Dealing with a foot faulter in your league

[purge]

Originally Posted by onehandbh

Hard to say what kind of a reaction you might get.
The guy could thank you for pointing it out, or
act like Kobe getting whistled for traveling (for palming the ball) on a
time-expiring game-winning dunk.

or serena getting a footfault call on a matchpoint against her *whistles*

[TheGreatestAudia]

Just call it when it happens. He can gripe all he wants, but if it is as blatant as you say, there's nothing else he can argue.

[Z-Man]

I disagree with some of you--not everyone does it. It's cheating. It's like making the net lower, the player taller, the service box bigger. I ran some trig on it once, and every inch a player steals really effects the geometry of the court. Also, don't forget the ball is traveling faster.

I usually wait for an ace and then say something like "nice serve--think you can hit that one from behind the line?". Or even better, if they question a line call on their serve, you could say "you had the length right--you just stood too close."

[dman72]

Originally Posted by Z-Man

I disagree with some of you--not everyone does it. It's cheating. It's like making the net lower, the player taller, the service box bigger. I ran some trig on it once, and every inch a player steals really effects the geometry of the court. Also, don't forget the ball is traveling faster.

I usually wait for an ace and then say something like "nice serve--think you can hit that one from behind the line?". Or even better, if they question a line call on their serve, you could say "you had the length right--you just stood too close."

I don't think the guy in question is knowingly cheating..(unless he's been told and refuses to change his service stance), but it's still an unfair advantage. I guess I don't care enough about winning to make things turn ugly by calling a foot fault during a silly league match, so honestly, I'm watching him during warm ups next time we play, and if he's still inside the line, I'm going to start my serve a foot inside the line. We'll see if he gets the point. My only fear with that is that it screws up my serve for the next match.

[VaththalKuzhambu]

Everyone likes to be praised, especially in tennis.

First commend him on his powerful serves. Then casually ask him how far he stands behind the baseline before the toss. In fact, request him to demo a couple serves with you standing next to him so that you could learn. Bring up the issue after the demo.

[dcdoorknob]

Why do people feel the need to make things so complicated? If it is blatant, then bring it up directly (and I mean like early on, not like after an ace in the 2nd set ). You have a right to do so, and they shouldn't get upset over you bringing it up. If they do, that's really their problem, not yours.

All these 'I'll sugar coat my complaint in an insincere compliment' or 'well I'll foot fault too to send a message', or other like options range from inefficiently indirect to downright passive-aggressive. I tell you what, tactics like that are easy to see through and they annoy me a heck of a lot more than a simple direct approach. Maybe that's the real intent of those approaches after all, to be condescending or antagonistic rather than to simply try to resolve the issue.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by dcdoorknob

Why do people feel the need to make things so complicated? If it is blatant, then bring it up directly. You have a right to do so, and they shouldn't get upset over you bringing it up. If they do, that's really their problem, not yours.

All these 'I'll sugar coat my complaint in an insincere compliment' or 'well I'll foot fault too to send a message', or other like options range from inefficiently indirect to downright passive-aggressive. I tell you what, tactics like that are easy to see through and they annoy me a heck of a lot more than a simple direct approach. Maybe that's the real intent of those approaches after all, to be condescending or antagonistic rather than to simply try to resolve the issue.

It is complicated because he may deny that it happens and ask you to prove it. Or challenge your eyesight being so good.

Cell phone video taken discreetly during another match is a good solution, but you will look like a jerk who is taping people behind their back.

[dcdoorknob]

Originally Posted by sureshs

It is complicated because he may deny that it happens and ask you to prove it. Or challenge your eyesight being so good.

I mean these things can happen, but if the direct approach isn't going to work then I don't see how these other 'ideas' involving indirect insincere compliments about how nice their illegal ace just was or just deciding to footfault yourself will actually work ever either.

[kylebarendrick]

How many times has someone on this board posted something like "if that jerk calls me for a footfault then I'll call them on him too". Even mentioning a footfault to some people is akin enough to start an argument. People shouldn't freak out about it but they do. That leaves us with either ignoring them (as most people do) or trying to find a way to mention it that won't start a nuclear war.

[VaththalKuzhambu]

On a related note, how should one handle this if their doubles partner is footfaulting on every serve or making bad line calls often?

Straight forward approach or subtle notification?

[Coach Carter]

I think this is TOUGH to deal with outside a tournament where you may have either an official or director to gripe to. People usually would take it that your belly-aching over nothing...justified or not.

[escii_35]

With all this talk of footfaulting I decided to put my serve to the camera test for the second time. I've been accused of foot faulting due to a minor two foot shuffle. What folks don't realize is that I start 6-8 in behind the line. Yes, the front foot may in forward but I'm still behind the line.

20 second serves -> 1 FF (This one was a really bad loss of balance line cross. If someone called me on it no problem.
10 first serve kickers -> 0 FF
10 s & v serves -> 2 FF (Line touches)
20 3/4 control first servers -> 1 FF (Loss of balance with a line touch but it went into the net.

In conclusion unless I'm trying to get to net or I have a form break footfaulting it's probably not happening.

Get a camera, set it up and show the accused results. Nuff said.

[dman72]

Originally Posted by dcdoorknob

Why do people feel the need to make things so complicated? If it is blatant, then bring it up directly (and I mean like early on, not like after an ace in the 2nd set ). You have a right to do so, and they shouldn't get upset over you bringing it up. If they do, that's really their problem, not yours.

All these 'I'll sugar coat my complaint in an insincere compliment' or 'well I'll foot fault too to send a message', or other like options range from inefficiently indirect to downright passive-aggressive. I tell you what, tactics like that are easy to see through and they annoy me a heck of a lot more than a simple direct approach. Maybe that's the real intent of those approaches after all, to be condescending or antagonistic rather than to simply try to resolve the issue.

No, I want to resolve the issue. The problem, as I stated before, is that if you tell someone before a match that they are a foot faulter, it will inevitably screw up their performance..that is if they care to not cheat. Ajusting your serve at the start of a match is a recipe for disaster, and I don't want to win that way.

Telling a guy after a match is sour grapes unless you have beaten him..in which case, could also be interpreted as "I would have beat your *** worse if you weren't foot faulting".

As I stated before, I will play this guy again and if we at least split sets I'll bring it up post match in a friendly manner.

[jht32]

Videotaping someone without his consent is just creepy.

Footfaulting yourself to see if the footfaulter will "get the message" is just misguided.

If you want to let him know, just tell him that you think he footfaults sometimes and he may want to have someone check his feet when he serves. If someone told you that you footfault, you would probably want to get other opinions or have someone watch you when you serve to confirm it.

Footfaulting is like being pregnant. You either are or are not. There is no kinda.

[Jim A]

I tend to serve a couple inches behind the baseline to avoid the footfault calls in most league play. If they call it and they are wrong where I'm obviously still behind the line I claim the point and move on since they ended play. Dealt with some people this year that were justusing it as a way for cheap points (not saying I don't because I do at times, but in this case it was only on 2nd serves w/no official at Districts and if the official isn't calling it when there I'm thinking there's not an issue)

Only one person this year has been so beyond the line that I've brought it up. It was actually before the match. He was 1-2' inside the baseline by the time he hit the ball and played serve and volley. I just made a friendly reminder during the warmups. Typically I expect someone to be a couple inches inside at my level. Never mind that I couldn't come close to seeing that from the other side of the court.

[Timbo's hopeless slice]

I heard this story somewhere, might even have read it on here somewhere, and it amused me, so..

Guy is playing an opponent who is foot faulting. A lot. So, eventually, he makes the call.
The opponent goes ballistic, claiming that "it is impossible to make a foot fault call as the returner and the rule should be banned"
So, our man, undaunted, waits until it is his turn to serve and marches up to his own service line, sets up and rips an 'ace' into the other guys box. Looks straight at him and says "What? you weren't going to call a foot fault, were you?"

I have no idea what happened next, or if this is even true, but I did laugh a lot when I first encountered the tale and wanted to share...

[tennis tom]

Originally Posted by Timbo's hopeless slice

So, our man, undaunted, waits until it is his turn to serve and marches up to his own service line, sets up and rips an 'ace' into the other guys box. Looks straight at him and says "What? you weren't going to call a foot fault, were you?"

Yup, that story is legendary, heard it from my coach, and I'm dying to use the tactic someday, just waiting for the right moment.

[ralentor]

I played a chronic foot-faulter just yesterday in doubles for USTA league. I noticed it during his first service game, on both first and second serves. I wasn't sure what to do about it, but since it was obvious even from the other side of the net and the score was very close, I mentioned to him on the next changeover that he was foot-faulting repeatedly, and that's all I said. For the rest of his service games, he started further back with no obvious foot faults. He double-faulted more frequently from then on, which was to our advantage. We won the 1st set 7-5 and the second 6-1.

[Backhand DTL]

anyone who calls foot faults is a ******!

[Fedace]

Originally Posted by escii_35

With all this talk of footfaulting I decided to put my serve to the camera test for the second time. I've been accused of foot faulting due to a minor two foot shuffle. What folks don't realize is that I start 6-8 in behind the line. Yes, the front foot may in forward but I'm still behind the line.

20 second serves -> 1 FF (This one was a really bad loss of balance line cross. If someone called me on it no problem.
10 first serve kickers -> 0 FF
10 s & v serves -> 2 FF (Line touches)
20 3/4 control first servers -> 1 FF (Loss of balance with a line touch but it went into the net.

In conclusion unless I'm trying to get to net or I have a form break footfaulting it's probably not happening.

Get a camera, set it up and show the accused results. Nuff said.

i am more like 20 1st serves ---15 footfaults
20 2nd serves --- 18 footfaults...

what would you do ?