't know what possesses my partner, but he ran up to it and caught it before it bounced. Our opponents got an umpire to confirm the rule and we lost match. :evil:

Anybody else got some good ones?

My captain was playing in sectionals last year and the opponents caught the ball on match point. My captain called it and the other guy said "c'mon dude, it was clearly out" To all of our shock our captain said, "all right but don't do it again."
They ended up loosing the next 5 games before closing it out in a MTB.

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

In terms of poor officiating I had several instances at sectionals the last three years. The blatantly wrong call that springs to mind involved a let.

I missed the first serve and had hit a second serve. The second serve had left my racket and was heading towards the opponents when a ball rolled onto the court and everyone called a let. I wanted two serves, as per the rules .... of our opponents one thought I deserved 2, the other was not sure. Any who, we called an official and explained the situation ... he gave 1 serve.

 

[floridatennisdude]

Weirdest match I can remember was a 6-0, 1-6, 6-0 win I had over the summer.

Had a rough one a few years back where I was leading 6-2, 5-1 and ended up losing in a match TB. Set TB was 1-7, match TB score was 0-10. I was pissed.

 

[10smonkey]

1)played a college match a long time ago when 2 players on my team got into a fistfight with each other over one player yelling out during a point and no they were not plaiyng doubles together it was singles on ajoining courts both defaulted.
2) played a tourney against a young pup who went to whip his racquet into the side fence and it helicoptered into the woods lost forever.... he had his mother searching the wood for his stick and was screaming at her because she could not find it.... match over.
3) saw a college match when player a complained about player b foot faulting, player b told player a to stfu there was no way he could see it from acros the net....next changeover player a walks up the SERVICE line not the base line bangs out an "ace" and declares 15- love... a sh#tstorm of epic proportions follows

 

[gmatheis]

Ya got me.

I guess she was thinking that the hindrance was more of the "hat falling off" variety (unintentional)?

I think she just didn't have the guts to award the point to our opponents so late in such an important tiebreak in the deciding match. So she split the baby in half.

Like I said, I don't think our ladies will ever get over it. It was the first match they had lost all season.

Maybe they shoudl learn to keep quiet then

 

[bobbything]

I've got a couple...

In college, one of my teammates was up 6-1, 3-0. His opponent hit a drop shot that my teammate ran down. He hit the shot and his opponent caught the ball. My teammate argued that he got to the shot. This went back and forth for a while before his opponent said, "Well it's my call (which it wasn't), what are you going to do about it?" My teammate hopped the net and shoved the guy to the ground. Both teams ran up to separate the players. No coaches were around, strangely enough, so they finished the match. My teammate lost 6-0, 3-6, 0-6.

At 4.5 Sectionals a few years back, one of our doubles teams was playing a team from Iowa. Our guy hit a volley down the line that, I sh*t you not, landed right in the middle of the doubles alley. About 2 feet from the sideline. Their opponent calls it out. It was honestly the most blatant hook I've ever seen. They argued about it for a while but then the very next point, their opponents hit a 2nd serve that lands in the middle of the box. Our guy who was returning it caught the ball and called it out. That's when sh*t hit the fan. Arguments, yelling, swearing. It was weird.

Other time was at 4.5 Nationals this year in Tuscon. There was this female official who loved, absolutely loved, to call foot-faults. There was a 4.5 women's match going on near us. This official walks over to their match and calls a foot fault on this woman playing singles. Turns out that it was her 2nd serve, match point down, in a 2-2 match. Winner goes to the finals.

 

[Joeyg]

I've got a couple...

In college, one of my teammates was up 6-1, 3-0. His opponent hit a drop shot that my teammate ran down. He hit the shot and his opponent caught the ball. My teammate argued that he got to the shot. This went back and forth for a while before his opponent said, "Well it's my call (which it wasn't), what are you going to do about it?" My teammate hopped the net and shoved the guy to the ground. Both teams ran up to separate the players. No coaches were around, strangely enough, so they finished the match. My teammate lost 6-0, 3-6, 0-6.

At 4.5 Sectionals a few years back, one of our doubles teams was playing a team from Iowa. Our guy hit a volley down the line that, I sh*t you not, landed right in the middle of the doubles alley. About 2 feet from the sideline. Their opponent calls it out. It was honestly the most blatant hook I've ever seen. They argued about it for a while but then the very next point, their opponents hit a 2nd serve that lands in the middle of the box. Our guy who was returning it caught the ball and called it out. That's when sh*t hit the fan. Arguments, yelling, swearing. It was weird.

Other time was at 4.5 Nationals this year in Tuscon. There was this female official who loved, absolutely loved, to call foot-faults. There was a 4.5 women's match going on near us. This official walks over to their match and calls a foot fault on this woman playing singles. Turns out that it was her 2nd serve, match point down, in a 2-2 match. Winner goes to the finals.

Bobby D is this you? If so, congrats on going to nationals. Too bad Stevie can't get bumped down.

joeyg

 

[Jakes On A Plane]

3) saw a college match when player a complained about player b foot faulting, player b told player a to stfu there was no way he could see it from acros the net....next changeover player a walks up the SERVICE line not the base line bangs out an "ace" and declares 15- love... a sh#tstorm of epic proportions follows

HAHAHAHAHAHA That's absolutely incredible!!!

 

[andyaycw]

Early round of a tournament years ago, I split the first two sets with my opponent and broke his serve in the 3rd set to go up 3-1. As I prepared to serve and called out the score as 3-1, my opponent stopped me and said he thought it was 2-1. We met at the net to recount who served first - he agreed that I had served first, and also agreed that the two of us had held serve until I just broke his serve in the last game, so it couldn't possibly only be 2-1 but he still thought it was 2-1 despite the fact that he agreed with my logic. We were on a pretty remote court with no spectators.

Tournament referee came over, told us to stop wasting time, and to play from 1-1 instead of the mutually "agreeable" score of at least 2-1.

I still won the match, but I was pretty pissed at the tournament ref, and my opponent for what seemed like a pretty deliberate attempt at cheating me out of two games.

I'm surprised more people don't try to pull this stunt as it seems like they could get away with it so easily if there is no umpire or few spectators. Down a few games in a set 0-4? Just innocently declare that you thought the score was 3-4 and have a tournament ref come over and say "replay at 0-0".

 

[tennis tom]

Well I guess mine was too weird for the kids down in SLO-- got expunged. If they were up in frisco, no one would bat an eyelash, maybe even get elected a supervisor for the shot of the year.

 

[bobbything]

I'm surprised more people don't try to pull this stunt as it seems like they could get away with it so easily if there is no umpire or few spectators. Down a few games in a set 0-4? Just innocently declare that you thought the score was 3-4 and have a tournament ref come over and say "replay at 0-0".

This happened to me last summer. The guy I was playing was from Ecuador, was very difficult to understand, and was about 20 years older than me. He tried on three different occasions to change the score from 0-30 to 30-30, from 0-3 to 1-2, and from 0-1 to 1-0.

It royally pissed me off. Though I won 6-2, 6-3.

 

[bobbything]

Bobby D is this you? If so, congrats on going to nationals. Too bad Stevie can't get bumped down.

joeyg

My last name does start with a "D", but I don't think I know anyone named Joey or Stevie; and I go by my middle name which starts with a "J".

But thanks anyway!