Criticizing Your Vanquished Opponent's Strokes

[Mike Y]

On the flip side occasionally I will have an opponent ask me "What could I have done better in this match?" And I'm thinking I don't know, serve harder, hit more winners, lose weight? And I don't want to insult the person by saying something like your volleys suck, hence all the drop shots, or your backhand sucks, that's why you never saw a forehand. So I usually just say something like "Work on your consistency", which is just about the most obvious advice that you can give. Yes, more consistency helps, that's the secret! Lol

[floridatennisdude]

Originally Posted by arche3

I think the guy was ttwarrior....

Seriously though. Yeah. The captain of the womens team at the club stands outside by the lounge area by the courts and asks people not to play next to their players. There are 8 hartru and 2 hard courts. They take up 6 courts usually. So there is usually an empty court next to theirs. There is no fence as its outside but there is a little sitting area between each court of about 5 feet paved with stone with chairs etc.... there is a lot of space. There is no reservation of court time as when they are done with a match and vacate a court its free to use. It does not cost them anything beyond the club fees we all pay. The place is not busy enough to have sign up times.

She has all of the players expecting nobody besides their team members playing next to them during a match. Its wrong and I just tell them I won't bother them. Its actually against club rules to hold a court when no one is actually on it. You cant be playing on court 1 and tell someone coming on court 2 you can't play on it when it is sitting empty.

She wouldn't like me. I'd just go out there. Especially if she is trying to tell me that I have to play on hard courts when there is an open clay spot.

Don't know what kind of rules your club enforces, but that'd be worth complaining about.

[TeflonTom]

dood they were bein friendly. if u dont like the advice just ignore it

[Cindysphinx]

Originally Posted by Mike Y

On the flip side occasionally I will have an opponent ask me "What could I have done better in this match?" And I'm thinking I don't know, serve harder, hit more winners, lose weight? And I don't want to insult the person by saying something like your volleys suck, hence all the drop shots, or your backhand sucks, that's why you never saw a forehand. So I usually just say something like "Work on your consistency", which is just about the most obvious advice that you can give. Yes, more consistency helps, that's the secret! Lol

Even when people ask, they may not really want to know.

I once went to my team's match as an alternate and watched the doubles. After my pals lost, they asked me what they could do better. I said, "sometimes it looked like you were standing still at net and not doing a split step."

They looked a bit underwhelmed with my observation.

[jdubbs]

I had a guy ask me for advice after a social doubles match...they were all 3.5s so compared to them, they though I all played college tennis.
He was very grateful for the advice, but Ive learned to never give it unless offered.

I told him with his grip, he was never going to be able to hit the kind of shots he wanted. Thats a long road, though.

But the main things I see are wrong grip, lack of footwork, poor shoulder turn.

[TomT]

I've had a couple of players offer unsolicited advice, after first complimenting me on one or more aspects of my game. It was good advice, imo. So, I smiled and said thanks.

[Mike Hodge]

I let unsolicited advice slide --- once. After that, I tell the person that the only time I want advice is: 1) when I'm paying for it. or 2) ask for it.

Sometimes people actually offer quality advice, but in Cindy's case this was classic insecure, passive-aggressive nonsense. Incredibly poor form, IMO.

[TeflonTom]

Originally Posted by Mike Hodge

I let unsolicited advice slide --- once. After that, I tell the person that the only time I want advice is: 1) when I'm paying for it. or 2) ask for it.

Sometimes people actually offer quality advice, but in Cindy's case this was classic insecure, passive-aggressive nonsense. Incredibly poor form, IMO.

dood y u gotta ascribe nefarious motives 2 ppl? ur sayin its passive-agg but who knows. my bro is a ski instructor, but dad still gives him tips when we hit the slopes. some ppl just wanna help

tennis be a social sport n we all out there 2 have some fun, meet some ppl n get better. lotsa ppl enjoy riffin off each other n gettin feedback on their shots - look at this forum, every1 always chattin about what they do good n bad. mebbe sometimes unsolicited advice a bit misguided but no need 2 get all bent out o shape about it. just ignore it if u dont like it. tbh it seems more insecure 2 take offense at advice than 2 just let it slide

i generally prefer 2 mind my own bizniz but i dont mind if other ppl comment on my strokes - either compliments or tips. put it this way - if u tell me im droppin my head on my serve, at least i have a choice 2 dismiss it as stupid/irrelevant. if u never mention it, i may never kno i have a problem

at the end of the day, y do i care if my opp thinks i have perfect or flawed shots? scoreboard brah. it aint changin

[TomT]

Originally Posted by TeflonTom

i generally prefer 2 mind my own bizniz but i dont mind if other ppl comment on my strokes - either compliments or tips.

This is my general attitude about it as well. As you said, we're out there to have fun, make new tennis friends, and hopefully improve while doing it. I haven't played that many league matches since getting back into tennis, and so far nobody who's competing at (or slightly above or below) my level has offered me any advice, and I haven't offered anybody at any level any advice. I think we realize that we're all playing more or less equally badly, and we're able to have a laugh about it.

The two players who did offer me advice are competing at a much higher level than me, and they did preface their advice with compliments, and since I had good hitting sessions with both of them, I was thankful for what they offered.