What do you do when this happens?

S

Setmatch45

Rookie
Ok I am playing with a pretty much new group of people I know the couple that runs the group as well as a few others but not many of them. It is a round robin and in the second set I am playing a guy who is calling every ball near a line out. He calls 8 to 10 good balls out and another 3 to 4 close balls out. I am really getting angry it is just a fun night out. Now I am serving I fire a ball 100 or so miles an hour directly at him and he just keeps going calling balls out. While he is up at the net I fire another ball at his head still no change. It is a new group so I don't really want to get into it with him but I have to after I called him out he stopped. After the set his partner said I did the proper thing but he did not to be the one to say something.

Well? what would you guys have done? I get that kind of thing in USTA but don't agree with it.
 
S

spot

Hall of Fame
Sounds like you need to calm down and just have fun playing tennis. You went headhunting in a round robin? Ridiculous. Grow up before you play social tennis again.
 
West Coast Ace

West Coast Ace

G.O.A.T.
How is he supposed to know that hitting the balls at him is your way of saying you don't appreciate his line calling abilities?

You did say 'tennis night out' - so you're sure that under the lights your eyes are that good?

a) ask someone else in the group - they may say "yeah, that's our Bob! We all just aim 3' inside the lines" or b) ask the guy directly the next time you're sure he misses one; c) start hooking him back and let him know.
 
S

Setmatch45

Rookie
We played indoors. Also the other two people on the court were in total agreement with me. I never met him before but they said he gets nasty with people that question his calls. They were laughing pretty hard at the net shot I took at him.
 
T

tennis tom

Legend
hight

Setmatch45 said:
...Now I am serving I fire a ball 100 or so miles an hour directly at him and he just keeps going calling balls out. While he is up at the net I fire another ball at his head still no change.


...Well? what would you guys have done?
Click to expand...


Headhunting rarely works, it's a difficult target to hit, anything hit over chest high will go out--aim lower--the guy's a dick.
 
D

dizzlmcwizzl

Hall of Fame
Headhunting over line calls is bad form. Many on here will say never to head hunt ... I prefer to think it has its place in limited situations but only when your intention is understood.

It was social doubles and it would have been better to point out his line calls were suspect .... I would have just said "good call" sarcastically after every poor call and tried never to play with him again.
 
beernutz

beernutz

Hall of Fame
Setmatch45 said:
Ok I am playing with a pretty much new group of people I know the couple that runs the group as well as a few others but not many of them. It is a round robin and in the second set I am playing a guy who is calling every ball near a line out. He calls 8 to 10 good balls out and another 3 to 4 close balls out. I am really getting angry it is just a fun night out. Now I am serving I fire a ball 100 or so miles an hour directly at him and he just keeps going calling balls out. While he is up at the net I fire another ball at his head still no change. It is a new group so I don't really want to get into it with him but I have to after I called him out he stopped. After the set his partner said I did the proper thing but he did not to be the one to say something.

Well? what would you guys have done? I get that kind of thing in USTA but don't agree with it.
Click to expand...
Was the cheater's partner named Tom by any chance?
 
goober

goober

Legend
Setmatch45 said:
We played indoors. Also the other two people on the court were in total agreement with me. I never met him before but they said he gets nasty with people that question his calls. They were laughing pretty hard at the net shot I took at him.
Click to expand...

I don't get why they keep inviting this guy back even though his calls are so bad ? We have an older guy that makes bad line calls. Not as bad as your guy, but probably 3-4 times a set. If I am his partner and he makes a bad call, I say I saw it in and the opponent gets the point. Why don't other guys stand up to him? If he is not willing to change I would either not invite him back, over rule him every time he makes a clearly bad call.
 
sansaephanh

sansaephanh

Professional
There is this guy at my local courts. Solid 4.0. He gets sooo pissed at his doubls partners, he flat out embarrasses and harasses them on court... He was recently kicked out of a usta 4.0 team for his behavior. The team was unanimous in voting him out. He gets pissy over kids who swing out on rally balls. Granted it is annoying at times, but he does overreact. He'll walk off the court and curse at you and such. Tennis needs no such people to play it. I'm glad he got what was coming to him.

I don't know why i typed all this out as I have nothing to contribute to the thread. Sorry!

Carry on!
 
TomT

TomT

Hall of Fame
spot said:
Sounds like you need to calm down and just have fun playing tennis. You went headhunting in a round robin? Ridiculous. Grow up before you play social tennis again.
Click to expand...
Agree. No headhunting. If it appears that somebody made a bad call, then discuss it. In social tennis for fun, who cares if a close call is correct or not.
 
T

tennis tom

Legend
beernutz said:
I wasn't referring to you but its interesting that you thought I was.
Click to expand...

Yes VERY INTERESTING! as Dr. Freud would say. Just a coincidence since I was the last Tom (of many here) to post prior to yours. Enquiring minds want to know, which TOM were you referring to? The suspense is killing us--I may have to make an appointment with Dr. Drew. In the future could you please be more specific otherwise I may have to give you a make-up bad line call.
 
D

dizzlmcwizzl

Hall of Fame
tennis tom said:
Yes VERY INTERESTING! as Dr. Freud would say. Just a coincidence since I was the last Tom (of many here) to post prior to yours. Enquiring minds want to know, which TOM were you referring to? The suspense is killing us--I may have to make an appointment with Dr. Drew. In the future could you please be more specific otherwise I may have to give you a make-up bad line call.
Click to expand...

I know, I know
 
dcdoorknob

dcdoorknob

Hall of Fame
tennis tom said:
Yes VERY INTERESTING! as Dr. Freud would say. Just a coincidence since I was the last Tom (of many here) to post prior to yours. Enquiring minds want to know, which TOM were you referring to? The suspense is killing us--I may have to make an appointment with Dr. Drew. In the future could you please be more specific otherwise I may have to give you a make-up bad line call.
Click to expand...

There was a way too long thread recently where Teflon Tom argued that the correct thing to do if you know 100% your partner is cheating is to do nothing to oppose them out of a sense of "teammate solidarity" or some such nonsense.

I'm sure that was the reference.
 
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T

tennis tom

Legend
dcdoorknob said:
There was a way too long thread recently where Teflon Tom argued that the correct thing to do if you know 100% your partner is cheating is to do nothing to oppose them out of a sense of "teammate solidarity" or some such nonsense.

I'm sure that was the reference.
Click to expand...

Oh ya, whatever happened to Teflon Tom?--he's probably back in English Lit class, diagramming sentences from Beowulf and Chaucer.
 
corbind

corbind

Professional
After the 4th obvious bad call walk to the net and talk about it directly. There is no way a guy can make 4 bad calls a set and get away with it. Decades ago Dr. Warrick told all of us, "You deserve what you tolerate" and I believe that holds true.

Granted I'm up for justice but hitting balls at the liar is not going to send the message and, unless you're hitting really low, is dangerous. Hook him back? For fun say, "NO!" on a ball he hits 3 feet in and see what he does. He should become irate and you'll have a fun "discussion." After telling him his calls have been atrocious call the ball in and continue.

If the guy continues calling balls obvious in balls out keep balls a foot inside the lines and laugh it off.
 
Avles

Avles

Hall of Fame
tennis tom said:
Oh ya, whatever happened to Teflon Tom?--he's probably back in English Lit class, diagramming sentences from Beowulf and Chaucer.
Click to expand...

I suspect he got tired of trying to maintain his persona and is currently posting from his primary account. Doesn't seem like people miss him much.
 
R

Roforot

Hall of Fame
TT is on my ignore list so I didn't notice he was gone. Not that he's a bad fellow, but I couldn't stand his grammar.

One thing I'd ask is if possible, please do not quote him if you reply to any of his posts.

As far as the OP, I think you went overboard trying to purposely hit/hurt a guy. The best response is to exclude him from future tennis nights out or at least ask the organizers if they can keep you separated from him. If he gets that kind of heat, I think he's more likely to change. I suspect he felt he got to you when you started hitting at him and it gave him more encouragement/satisfaction.
 
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S

Setmatch45

Rookie
In a USTA match that I was getting hooked in I called a ball out that landed in the middle of the box. The guy went nuts the other three players on court found it really funny. His partner said he was sure he was making bad calls but did not want to say anything. The guy did get it and we had a good match from that point.
 
N

NTRPolice

Hall of Fame
Losing your cool against a hooker is never a wining strategy. Some people hook back in response, but I dont do that because it makes you look just as bad as them when you do.

I usually start with a "That ball was good, yeah?" and that usually fixes it. Sometimes its escalates to "Did you call that out?".

When someone is making bad calls I usually extend no courtesy back to them. I dont try to "avoid" them with any of my shots and will hit directly at them if I have to. I dont give them free first serves, or "courtesy" lets. I make "quiet" line calls by pointing instead of saying it, which usually frustrates them lol.

There are a lot of ways to get "even" with hookers without losing your cool or hooking back. Besides, beaning someone with a serve is pretty hard anyway. Id say I could only do it 1/10 or 1/15 times with a full swing probably.
 
TheCheese

TheCheese

Professional
You tried to hit a guy while serving? Who the hell does this? Just question his calls and if he doesn't stop, flat out tell him to stop cheating.
 
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