Is Turning Your Back Conceding The Point?

[RetroSpin]

I apologize if this has been discussed previously. Short version, playing mixed tourney, opponent's cupcake wife is about a 2.5 player, I have a sitter and she is three feet away. She turns away and I block ball past her into open court. Her husband runs it down from the baseline and hits a winner and acts like he just won Roland Garros. I could have drilled her or hit a swinging volley right past her head and no way he gets it.

I am ticked but don't know whether to complain or not. It's a tourney but a club event, so there is a social element to it. Could I have claimed the point on the ground that she conceded by turning? Or should I have just mentioned to him that his wife will look funny with a tennis ball between her eyes?

[blakesq]

turning your back means the player does not want to get hit the face, if you hit the ball into the net, you still lose the point. likewise, if you can't put away the ball, the point continues.

Originally Posted by RetroSpin

I apologize if this has been discussed previously. Short version, playing mixed tourney, opponent's cupcake wife is about a 2.5 player, I have a sitter and she is three feet away. She turns away and I block ball past her into open court. Her husband runs it down from the baseline and hits a winner and acts like he just won Roland Garros. I could have drilled her or hit a swinging volley right past her head and no way he gets it.

I am ticked but don't know whether to complain or not. It's a tourney but a club event, so there is a social element to it. Could I have claimed the point on the ground that she conceded by turning? Or should I have just mentioned to him that his wife will look funny with a tennis ball between her eyes?

[woodrow1029]

Originally Posted by RetroSpin

I apologize if this has been discussed previously. Short version, playing mixed tourney, opponent's cupcake wife is about a 2.5 player, I have a sitter and she is three feet away. She turns away and I block ball past her into open court. Her husband runs it down from the baseline and hits a winner and acts like he just won Roland Garros. I could have drilled her or hit a swinging volley right past her head and no way he gets it.

I am ticked but don't know whether to complain or not. It's a tourney but a club event, so there is a social element to it. Could I have claimed the point on the ground that she conceded by turning? Or should I have just mentioned to him that his wife will look funny with a tennis ball between her eyes?

Short answer to your question.

NO

[newpball]

Originally Posted by RetroSpin

Could I have claimed the point on the ground that she conceded by turning?

Seriously?

[dcdoorknob]

Don't think you have a leg to stand on. The point isn't over until the ball bounces twice. The opposing guy had every right to run down your ball and hit it back.

I refuse the believe that there was no shot available off of a sitter that would have been impossible for the guy to get to and didn't involve pegging the woman with her back turned.

[RetroSpin]

Originally Posted by dcdoorknob

Don't think you have a leg to stand on. The point isn't over until the ball bounces twice. The opposing guy had every right to run down your ball and hit it back.

I refuse the believe that there was no shot available off of a sitter that would have been impossible for the guy to get to and didn't involve pegging the woman with her back turned.

Perhaps there was, but I was in the middle of a point and that was the obvious shot. This is why I prefer to avoid mixed. You have to worry about some jerk getting all puffed up that you hit the ball at his wife, while she is camped at the net.

I'm afraid I misstated the opening question. I appreciate that under the literal rules, the point is not over. I also have played enough high level doubles to know that when the netman turns his back as I'm lining up a sitter, that is a concession and you will get a very hard look or more if you drill him. So it's more of an etiquette question.

[Velvet Ga el]

Originally Posted by RetroSpin

.I'm afraid I misstated the opening question. I appreciate that under the literal rules, the point is not over. I also have played enough high level doubles to know that when the netman turns his back as I'm lining up a sitter, that is a concession and you will get a very hard look or more if you drill him. So it's more of an etiquette question.

No, I have no issue with what your opponent did. You had plenty of outs and you chose one that gave him a chance to run after the ball. If a net player turns her back to me in mixed, my default play is a hard angle away from her partner.

If that isn't an option, I'll hit a drop volley at her feet. This generally means either the ball will brush her knees or lower, with zero pace, or the second bounce will be near her feet. In the former, you win the point without looking like you were trying to take someone out. In the latter, the second bounce will be near her feet and her partner will have no chance to hit it or will concede rather than taking a cut at the ball near her.

Playing drop volleys is hugely underrated in rec tennis. We have numerous high school doubles players at my club who play social matches with good rec level doubles players, and though they can volley with pace, often those kids can control doubles matches without putting any pace on their volleys just by drop volleying and using sharp angles.

[Cindysphinx]

Yeah, why did you hit a ball the guy could get to? Play a touch shot to the wife so that the wife is between her partner and the ball. Since he will not run her over to reach it, problem solved.

Bonus: He might get mad at her for bailing, she might get mad at him for fussing at her. You break up a marriage and get the point. Win Win.

[RetroSpin]

I was in a spot right in front of her and close to the ad court alley and moving in a way that a forehand volley at her was the only option. It's not like I had five minutes to go through all the possibilities.

Lot of macho talk here but I have to wonder how any of you would have reacted if she was your wife and I drilled her from three feet away or hit a screaming volley past her head?

This is exactly why I try to only play social mixed.

[JLyon]

man it is 5.0 or 6.0 MXD, what is the big deal, just play the ball, it is not social tennis. You got clowned being nice deal with it. No reason to peg her but you could hit it towards her and if she is scurrying back then she loses point.
Good grief

[RetroSpin]

Originally Posted by Cindysphinx

Yeah, why did you hit a ball the guy could get to? Play a touch shot to the wife so that the wife is between her partner and the ball. Since he will not run her over to reach it, problem solved.

Bonus: He might get mad at her for bailing, she might get mad at him for fussing at her. You break up a marriage and get the point. Win Win.

Because then it looks like I am trying to show her up. Lose,lose.

Still, I will do this next time. It's the best of three unattractive options, ie push a sitter back, hit her or dink her, even though she has turned.

[RetroSpin]

Originally Posted by JLyon

man it is 5.0 or 6.0 MXD, what is the big deal, just play the ball, it is not social tennis. You got clowned being nice deal with it. No reason to peg her but you could hit it towards her and if she is scurrying back then she loses point.
Good grief

It was a club tourney. Sort of half social, half competitive. She was no better than a 2.5. She wasn't scurrying. She was frozen right in my face but did turn.

[gameboy]

Then stick to social mixed and stop whining...

[LeeD]

While the female may have conceded the point to you, her male partner did not get the message.
Have them communicate better.

[OrangePower]

Originally Posted by gameboy

Then stick to social mixed and stop whining...

Got to agree. Competitive mixed is an abomination that not everyone is able to handle (myself included).

[Velvet Ga el]

Originally Posted by RetroSpin

Because then it looks like I am trying to show her up.

Why would it look like you were trying to show her up? It's not like we told you to hit a ball between your legs, behind your back, or with your non-dominant hand. Hell, the ultimate shot to show someone up is either to obviously handicap yourself (the examples I posted) or to hit a shot directly at someone that is well above their skill level (a smash, a heavy topspin return at a female 2.5 server, etc.).

Other than angling it away from him or her, a drop volley is the most gentlemanly shot you can hit at a person who has conceded the point and it's quite common in lower level mixed.

[Maui19]

          

[Cindysphinx]

Originally Posted by RetroSpin

Because then it looks like I am trying to show her up. Lose,lose.

Still, I will do this next time. It's the best of three unattractive options, ie push a sitter back, hit her or dink her, even though she has turned.

Seriously, when a player turns away, just keep your eye on the ball and put a no-pace shot into the court.

Heck, it is a good thing to practice. Act like you are about to blast a crater in the court, make them fear for their lives, then at the last second give the ball a pathetic push. Everyone will laugh. Good times.

[darkhorse]

Isn't the best option in that situation to hit at the net person's feet? That way you get the put-away without drilling somebody in the back. That's what I was always taught

[West Coast Ace]

OP, no one said you should have tried to give her a new hairstyle. A firm, quick punch volley (in case she was playing possum) down around the ankles - done and done. Won the point, don't have to worry about Mr. Puffed Up coming over the net with bad intentions.

Came here asking. Don't like the answers, which are more or less unanimous. Got grumpy. Wow.