What Would You Do?

i was in a club singles tournament.we play among the members. each person sets up there match with a bracket so the winners know who to play next on up to the finals. my first match i split sets both sets won by a tiebreakerr respectively. we go to start the 3rd set when my opponent says ill have to retire if we play a 3rd set my arm is killing me, will you play a 10 point super tiebreaker instead. i said ok and lost the tiebreaker. isaid ok because i felt #1 if i couldnt win the tiebreaker than i shouldnt win even tho i would win by default .#2 more important i felt to be "politically correct" no one could say any snide remarks behind my back if i was "sportsman like" even if it cost me a chance to proceed.. btw i am an impriving relatively new to tennis player(7 years) and this was my first club singles tournament

New to tennis, (7 years)? Nevermind. I would have played the tiebreaker like you did. You're there to play tennis. Winning matches is not the ultimate thing.

im 56 years old . most people i play against have been playing anywhere from 15 to 65 years!!!! so relatively speaking 7 years is not a long time. you cant teach experience

Depends....
Tournament rules requiring a full third set, that dude snaked you...if you take it seriously.
Good guy points, you win.
There's a reason some serious tennis matches require winning 3 sets, some two....stamina and fitness must always be included.
Good guy points, you win again....

Depends on the rules..
I am a nice guy too , but if it is a serious tourney, and if the rules say 3rd set, I would have asked for a 3rd set.
I bet he would play through his arm killing him, if you asked for a 3rd set.

In a flexible club tourney like yours, I would agree to postpone the 3rd set by a day or so till his arm got better.

If it was my last match of the day, I'd definitely prefer the 3rd set. On the other hand, if I had to play another match after that I'd opt for the tiebreaker to save some energy if I won. Just played two sets yesterday that both went to tiebreakers and it took 2.5 hours to finish a straight set match. My arm was almost gone after those 2 sets.

mikeler said:

If it was my last match of the day, I'd definitely prefer the 3rd set. On the other hand, if I had to play another match after that I'd opt for the tiebreaker to save some energy if I won. Just played two sets yesterday that both went to tiebreakers and it took 2.5 hours to finish a straight set match. My arm was almost gone after those 2 sets.

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I think the OP should just forget it and play in the next tournament. People have lost a historic Wimbledon final in 5 sets only to come back to win USO. This is tennis. You lose some, you win some.

Yup, back to back matches are tough. I had to play two matches back to back last november. Won the first 6-3 7-6 and the second one 4-6 7-6 6-1.
I was serving for the match and was up 30-0 and suddenly my hand refused to grip the racquet. It was a scary moment for me. The racquet fell off and I was not able to bend my fingers completely. After a little bit of massaging I was able to do some slice serves and won off his errors but had to drive back with one hand. Scary scary feeling.

spiderman123 said:

I think the OP should just forget it and play in the next tournament. People have lost a historic Wimbledon final in 5 sets only to come back to win USO. This is tennis. You lose some, you win some.

Yup, back to back matches are tough. I had to play two matches back to back last november. Won the first 6-3 7-6 and the second one 4-6 7-6 6-1.
I was serving for the match and was up 30-0 and suddenly my hand refused to grip the racquet. It was a scary moment for me. The racquet fell off and I was not able to bend my fingers completely. After a little bit of massaging I was able to do some slice serves and won off his errors but had to drive back with one hand. Scary scary feeling.

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I had one tournament in October where the high was 93 degrees. My first match was at 10 AM and even though the score was 6-2, 6-2; it was a much more grueling match than the score would indicate. The tournament officials were nice enough to give me a full 30 minutes to go eat and digest my lunch. :evil:

The next match I play a seed who got a bye in the first round. I get up 4-2 on him and the heat is incredible. We had a long deuce game after that which I lost and I knew there was no 2nd wind coming. Lost every game after that. I would have just quit after the first set, but the guy came all the way from Miami up to Orlando. I was suffering from the effects of heat exhaustion the rest of the day and evening which was not pleasant.

larry10s said:

i was in a club singles tournament.we play among the members. each person sets up there match with a bracket so the winners know who to play next on up to the finals. my first match i split sets both sets won by a tiebreakerr respectively. we go to start the 3rd set when my opponent says ill have to retire if we play a 3rd set my arm is killing me, will you play a 10 point super tiebreaker instead. i said ok and lost the tiebreaker. isaid ok because i felt #1 if i couldnt win the tiebreaker than i shouldnt win even tho i would win by default .#2 more important i felt to be "politically correct" no one could say any snide remarks behind my back if i was "sportsman like" even if it cost me a chance to proceed.. btw i am an impriving relatively new to tennis player(7 years) and this was my first club singles tournament

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I would have done what you did. Really, IMO, your opponent should never have requested such a thing. But, since he did I think you did the "gentelmanly" thing to accomodate him. If Karma had anything to do with it, you should have won the TB.

Geezer Guy said:

I would have done what you did. Really, IMO, your opponent should never have requested such a thing. But, since he did I think you did the "gentelmanly" thing to accomodate him. If Karma had anything to do with it, you should have won the TB.

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No good deed goes unpunished.

larry10s said:

i was in a club singles tournament.we play among the members. each person sets up there match with a bracket so the winners know who to play next on up to the finals. my first match i split sets both sets won by a tiebreakerr respectively. we go to start the 3rd set when my opponent says ill have to retire if we play a 3rd set my arm is killing me, will you play a 10 point super tiebreaker instead. i said ok and lost the tiebreaker. isaid ok because i felt #1 if i couldnt win the tiebreaker than i shouldnt win even tho i would win by default .#2 more important i felt to be "politically correct" no one could say any snide remarks behind my back if i was "sportsman like" even if it cost me a chance to proceed.. btw i am an impriving relatively new to tennis player(7 years) and this was my first club singles tournament

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I give you credit for your sportsmanship, but I have to question the sportsmanship of your opponent. Sounds kind of fishy that his arm is good enough to beat you in the tie-breaker, but not in another set.

Part of being a gentleman/ good sport, is knowing when you are beat and being willing to concede the match to your opponent if you honestly can't continue.

IMHO - I don't think it's good sportsmanship to decide to change the rules/scoring of the match because you are injured. IIRC - No where in the rules or the code does it say that an injury allows changing the match format.

I wasn't there, but sounds like a bit of gamesmanship to me. His request made you put extra pressure on yourself because you felt you didn't deserve the match if you couldn't beat an "injured" player. Maybe your mentality or the way you played changed a little because you felt sorry for him or were concerned that he was hurt? I wouldn't call that being fair.

I'm just wondering, were you gaining momentum in the second set? Were you wearing him down?

Tennis is a sport and fitness and stamina does come into play.

As for people talking behind you back, you would be within your rights and the rules to say no. Go to all these other people when you play them and ask them to bend the rules for you because you are tired or injured and you might be surprised how many wouldn't do the same for you.

I don't see what would be wrong with replying, "Well, the match format is three full sets, so that's what we should do. Would it help if you took a break before we played the third set?"

Cindy -- who might have counteroffered to play best 3 out of 5

mikeler said:

I had one tournament in October where the high was 93 degrees. My first match was at 10 AM and even though the score was 6-2, 6-2; it was a much more grueling match than the score would indicate. The tournament officials were nice enough to give me a full 30 minutes to go eat and digest my lunch. :evil:

The next match I play a seed who got a bye in the first round. I get up 4-2 on him and the heat is incredible. We had a long deuce game after that which I lost and I knew there was no 2nd wind coming. Lost every game after that. I would have just quit after the first set, but the guy came all the way from Miami up to Orlando. I was suffering from the effects of heat exhaustion the rest of the day and evening which was not pleasant.

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Just a friendly advice: The moment you feel the symptoms of heat exhaustion, STOP. It does not matter what the other person will feel, did he get his money's worth etc. Heat exhaustion, especially if you are not used to it, is not a thing to be messed with. I will spare you from the gory details that I had the misfortune to witness.

spiderman123 said:

Just a friendly advice: The moment you feel the symptoms of heat exhaustion, STOP. It does not matter what the other person will feel, did he get his money's worth etc. Heat exhaustion, especially if you are not used to it, is not a thing to be messed with. I will spare you from the gory details that I had the misfortune to witness.

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You are absolutely correct. I play all the time in Florida during the summer, but I won't play in the afternoon unless it is overcast. It is just dangerous to play in that kind of heat even though I used to play 5 days a week at the 5.0 level. No more October tournaments for me!

I've heard that in some tournaments/leagues that you need to decide these matters before you play. Perhaps if you knew you were playing a possible 3rd set tiebreak you might have played differently and not split the first two sets. You could wind up counting on your fitness to take you thru the 3rd, only to have that taken away by someone who suddenly suggests a tiebreak.

You were too accomodating, in my opinion. Stamina is part of the game - a big part of the game for some people. I would not have given up that advantage. It's like me asking a person with superior strokes to refrain from hitting the ball to my backhand. If a medical timeout couldn't cure whatever was ailing him then he should have resigned instead of pressuring you to change the rules in order to sneak out a victory. Just my $0.02.

thehustler said:

I've heard that in some tournaments/leagues that you need to decide these matters before you play. Perhaps if you knew you were playing a possible 3rd set tiebreak you might have played differently and not split the first two sets. You could wind up counting on your fitness to take you thru the 3rd, only to have that taken away by someone who suddenly suggests a tiebreak.

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Every league I have played specifies the format (3 sets versus 2 + super tiebreaker) but says you can play the other format if both players agree before a match. Fitness is a part of the game. I prefer to play 3 sets unless it is my 2nd match and it is my opponent's first match of the day.

mikeler said:

Every league I have played specifies the format (3 sets versus 2 + super tiebreaker) but says you can play the other format if both players agree before a match. Fitness is a part of the game. I prefer to play 3 sets unless it is my 2nd match and it is my opponent's first match of the day.

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Agree entirely -

stamina and fitness are definitely strong points for me. i know in the third set my opponent must feel worse than me. i appreciate all the feedback. if it were league play i would have insisted 3 sets or nothing. i was too accomodating and it cost me. however i am just breaking in to play with the "big boys" at the club so i hope in the long run this gets me into games where i can play "up" and next year tell him "sorry its 3 sets "