"Hitting" etiquette and purpose, was this guy a jackass or not?

[Panic492]

Sounds like a tit

[Steady Eddy]

Originally Posted by sureshs

I would love the opportunity to hit with someone better than me for free.

Why did you say this? You're smarter than that.

Originally Posted by Panic492

Sounds like a tit

Si senor. A real teet.

[Off The Wall]

Originally Posted by Klaus

I was asked to "hit" with a new person on my non-USTA league list. I described my USTA level and abilities (high 3.5, low 4.0), and he said it was a good match, so "let's hit."

I met him and we warmed-up and started hitting. He was quite good, and admitted that he played in "Open" in his league, which follows a letter rating system. (I had played with a "B" player from that league previously who was a HUGE challenge for me.)

The hitting session consisted of me hitting to him, and then getting smashed with a deep cross-court winner that I could barely get to. At a break, he said" "you are giving me nothing; just hitting the ball back to me is no challenge."

I said I was trying to rally, and that after a few hits, either one of us could look for an opportunity to put one away. He said "what's the point?" and continued to smash balls away after one hit, into the corner. If he did the first feed, then the ball lasted three hits, as he would put it away it on his second hit.

I tried to do the same, and got him a few times on the second hit, putting it away past him, or lobbing him after pulling him in, and he just got frustrated losing "points" from someone whom he had already deemed beneath him. Needless to say we won't be hitting together again. What is it with people for chrissakes? Any thoughts?

Did the guy ask you to play or was it arranged? If he asked you, he was a complete inconsiderate @$$! If it was arranged by someone else, he was complete inconsiderate @$$-in-training.

[dizzlmcwizzl]

I have this friend who refuses to warm me up when we play by doing the same thing ... hit a winner at every opportunity except the feed.

I always felt like it took real skill to take any ball, any where and put it back in his hitting zone. He ALWAYS wins warm ups and then usually gets his clock cleaned when we play. I figure if I can develop the skill to take varied shots and hit them cleanly back to him, then in the game I should be able to make my target one that is not in his hitting zone.

[IceNineTX]

Hitting like that to you was one thing. Very annoying. But then berating you for not being able to keep up with him is what really makes him a jerk.

[goober]

Dude is an *** - no two ways about it. If you are an Open level player and you agree to hit with a 3.5/4.0, you should be *very* aware of what you are getting into. To complain that the weaker player is giving you nothing is completely inane. I mean what did he expect?

[Klaus]

Since I am new to tennis, I often am perplexed about certain elements, etiquette, rituals etc., so I know I can come here and get educated! It's unanimous, the guy is a jackass!

I also remember him saying "so what? you're fast and can get stuff, you're still not giving me anything." This is when I started to emit some steam and told him that I would then try and put-away shots much faster, which I did. he begrudgingly admitted one or two "great shots" (to the fence) when I came through.

To answer a few questions: He did approach me and offer to hit with me. I immediately told him my skill level--and he said it was a good match. Little did I know it was a good match--for his ego. He was little, like 5'7", and about my age, which is in the upper 40s.

Thanks again for the honest and supportive feedback folks.

[tennis tom]

Welcome to the game Klaus, it's a great sport and your gonna' encounter a lot of asses like this dude along the way--also some nice folks too. The main thing in unfortunate situations like this is NOT to get injured, it's just not worth it. You may get tempted to push too far in the competitive moment, especially as we get older and the muscles take a little longer to get warmed-up.

What I do if I'm doing a "hit" or practicing is always bring a lot of balls or a basket of them. That way if they can't control or "spray" their shots, or do what this bloke did, you can just let them fly by and stuff your pockets with more amo.

Players who know what their doing will each bring a new can of balls to the practice, then you can spend your time hitting and not picking up balls. It's nice when you can find someone good enough so you can hit 100 in a row and you only need ONE ball.

[Steady Eddy]

Whenever you hit with a stranger, you never know what to expect. It's not that uncommon for me to find myself hitting with someone who drills the back fence every second shot. (I haven't seen women do this, though, but I'm sure they're out there). The false idea that tennis is 100% about power is an idea that dies hard. While many on the tour are big hitters, there are also some who use steadiness and ball control as their main weapons. This was especially true in the old days. Hitting as hard as they can isn't a good idea for weekend players, they don't get enough practice time to ever be consistent that way. They just spoil the fun for others.

[rh310]

That guy came into my club one morning for the Sunday drill session. Before the drills started, he was talking to anyone who would listen that it was hard to find anyone at his level blah blah blah.

After a few minutes of drills, the coach sent me and him over to another court to do "consistency drills" (his exact words).

After about five minutes of every third ball landing in the fence behind me*, fully 10 feet off the ground, I stopped and asked the guy if he knew what a consistency drill was. He glared at me and said, "Of course I do."

Every second ball then landed in the fence behind me. After another five minutes, he asked, "Is that consistent enough for you?" I just laughed and walked back to the other court and joined the group drills.

* from his racquet to the fence, with no bounce in between

[Grover Sparkman]

I don't understand people who automatically have to make you think you're beneath them. I hit semi-regularly with a guy that does this. He does this when just trying to hit and it frustrates me to no end.

[tennis tom]

Originally Posted by Grover Sparkman

I don't understand people who automatically have to make you think you're beneath them. I hit semi-regularly with a guy that does this. He does this when just trying to hit and it frustrates me to no end.

Weak ego that needs constant feeding.

[borg number one]

Those comments were pretty bad. Quite rude. That is not the way you hit properly. You don't just go for winners unless that's some sort of drill and both players get a chance to "hit winners" or "putaways. Otherwise, I say "sorry" when I accidently hit winners when I am supposed to be rallying before later "ramping up" to real intense rallying later on in the workout. Perhaps then, both players could go for some winners, within reason. It can't be one sided in the way he did it. Very bad form.

[spot]

Once he showed that he wanted to play points then you guys should have just done that. First ball gets fed to the other guy- Off of the feed you have to hit the next ball back to the person- though now you can go for a harder ball or whatever else and play the point out from there. To me this drill does help a lot more than just rallying back and forth. To me this drill also helps more than playing with serves as you can get a ton more points into a shorter period of time. We play to 21 win by 2.

[JRstriker12]

BTW- Klaus

Don't get discouraged. Keep with the game. I've found that for every jerk out there, I've always bumped into 5-7 people who are cool, fun, and love the game.

In fact, I got out on the courts with a hitting partner of mine. He's a bit better than me and we haven't hit together in over a year (due to school/jobs/etc). But we were having fun and laughing half the time we were hitting.

[borg number one]

Originally Posted by spot

Once he showed that he wanted to play points then you guys should have just done that. First ball gets fed to the other guy- Off of the feed you have to hit the next ball back to the person- though now you can go for a harder ball or whatever else and play the point out from there. To me this drill does help a lot more than just rallying back and forth. To me this drill also helps more than playing with serves as you can get a ton more points into a shorter period of time. We play to 21 win by 2.

That's an excellent workout game for your ground strokes especially. You can't rely on a lot of "free" service points. My Tennis buddies and I would always play that during workouts.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by Grover Sparkman

I don't understand people who automatically have to make you think you're beneath them. I hit semi-regularly with a guy that does this. He does this when just trying to hit and it frustrates me to no end.

I don't particularly care for people like that. You're doing a favor for him by hitting with him and he does that to you. Very annoying.

[hescobal]

yea, he is a jerk. I try and rally with people too and they always try to hit a "winner" mostly when I feed the ball which really made me a ball machine.

If I find a person doing that, I end up looking for something they aren't comfortable with so that the can't go for a "winner"

[Grover Sparkman]

Originally Posted by pc1

I don't particularly care for people like that. You're doing a favor for him by hitting with him and he does that to you. Very annoying.

I agree - I've known him for a long time, and I just started playing tennis two years ago. So when I knew he played tennis, we just started getting together a few times a month to have a hit.

We usually play a set, and he is a stronger player than I am, so he wins more of them than not. But it's just hard to get anything out of it because even when we just hit back and forth, he goes for winners or volleys or smashes.

[Slazenger07]

Sounds like a jackass...admittedly I would have responded by acting like 10 times more of a jackass to him, then never talking to him again.