Inches matter!

Was playing some hard court doubles this morning and a familiar situation occurred. My opponent called my ball out, which had been verrrrry close to the side line, so tough to say in or out. I said, "awwww, so that one was out?" Just mourning the call, not arguing about it. She replies "oh, it was THAT FAR OUT" - indicating that the ball was about two feet out.

Question is - of course, "out is out" - but if your opponent calls a ball that almost clipped the line TWO FEET out, do you start to think she didn't really see where the ball hit? Why do people do this so often? Is it to get under your skin? It's very annoying...

Man, I just can't get riled up about stuff like that. The ball was out. Next point.

jc4.0 said:

My opponent called my ball out, which had been verrrrry close to the side line, so tough to say in or out. I said, "awwww, so that one was out?" Just mourning the call, not arguing about it. She replies "oh, it was THAT FAR OUT" - indicating that the ball was about two feet out.

Question is - of course, "out is out" - but if your opponent calls a ball that almost clipped the line TWO FEET out, do you start to think she didn't really see where the ball hit? Why do people do this so often? Is it to get under your skin? It's very annoying...

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There are some ambiguities here. If your ball "almost clipped the line..." it is out!

Asking, "awwww, so that one was out?", implies you are questioning the call and not in "mourning" for a close shot. Some players feel you are calling them a liar if you question their call. By saying your close one was out by "TWO FEET", they are making a point that they don't appreciate their call being questioned.

Saying, "...so tough to say in or out", implies you are not sure if it was in or out--so why are you questioning it, even indirectly?

Every match has a few close calls, the best thing to do is make the call as honestly and promptly as you can, and get on with it.

Next time you mourn a miss, maybe light up a candle instead .

And remember, size doesn't matter, it's the motion of the ocean. Ahhhhhhhh.

I hate it when people say it was out by WAY more than it was..

eh i dont care. if it was out by 15 feet or 15 milimeters. it is out.

Can you read the first line?

nguyen320 said:

I hate it when people say it was out by WAY more than it was..

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You have gotten my point - guys, I wasn't questioning in or out - I accepted the call, because in fact it was close. (Actually, that's the kind of ball I would have called "in" if calling my opponent's ball, but whatever). What I'm saying is that if your opponent says it was WAY out, like a couple of feet out - then clearly they didn't see where the ball hit the court and it starts messing with my mind. I'll gladly give up the point, but I would be happy to take up a collection to buy you some new contact lenses.

jc4.0 said:

I said, "awwww, so that one was out?" Just mourning the call, not arguing about it.

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I wasn't there--but in writing, that sure sounds like a question--especially after you put a QUESTION MARK after it. Perhaps you should mourn your misses in silence.

During practice, after I got a bad call, my coach would yell at me: "DON'T EVEN GIVE THE LOOK!" The "look" being that I was questioning the call. I wasn't even aware that my "look" or body language was indicating I was hooked. I couldn't figure out how my coach knew I was questioning the call because I hadn't said anything. After a time, I figured out what "THE LOOK" was and worked on not doing it.

Just from your accounting of things, you could have easily been sounding like a cry-baby over that call, even if you know you weren't intending to be. Unless you were someone I knew and you said that to me in a match, I'd take it only one way.

Learn to let it go as far as line calls are concerned. It's the simple truth that you and your opponent(s) are going to miss a couple of calls through the course of a set. That includes seeing one or two of your own shots as "in" which actually landed "out". It's the ones that didn't even land near the line because they were so far in that ought to get your attention when they're called out. When you're getting hooked like that, it's no great mystery.

A ball bouncing on a court is an event that only lasts about three milliseconds (if my memory is anywhere near correct). The human eye cannot record an even that brief, so we do the best reckoning that we can. That means that a few balls that looked "just out" were probably "just in". Get comfortable with this fact and you'll stay a little more sane during your matches.

OK so few people agree with me that a REALLY bad call is worse than a bad call. Point taken. (actually, point lost) I always say, ok "out is out" and move on, but it's astonishing how ridiculously bad some calls are, I mean the call wasn't even CLOSE - and you have to accept them.

I agree with you. It seems you've tapped into an unusually heavy stream of self-righteousness here with all the "out is out, get over it," but having somebody claim a ball that just missed the line was "way out" is annoying. Let's say your doubles partner was the one who whined about a close call and you got to observe this response from a detached perspective. Same kind of situation when you hit a shot to the sideline, unreachable by your opponent, but you think maybe it was a hair wide. They don't even make a call, get ready to receive serve or whatever, so you pretty much have to ask if the ball was out and they say "oh, way out."

Of course, it might be a woman accustomed to overestimating distances of a few inches to soothe sensitive male egos...

We are to assume that if YOU SAY it just clipped the line, and they said it was out by two feet, that you saw it correctly and saw it wrong....

You are way on the other side of the court and they are standing right there on top of it.

I would agree in some cases you may see that they vastly over stated the distance, but since you are further away there is a discrepancy where balls that look closer to the line can be much further away then you see.

So given that, the ball is out, stop getting worked up about it and move on.

Otherwise what is the point? Is it just so you can have some ill will or mistrust against them on future calls? It's bad enough people go that route when they DO believe it was a bad out call, much less when you do that in this case where even to you the ball was ultimately OUT...

Ive had a few times where I saw a ball out by a foot or more, and someone will complain that there is just no way it was that far out. It's usually the type of person who habitually jumps on any close out call because they just cant believe their shot was out and they look for any reason to misjudge you.
(not to say that's you...)

When she indicated the ball was two feet out, she was being sarcastic, in response to your questioning her call. I've seen it done and done it myself on ocasion.


"Mourn" your misses in silence.

jswinf said:

It seems you've tapped into an unusually heavy stream of self-righteousness here...


Of course, it might be a woman accustomed to overestimating distances of a few inches to soothe sensitive male egos...

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So, if someone starts a thread asking for opinions and others reply to it with an answer, by your standards, they are selfrightous if you don't agree.

As to your second assertion, not to be selfrightous, but that's a sexisit statement.

Based on all of your posts, I am not sure if you are out there to play tennis, or you are out there looking for things to stir you up psychologically.

Either way, you are exactly the kind of person that I try to stay away from at the club...

I don't....whey do people take rec tennis sooooo seriously?

tennis tom said:

When she indicated the ball was two feet out, she was being sarcastic, in response to your questioning her call. I've seen it done and done it myself on ocasion.


"Mourn" your misses in silence.

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This is the most probable. I imagine the OP has a history with the group.

Typically, players like the OP are ones I avoid at all cost. When I do play these guys, ironically, I pretty much just play everything as in unless it is a foot out. Anything they question, I just agree with them and award them the point.

As someone said above, these types aren't really out to play tennis. Instead, they are looking for any reason to stir things up. A real downer for everyone else, but these people exist everywhere and have to be endured.

r2473 said:

This is the most probable. I imagine the OP has a history with the group.

Typically, players like the OP are ones I avoid at all cost. When I do play these guys, ironically, I pretty much just play everything as in unless it is a foot out. Anything they question, I just agree with them and award them the point.

As someone said above, these types aren't really out to play tennis. Instead, they are looking for any reason to stir things up. A real downer for everyone else, but these people exist everywhere and have to be endured.

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You play everything that's a foot out? What a doormat. To say that I'm some "type" that isn't out to play tennis - when you've never even met me - that's very presumptuous and self-righteous of you. You're not someone I'd play tennis with, or even give the time of day to. Why do ill people like you bother to post your venom? It's not helpful.

jc4.0 said:

You play everything that's a foot out? What a doormat. To say that I'm some "type" that isn't out to play tennis - when you've never even met me - that's very presumptuous and self-righteous of you. You're not someone I'd play tennis with, or even give the time of day to. Why do ill people like you bother to post your venom? It's not helpful.

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I've changed my mind. I now believe that you have the tennis skill of Federer and the Plato's sense of justice.

r2473 said:

I've changed my mind. I now believe that you have the tennis skill of Federer and the Plato's sense of justice.

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Once again, you have cracked me up, "Plato's sense of justice." At least you're not a doormat.