Persistent Bad Calls, How to Handle?

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by dizzlmcwizzl

When I was a 3.5 ... I was terrible at the net but did not know it. I felt like every volley needed to be put away for a winner because after all you were close to the net and it was the easiest shot in the game .... RIGHT?

However, after a extensive work with a pro my net game is vastly improved. I have become better at volleys and with that realization came this.

Only a special player can hurt you while hitting up from short in the middle of the court. If you can volley or hit a groundy that they have to play from the the T and hit up you will always be in control of the point. I have often hit two, three of four balls right back at the T until the opponents lifted the ball and gave me an easy put away for a winner.

Learning to volley has given me patience ... and patience is why I am no longer a 3.5.

Hm, I see.

I think returning volleys require luck, timing, and precision.

If your trying to crush the ball, I could just try to return the volley with a simple lob over you; which would require you to re-position at the baseline. With this, you would most likely hit a weak shot, or miss it altogether (if you reach the ball in time). If you didn't I could just move to the net and take control of the point now.

Just because you are at the net, doesn't mean that you will win the point just from smashing the ball. In some cases, you may miss! Plus, other players may have a faster reaction time to you do~ in other cases, they don't.

NTRP rankings are just a label.

Like I said before, I just don't understand the concept of it. I assume you are a '4.0-5.0'. What does that mean? There is a difference between an average player like that or a strong/weak '4.0-5.0' player.

And depending on the caliber of the opponent, he/she can play so well, that you look like a someone who doesn't look like a '4.0-5.0' player.

I may be trailing off on here, but looks can be deceiving.

[woodrow1029]

Originally Posted by Cindysphinx

Well, um . . . bless your heart, but . . . .

She was right. I went *behind the curtain* to get the ball. On account of how I had no clue what I was doing.

BTW, you don't have to pay for officials (or court time) around here for Districts and Sectionals. The 2.5 Officiating Program was something extra that the captains as a group voted to have. So of course we should pay for it. Someone has to . . . .

Well, here the teams don't pay for officials at Districts and Sectionals either. USTA NorCal does. I was just talking for a regular season match.

[caro14]

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies. I appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Nellie

I am sure that you got flustered, but in retrospect, how many points do you think were effected by bad calls - something like 5 in the match? You have to hold it together when people do bush league tactics.

I usually do what angelqueen suggest and aim well inside the lines so there won't be any dispute.

then I start hitting people (not hard) and taking the point.

I like this. I think this is a really good point that gives me food for thought. While I think it was more than 5 bad calls, at least double that, it was the drama surrounding the calls and the intentional manner of them. The bad caller knew she could make the bad calls and there was nothing we could do about it. The drama and bad caller's attitude got in our heads. It did fluster us and it did hurt our game. We normally play a more aggressive game, instead we backed off. We were very much in our heads.

There is a lesson here for me. And the lesson is that there is probably nothing I could have done to stop bad caller from making bad calls. I can only fix my reaction to the calls. I should have reacted to her less and just played my game. My partner and I lost the match and we never should have. It shouldn't have even been a close match.

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by caro14

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful replies. I appreciate it.



I like this. I think this is a really good point that gives me food for thought. While I think it was more than 5 bad calls, at least double that, it was the drama surrounding the calls and the intentional manner of them. The bad caller knew she could make the bad calls and there was nothing we could do about it. The drama and bad caller's attitude got in our heads. It did fluster us and it did hurt our game. We normally play a more aggressive game, instead we backed off. We were very much in our heads.

There is a lesson here for me. And the lesson is that there is probably nothing I could have done to stop bad caller from making bad calls. I can only fix my reaction to the calls. I should have reacted to her less and just played my game. My partner and I lost the match and we never should have. It shouldn't have even been a close match.

Mhmm.

In short, Tennis is a psychological sport. If you display or contain emotion, you are more likely to lose; Bottom line. That's why Boris Becker stopped playing. There's people here with a quote from him, but I don't know where though.

And your welcome.

[caro14]

Originally Posted by Overdrive

My goodness, I've never heard of bad line calls go this far...

Was there any bystanders watching? Was it a Flex League?

Where were your captains?

There was a match on the court next to us that finished up as the yelling got intense over bad caller's bad call over my partner's serve. They did stay on their court to watch the drama unfold, but were not close enough to offer any guidance on the calls being made.

I will say I have played bad caller on one other occasion, during a tournament and she could not resort to bad calls because there were too many roaming spectators. In hindsight, I think having someone watching the match would have made bad caller less likely to cheat. But in the emotion of the moment, I did not know enough to understand I could ask for someone to step in to watch the match.

[Cindysphinx]

Yeah, it's hard to know what to do. I am not sure our local rules allow spectators to assist or observe. If both parties agreed, fine. If not? Don't know.

When I play people who cheat like that, I do not change anything about how I am playing. I don't aim away from the lines or hit down the middle. Then I have changed my game, which will work to their benefit.

If they want to cheat in a league match that badly, then I'd rather they cheat me rather than my losing fair and square because I was trying to change my game.

[beernutz]

Originally Posted by skiracer55

...some clown hooks you, just say "Okay, I got it...you're a cheater. Fine, just don't do it against me, because the next time you do, I'm gonna stab you in the face with a soldering iron..."

Works every time...

You wanna know how to deal with hookers? They pull a hook on game point, you pull a hook on set point. He calls one of your serves out, you call all of his returns deep. *That's* the *USTA* way!

[Ronaldo]

Originally Posted by beernutz

You wanna know how to deal with hookers? They pull a hook on game point, you pull a hook on set point. He calls one of your serves out, you call all of his returns deep. *That's* the *USTA* way!

This Post Is Untouchable!

[Mike Y]

People keep making comments about line judges being rare, but I see it happen somewhat often. I've probably seen a line judge in a match around 15+ times. I've been called as a line judge maybe 5 times, mostly lower level women's matches, where I just happen to be around and they need a line judge, so I oblige their request. That seems to be the best solution if someone is making bad line calls. And every single time I've been a line judge, the bad line calls miraculously vanish.

[beernutz]

Originally Posted by Overdrive

Mhmm.

In short, Tennis is a psychological sport. If you display or contain emotion, you are more likely to lose; Bottom line. That's why Boris Becker stopped playing. There's people here with a quote from him, but I don't know where though.

And your welcome.

Well since I'm the people you are referring to I did some digging and apparently the widely cited Becker quote formerly in my signature ("Tennis is a psychological sport, you have to keep a clear head. That is why I stopped playing.") is actually a misquote. What he really said was, ""Tennis is a psychological sport. I quit the game then, because I couldn't continue like that."

He was referring to the mental burden imposed by his 10 year tax evasion investigation and the effect it had on his tennis game.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2355147.stm

Signature line modified accordingly.

[beernutz]

Originally Posted by Mike Y

People keep making comments about line judges being rare, but I see it happen somewhat often. I've probably seen a line judge in a match around 15+ times. I've been called as a line judge maybe 5 times, mostly lower level women's matches, where I just happen to be around and they need a line judge, so I oblige their request. That seems to be the best solution if someone is making bad line calls. And every single time I've been a line judge, the bad line calls miraculously vanish.

I've played USTA and local league tennis since 2005, hundreds of matches including local and state playoffs and I've never had a linesperson for a match. I think that my experience is not unique which is why people think it is rare to have one.

[Ronaldo]

Originally Posted by beernutz

I've played USTA and local league tennis since 2005, hundreds of matches including local and state playoffs and I've never had a linesperson for a match. I think that my experience is not unique which is why people think it is rare to have one.

Is an official considered a linesperson?

[beernutz]

Originally Posted by Ronaldo

Is an official considered a linesperson?

If they were making corrections to line calls they would be considered one by me. But like I said before, I have rarely seen an official even observe any match before and I've never seen an official in any of my matches make a line call. I've have also never seen an official make a line call in a match I was observing. But it could be more common than I've experienced as I've only been to our state tournament three times before.

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by beernutz

Well since I'm the people you are referring to I did some digging and apparently the widely cited Becker quote formerly in my signature ("Tennis is a psychological sport, you have to keep a clear head. That is why I stopped playing.") is actually a misquote. What he really said was, ""Tennis is a psychological sport. I quit the game then, because I couldn't continue like that."

He was referring to the mental burden imposed by his 10 year tax evasion investigation and the effect it had on his tennis game.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2355147.stm

Signature line modified accordingly.

REALLY?

Wow, I see alot of people with that quote! It's cool that I was involved.
Wait, Becker earned over $146 million from tennis? How come on Wikipedia, it said that Federer is the highest earning player with over $76 million in earnings?

Wow, I can't believe he was one of those tax evaders...
Plus, his money is nearly gone from Child Support and Alimony and lives in a hotel...

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by beernutz

If they were making corrections to line calls they would be considered one by me. But like I said before, I have rarely seen an official even observe any match before and I've never seen an official in any of my matches make a line call. I've have also never seen an official make a line call in a match I was observing. But it could be more common than I've experienced as I've only been to our state tournament three times before.

Officials are basically uniformed.

Linesmen can be anyone honestly.

I've seen 'officials' for my local district championship last year. They were at regional and state too.

[asimple]

I can get over almost all the little things that people do in league play but the blatant cheating is the thing that really really bothers me. Its not in every match, but in at least half of my matches I expect to get hooked at least 6 times. There really is nothing which can be done about it, so I have finally learned to just accept it and move on. If I get angry, I will lose at least a game due to it.

I guess I took 14 years off from tennis and this is the thing that changed the most. Back then, there weren't too many cheats but they were well known and in tournaments you just immediately got a line judge. I think the morality has changed because it almost seems like the people who call it clean now are the minority. The worst is when you know your partner cheats. I've corrected many bad calls in this case, but there are some you actually can't see.

[tennis tom]

Cheat'em back. It works every time, they fear you are better at cheating then they are so will stop. Cheating takes some practice but it gets to be fun to get even, make a contest of it.

[OrangePower]

Originally Posted by asimple

I can get over almost all the little things that people do in league play but the blatant cheating is the thing that really really bothers me. Its not in every match, but in at least half of my matches I expect to get hooked at least 6 times. There really is nothing which can be done about it, so I have finally learned to just accept it and move on. If I get angry, I will lose at least a game due to it.

I guess I took 14 years off from tennis and this is the thing that changed the most. Back then, there weren't too many cheats but they were well known and in tournaments you just immediately got a line judge. I think the morality has changed because it almost seems like the people who call it clean now are the minority. The worst is when you know your partner cheats. I've corrected many bad calls in this case, but there are some you actually can't see.

My experience has been quite different. Sure there are the occassional questionable calls, but in most of these cases I actually think my opponent is trying to call it fairly but just made a mistake.

We've all seen on TV hawkeye/shotspot how even professional linespeople sometimes get a call wrong, and that's with the benefit of looking right over the line, focusing only on watching where the ball lands, and not running about like we are when playing. So no surprise that we as players sometimes get a call wrong, even when the intentions are good.

And yes there have been matches where I have felt that my opponent deliberately hooked me on a call or two. But those matches are very much the exception rather than the rule - maybe 10% at most.

[spot]

Its not in every match, but in at least half of my matches I expect to get hooked at least 6 times.

Seriously? This is staggeringly far from my experience. Are you sure that this isn't one of those situations where you are looking at balls that may have been in and saying that you got hooked? I guess I just give me opponents the benefit of the doubt on calls and will assume that if they made a bad call that it was still done in good faith until I have a very good reason to think otherwise. No one is perfect and all of us have made bad calls in good faith. Getting hooked 6 times in half your matches is unfathomable to me.

[Ronaldo]

Originally Posted by Overdrive

REALLY?

Wow, I see alot of people with that quote! It's cool that I was involved.
Wait, Becker earned over $146 million from tennis? How come on Wikipedia, it said that Federer is the highest earning player with over $76 million in earnings?

Wow, I can't believe he was one of those tax evaders...
Plus, his money is nearly gone from Child Support and Alimony and lives in a hotel...

Hotel Broom closet?