Biggest Pet Peeve During USTA Match???

FedLIKEnot

Professional
So I know in the heat of competition things that would normally not matter can drive us crazy and at best annoy us and at worst drive us bat bleep crazy what is yours?

For me its two things:
1) Calling ball on for the court your ball is going to and stopping there play. Recently had a match where we had the curse of being the middle court and both our neighbor courts would scream ball on even if the ball had no effect on the point. It should be no surprise that it hurt my side more often and thus my annoyance but I it really is annoying. Your playing out a point go to a hit what will be a winner just to have the next court deem our court unplayable in a sense and screaming ball on. Now to be clear I don't care much when the people across the net call ball on even if it is on my side or rolling into a corner. If it distracts or bothers them or they are worried for our safety I can live with it.....

2) Calling the ball out before it lands. I have mentioned this a few line calling based posts, but it annoys me when people call the ball out mid flight. I hit with a lot of topspin not Rafa levels but more so than the common player in my area so most give up on my ball only for it to be close at worst and land in at best. Couple of things there if you call it out mid flight and than it catches you may not able to allow yourself to call it out cause you assumed it out. Nothing wrong with that for some your brain wont allow you to change course. But lets avoid that and see the ball once it lands and if your not sure its out its in. But in USTA this is rarely the case....

So what are yours....?
 

darkhorse

Semi-Pro
I'll hit the character limit if I list all of them, but most involve old men who either think they know everything about the sport or are blissfully ignorant about it.

I've accepted bad line calls as an inevitability, which is why I'm not sad to not be playing USTA tennis for a while. Not worth getting upset over, people see what they want to see.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
So I know in the heat of competition things that would normally not matter can drive us crazy and at best annoy us and at worst drive us bat bleep crazy what is yours?

For me its two things:
1) Calling ball on for the court your ball is going to and stopping there play. Recently had a match where we had the curse of being the middle court and both our neighbor courts would scream ball on even if the ball had no effect on the point. It should be no surprise that it hurt my side more often and thus my annoyance but I it really is annoying. Your playing out a point go to a hit what will be a winner just to have the next court deem our court unplayable in a sense and screaming ball on. Now to be clear I don't care much when the people across the net call ball on even if it is on my side or rolling into a corner. If it distracts or bothers them or they are worried for our safety I can live with it.....

the flip side of that is NOT calling "ball on" and then someone steps on the ball and sprains an ankle or twists a knee. It's a judgment call: what you're referring to seems to be always calling it no matter what whereas I'm more for discretion. Still, I'll err on the side of caution. I'd feel like an idiot if someone got hurt because I failed to say something [I know: low probability. However, high consequence.]
 
I'll hit the character limit if I list all of them, but most involve old men who either think they know everything about the sport or are blissfully ignorant about it.

...most involve young men who either think they know everything about the sport or are blissfully ignorant about it.
 

OnTheLine

Hall of Fame
Pet Peeves ....

I agree, calling a ball out before it either bounces OR crosses the baseline/sideline ... really annoying, and I will now give one warning, and next time I let them know I will call it as my point, regardless. It simply stops happening.

People who say "watch your foot faults" simply to mess with the server when server is no where near the line

Benches covered with bags. I know this is an old topic around here, but it really does annoy me

Anyone whining about anything ever. The weather, the sun, the condition of the court, the balls ... no whining, this ain't a football league in Europe.
 

Powderwombat

Semi-Pro
Regarding that "ball on" thing, it really baffles me why some courts don't have a little bit of fence separating them all...you don't need much and it doesn't even need to be very high...but for christs sake whenever I play on away courts (my home courts have fence separators), there's literally balls coming onto the court basically every single game...it's a nightmare.

I dunno how people stand it at those other clubs. Winners with even a bit of angle will you know...cross the baseline/sideline and then continue at an angle, hit the back fence and then roll over behind the neighbouring court, so they've gotta pick it up or you've gotta wait for their point to finish like a moron before you can go grab it...PUT A WAIST HIGH FENCE UP.
 

stapletonj

Hall of Fame
"I agree, calling a ball out before it either bounces OR crosses the baseline/sideline ... really annoying, and I will now give one warning, and next time I let them know I will call it as my point, regardless"

You can certainly give the warning, but I doubt you can claim the point (for verbal hindrance?) if the ball is still travelling at them and not you. Now, if the ball happens to land in and they play it back to you, I think you can call a verbal hindrance based on their out call. They called it out, it was in, your point.
 
D

Deleted member 23235

Guest
i feel like there are a bunch of threads on this, but i'll add:

* leaving bag on bench, then also sitting on the bench not leaving me any space to sit
--> variation: sitting on my folding chair when no bench is around (really out of shape dude i played dubs with)
* calling close balls out, when you're on the far side of the court (ie. you're out wide, i hit dtl)
* calling before it lands
* the ole "but I'm X years older than you" excuse after losing
* "let's play 2" on a ball they weren't sure about
* questioning my calls on clay (duh, there's a mark)
* drilling my partner when they are clearly weak/cant handle the pace
* hitting away from me in a "cooperative" hitting session
* saying you want to "just hit"... dog the hitting session (i try to run everything down), then saying, "let's play a set".. i'm wise to this trick now :p
* expecting me to hit with you (seriously, why do people have this expectation? even challenging me/calling me out/betting me - like that's gonna really want me to practice with you... i usually respond with, "yeah, we'll meet up at the next tourney/league" (they never play))... can only imagine how they react when they get turned down at the club/bar.
* never bringing balls (caveat: this is fine for me if you're clearly a better player... cost of my "lesson")
* walking through in the middle of a point
* leaving the gate door open
* not picking up my ball, especially if i've picked up yours like a dozen times
* asking how long i've been on the court (implying i have to get off in 1h), which is fine, but you're only asking me because you're lazy, and i'm closest to the entrance

i'm sure a million more...

these days, instead of getting mad about, i just cut them out of rolodex of hitting partners... but i can definitely see why really good players (eg. ex high level college) stop playing... to avoid all this BS that the saw in the juniors and college (basically adults acting like children)
 
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OnTheLine

Hall of Fame
You can certainly give the warning, but I doubt you can claim the point (for verbal hindrance?) if the ball is still travelling at them and not you. Now, if the ball happens to land in and they play it back to you, I think you can call a verbal hindrance based on their out call. They called it out, it was in, your point.

I didn't say I have ever actually called it my point on the next one ... because there never is a next one. Most people don't really know the rules, they believe you and stop the bad behavior ... I got this tip from a friend and it works. What you want to do is stop the annoying behavior, not win a point on a technicality.
 

Mongolmike

Hall of Fame
The only time I approached a roving official was during a USTA State playoffs, and a fan of the opponents would clink his bottle during our serves. It didn't bother me, I just thought it was bush league stuff. Not sure when he started doing it, but probably half way through the first set on a change over I mentioned it casually to the rover. Sure enough, our next serve he did it again. She confronted him and he just laughed it off like he was just joshing around. And I think we won our court and the match (but got killed by the 3rd team. They didn't need to have a bottle clinker!)
 

Ruark

Professional
Last week I was watching a 4.0-4.5 doubles league match. These guys were hard hitters and very focused on what they were doing. A lower level league (looked like a vanilla 3.5) was playing next to them and was constantly losing balls over into the 4.5 team's court. There was no fence. After a while, one of the 4.5 players angrily slammed the stray ball back with very considerable force, obviously angry, while the other team was going, "oh, man, I'm sorry, man, sorry, man...". The ball had rolled into the court right in the middle of an intense rally. Maybe poor sportsmanship to slam the ball back that way, but at the same time I can understand where they're coming from. I've encountered this situation a few times; any thoughts on a good way to handle it?
 
I was practicing my serve with a hopper full of balls today for about an hour. There were four ladies I would say were 4.5 and played senior tournaments. There was no fence between the courts except at the ends. In that hour only ONE of their balls came onto my court!--which I cheerfully returned to the server. They were hitting pretty hard, I don't know if they tried not to hit onto my court or had enough skill not to. I think they were cognizant that I was practicing and may have tried not to hit big angles, not to interrupt my practice. It would have been alright if they did, usually when rec players are adjacent, they're 3-4.0, I'm used to retrieving numerous balls for them. Corollarily, I served into the opposite corners away from them, and not one of my balls went into their court.
 
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MathGeek

Hall of Fame
Last week I was watching a 4.0-4.5 doubles league match. These guys were hard hitters and very focused on what they were doing. A lower level league (looked like a vanilla 3.5) was playing next to them and was constantly losing balls over into the 4.5 team's court. There was no fence. After a while, one of the 4.5 players angrily slammed the stray ball back with very considerable force, obviously angry, while the other team was going, "oh, man, I'm sorry, man, sorry, man...". The ball had rolled into the court right in the middle of an intense rally. Maybe poor sportsmanship to slam the ball back that way, but at the same time I can understand where they're coming from. I've encountered this situation a few times; any thoughts on a good way to handle it?

That's just gonna happen on shared public courts. Find a private court, schedule at a time when no one is on adjacent courts, or suck it up and deal with it.

In my neighborhood, there are lots of tennis courts and only a few time slots on the weekends when courts with no one on the adjacent court are not available. Lots of weekday mornings, afternoons, and evenings when 80+% of the available courts are unused.
 

Mongolmike

Hall of Fame
I was practicing my serve with a hopper full of balls today for about an hour. There were four ladies I would say were 4.5 and played senior tournaments. There was no fence between the courts except at the ends. In that hour only ONE of their balls came onto my court!--which I cheerfully returned to the server. They were hitting pretty hard, I don't know if they tried not to hit onto my court or had enough skill not to. I think they were cognizant that I was practicing and may have tried not to hit big angles, not to interrupt my practice. It would have been alright if they did, usually when rec players are adjacent, there 3-4.0, I'm used to retrieving numerous balls for them. Corollarily, I served into the opposite corners away from them, and not one of my balls went into their court.


Same here... when I'm practicing alone I always try to get an end court and hit 100% to the corners. Rarely one of my balls might ricochet off a fence pole and deflect over to the other court, but that is pretty unusual.

On the other hand, if a court near me hits a ball onto my side, I try to quickly retrieve it before it gets mixed up in my shag balls. No worries. It's part of sharing court space, inside or out.

During matches when a stray ball interrupts play, sometimes it sucks but sometimes I get a "first serve" again out of it. Especially in doubles, if there are NOT sharply angled balls being hit for winners, then I'd think the players aren't very aggressive.

Nobody wants to hit balls into an adjacent match, but it happens. Get the ball back in a timely fashion and understand it is part of the sport when you are sharing courts next to each other.

ALTHOUGH... one time one of our balls went astray 2 courts over. There was an empty court between us and them. A guy on the other court snagged our ball and held it up.

I was nearest and he calls from 2 courts over, "Which hand?"
I reply, "What?"
He says, "Hold up your hand and I'll hit it into your hand."

At this point I roll my eyes and shake my head and just said something like, "Ball please."

He doesn't let up. "Hold up your hand, I'll hit it into it."

I say, "Dude, I don't care about your circus tricks, just give us the damn ball back."

He cusses, fires the ball back, I did not thank him.

After the match he confronts me in the parking lot. Words were exchanged, but that was it.

So yeah, that kinda cra p peeves me off.
 

Rattler

Hall of Fame
Same here... when I'm practicing alone I always try to get an end court and hit 100% to the corners. Rarely one of my balls might ricochet off a fence pole and deflect over to the other court, but that is pretty unusual.

On the other hand, if a court near me hits a ball onto my side, I try to quickly retrieve it before it gets mixed up in my shag balls. No worries. It's part of sharing court space, inside or out.

During matches when a stray ball interrupts play, sometimes it sucks but sometimes I get a "first serve" again out of it. Especially in doubles, if there are NOT sharply angled balls being hit for winners, then I'd think the players aren't very aggressive.

Nobody wants to hit balls into an adjacent match, but it happens. Get the ball back in a timely fashion and understand it is part of the sport when you are sharing courts next to each other.

ALTHOUGH... one time one of our balls went astray 2 courts over. There was an empty court between us and them. A guy on the other court snagged our ball and held it up.

I was nearest and he calls from 2 courts over, "Which hand?"
I reply, "What?"
He says, "Hold up your hand and I'll hit it into your hand."

At this point I roll my eyes and shake my head and just said something like, "Ball please."

He doesn't let up. "Hold up your hand, I'll hit it into it."

I say, "Dude, I don't care about your circus tricks, just give us the damn ball back."

He cusses, fires the ball back, I did not thank him.

After the match he confronts me in the parking lot. Words were exchanged, but that was it.

So yeah, that kinda cra p peeves me off.

Wow, sometimes I wonder where these kind of people come from
 
ALTHOUGH... one time one of our balls went astray 2 courts over. There was an empty court between us and them. A guy on the other court snagged our ball and held it up.

I was nearest and he calls from 2 courts over, "Which hand?"
I reply, "What?"
He says, "Hold up your hand and I'll hit it into your hand."

At this point I roll my eyes and shake my head and just said something like, "Ball please."

He doesn't let up. "Hold up your hand, I'll hit it into it."

I say, "Dude, I don't care about your circus tricks, just give us the damn ball back."

He cusses, fires the ball back, I did not thank him.

After the match he confronts me in the parking lot. Words were exchanged, but that was it.

So yeah, that kinda cra p peeves me off.
Well, it was your ball that went onto his court, and he was doing you a favor by retrieving it for you. Why not just amuse him, pick a hand, and let him show-off his skills? Or, go along with it, telling him to hit it into your pocket, catch it with your penis, or hit it into your rectal treasure chest? You escalated it into a confrontation with your attitudinal remarks.
 

darkhorse

Semi-Pro
I had a guy a few weeks ago that walked over to the court I was playing on after one of his balls rolled onto our court, stand pretty much right on the corner of the doubles alley to let us know about it. It was a pretty intense rally and I had the upper hand, so I ignored him initially but he kept interrupting so I had to stop the point. I was not happy and read him the riot act, saying it's our responsibility to call a let on our court, not his. He got all upset at me, and walked back to his court. I heard him make a comment about me, which only escalated things. They eventually went to another court.

I admit I should not have blown up at him, but at the same time it was a blatant violation of tennis etiquette. My opponent should have called a let as he saw the ball roll towards the baseline, but again I feel that's our call, not somebody from an adjacent court.
 

Mongolmike

Hall of Fame
Well, it was your ball that went onto his court, and he was doing you a favor by retrieving it for you. Why not just amuse him, pick a hand, and let him show-off his skills? Or, go along with it, telling him to hit it into your pocket, catch it with your penis, or hit it into your rectal treasure chest? You escalated it into a confrontation with your attitudinal remarks.

Yes I did. Or, he could've return the ball like a normal person.

Apparently he did not like it that I would not be a part of his dog and pony show, since he clearly expressed his distain in the parking lot.
 

Mongolmike

Hall of Fame
I had a guy a few weeks ago that walked over to the court I was playing on after one of his balls rolled onto our court, stand pretty much right on the corner of the doubles alley to let us know about it. It was a pretty intense rally and I had the upper hand, so I ignored him initially but he kept interrupting so I had to stop the point. I was not happy and read him the riot act, saying it's our responsibility to call a let on our court, not his. He got all upset at me, and walked back to his court. I heard him make a comment about me, which only escalated things. They eventually went to another court.

I admit I should not have blown up at him, but at the same time it was a blatant violation of tennis etiquette. My opponent should have called a let as he saw the ball roll towards the baseline, but again I feel that's our call, not somebody from an adjacent court.

Like he couldn't see you were in the middle of the point...smh...
 

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
My opponent should have called a let as he saw the ball roll towards the baseline, but again I feel that's our call, not somebody from an adjacent court.

That is the way I treat it. I have had balls roll over to other courts and unless I see it is really close to someone and I am worried about them rolling and ankle, it is up to them to call it.
 

Nacho

Hall of Fame
So I know in the heat of competition things that would normally not matter can drive us crazy and at best annoy us and at worst drive us bat bleep crazy what is yours?

For me its two things:
1) Calling ball on for the court your ball is going to and stopping there play. Recently had a match where we had the curse of being the middle court and both our neighbor courts would scream ball on even if the ball had no effect on the point. It should be no surprise that it hurt my side more often and thus my annoyance but I it really is annoying. Your playing out a point go to a hit what will be a winner just to have the next court deem our court unplayable in a sense and screaming ball on. Now to be clear I don't care much when the people across the net call ball on even if it is on my side or rolling into a corner. If it distracts or bothers them or they are worried for our safety I can live with it.....

2) Calling the ball out before it lands. I have mentioned this a few line calling based posts, but it annoys me when people call the ball out mid flight. I hit with a lot of topspin not Rafa levels but more so than the common player in my area so most give up on my ball only for it to be close at worst and land in at best. Couple of things there if you call it out mid flight and than it catches you may not able to allow yourself to call it out cause you assumed it out. Nothing wrong with that for some your brain wont allow you to change course. But lets avoid that and see the ball once it lands and if your not sure its out its in. But in USTA this is rarely the case....

So what are yours....?

1) Playing No-Ad
2) winning a match 9-4 but having it entered in the computer as 6-4 6-4
3) People that yell "come on" after an error, especially like a double fault
4) opponents that try to chit chat between every point
5) opponents that waste time between points and games, or basically delay time when we only have an hour
6) Bags on benches....That is truly annoying, I move them if it happens
7) Sandbagging
8) Teams that have to constantly have people sub-up
9) No one brings beer
10) girlfriends sitting around on the courts
11) opponents believing every close call is a hook

I could go on and on.....
 
" I have had balls roll over to other courts and unless I see it is really close to someone and I am worried about them rolling and ankle, it is up to them to call it."

I agree with that, some "players" call ball-on at the least provocation. I knew an engineer once who would call a let if there was a ball rolling ANYWHERE on the planet! He was a real PITA, thankfully he doesn't play anymore. You can track an errant ball and play around it while being aware of it and not having to play a hinder on every other point. There are one or two other players on the other side of the net who, if you haven't hooked them too badly can keep an eye out for errant balls behind you and abort the point if you may be in danger--or, lob over you into it's path--or, drop shot between you and the ball.
 
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r2473

G.O.A.T.
5) opponents that waste time between points and games, or basically delay time when we only have an hour
This is my #1. It more comes down to gamesmanship by dictating match tempo. So making me (needlessly) wait for them when it's my serve to throw off my serve tempo. And they have all kinds of little things they do. Most really want you to know that they are doing it on purpose, because they know that will make you angrier. Ask them to play at servers pace and they usually up the ante and go into "ultra gamesmanship" mode.

But like many have said, you just learn to let it go as best as you can while playing and never play with them again.
 

bobbything

Rookie
People who try and win the warmup, or who just can't keep the ball in play long enough to warm up. That sh*t drives me crazy.

Also, last Friday, there was a USTA 12&U tourney going on at my club. Typically on Fridays, we'll get a court of dubs together and play hookey from work around 3:00pm. So, we get there and one of the asst. pros is running the tournament. He puts us up on a court far away from everyone else. However, about halfway through the match, two kids walk up and begin warming up on the court next to us. Then they began their match. No big deal. Both us and them occasionally would have a ball bounce on to one another's court.

About 20 minutes later, the asst. pro came up to our court and asked if we could move courts to a different tier. I asked why. He said because a parent was complaining that too many balls were rolling onto her kid's court. I about lost my sh*t. I just told him no. We were dues-paying members and if the parent had a problem, then they can come talk to us about it. Naturally, nothing came of it but it put me in a rotten mood for the rest of the match. Some parents, man, they just take things way too seriously.
 
N

Nashvegas

Guest
I was practicing my serve with a hopper full of balls today for about an hour. There were four ladies I would say were 4.5 and played senior tournaments. There was no fence between the courts except at the ends. In that hour only ONE of their balls came onto my court!--which I cheerfully returned to the server. They were hitting pretty hard, I don't know if they tried not to hit onto my court or had enough skill not to. I think they were cognizant that I was practicing and may have tried not to hit big angles, not to interrupt my practice. It would have been alright if they did, usually when rec players are adjacent, they're 3-4.0, I'm used to retrieving numerous balls for them. Corollarily, I served into the opposite corners away from them, and not one of my balls went into their court.
"Corollarily"

Nice
 

Nacho

Hall of Fame
This is my #1. It more comes down to gamesmanship by dictating match tempo. So making me (needlessly) wait for them when it's my serve to throw off my serve tempo. And they have all kinds of little things they do. Most really want you to know that they are doing it on purpose, because they know that will make you angrier. Ask them to play at servers pace and they usually up the ante and go into "ultra gamesmanship" mode.

But like many have said, you just learn to let it go as best as you can while playing and never play with them again.

I played a guy once that even in the warm up decided in the middle of it to take 5 minutes to take off all his layers....Then changed shirts three times during the match...A one hour match indoors, in the middle of January. I beat him 8-1 even with the 20 minutes of delays....but it was so annoying...
 

Startzel

Hall of Fame
I had a guy a few weeks ago that walked over to the court I was playing on after one of his balls rolled onto our court, stand pretty much right on the corner of the doubles alley to let us know about it. It was a pretty intense rally and I had the upper hand, so I ignored him initially but he kept interrupting so I had to stop the point. I was not happy and read him the riot act, saying it's our responsibility to call a let on our court, not his. He got all upset at me, and walked back to his court. I heard him make a comment about me, which only escalated things. They eventually went to another court.

I admit I should not have blown up at him, but at the same time it was a blatant violation of tennis etiquette. My opponent should have called a let as he saw the ball roll towards the baseline, but again I feel that's our call, not somebody from an adjacent court.

Jokes on you. He trolled you into calling a let when you're not entitled to one.

Advantage him.
 

esgee48

G.O.A.T.
Using corollary as a noun or adjective is proper. The term 'corollarily' does not exist according to standard dictionaries. Usage could be 'As a corollary, I served ......' English 1A readers would flag this and grade it C-. 'So as a courtesy, I served....' is what TT meant since there was no proven statement from which a corollary can subsequently flow. :D Carry On!
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
ALTHOUGH... one time one of our balls went astray 2 courts over. There was an empty court between us and them. A guy on the other court snagged our ball and held it up.

I was nearest and he calls from 2 courts over, "Which hand?"
I reply, "What?"
He says, "Hold up your hand and I'll hit it into your hand."

At this point I roll my eyes and shake my head and just said something like, "Ball please."

He doesn't let up. "Hold up your hand, I'll hit it into it."

I say, "Dude, I don't care about your circus tricks, just give us the damn ball back."

He cusses, fires the ball back, I did not thank him.

After the match he confronts me in the parking lot. Words were exchanged, but that was it.

So yeah, that kinda cra p peeves me off.

Kinda harsh, no? Unless you felt like he was disrespecting you [didn't seem like it from your description], why not indulge him?
 
From the interwebs :

" 'Corollarily' is not considered a word by dictionaries currently. It is a reasonable neologistic construction, in the sense that it follows the rules of adding the suffix.

There are other ways of saying what you intend with existing terms, 'theoretically', 'as a corollary'.

Also, it is not particularly easy to pronounce.

So I'd suggest trying to use another way of saying it, otherwise it will stand out like a sore thumb."
 

Mongolmike

Hall of Fame
Kinda harsh, no? Unless you felt like he was disrespecting you [didn't seem like it from your description], why not indulge him?


I don't think it was harsh for a number of reasons.

If I'm retrieving an errant ball two courts away for people I don't know and have never seen before I get to the ball as promptly as I can. I check to see if they have stopped play. If someone looks over to me, I hit the ball underhand (or toss it) back directly to them with the intent that the ball bounces a couple of times making it easy for them to catch. No words need to be said, but usually the stranger would say "thanks" and I acknowledge that in some manner (verbal "no problem", a wave of the hand, or simply lift my racquet briefly).

Even if the ball isn't actually ON my court but if it came to a stop on the court next to mine I still scoot over to get it...yes, I don't saunter over but promptly retrieve it and get it back to their court. It seems like common court courtesy to me. Who knows, they might be future people I meet and play with.

What I would never do is make requests of them BEFORE I send the ball back. Hold your hand up, I'll hit it to your hand. Spin around twice and say "there's no place like home". Stand on one foot and ask me nice to please give us our ball back. It's du che bag stuff (IMO). Get the ball back promptly and courteously, and I will probably get the same action in return... usually with a smile.

You may feel it was harsh, but after he wanted me to participate in his performance art I asked politely and in a normal tone "can we have the ball please?". He repeated his plea for a willing partner, and I wasn't his huckleberry. Well Boo on me. And then, he confronted me 45 minutes later. Again, to my way of seeing other people, that underlined he was the a hole and someone I would have no intention of getting to know or possibly sharing a court with in the future.

Not everyone is entertained by your choice of actions. Some people just want common courtesy and a generally prompt low key return of the tennis ball so OUR court can continue playing the way they would like to.
 
Same here... when I'm practicing alone I always try to get an end court and hit 100% to the corners. Rarely one of my balls might ricochet off a fence pole and deflect over to the other court, but that is pretty unusual.

On the other hand, if a court near me hits a ball onto my side, I try to quickly retrieve it before it gets mixed up in my shag balls. No worries. It's part of sharing court space, inside or out.

During matches when a stray ball interrupts play, sometimes it sucks but sometimes I get a "first serve" again out of it. Especially in doubles, if there are NOT sharply angled balls being hit for winners, then I'd think the players aren't very aggressive.

Nobody wants to hit balls into an adjacent match, but it happens. Get the ball back in a timely fashion and understand it is part of the sport when you are sharing courts next to each other.

ALTHOUGH... one time one of our balls went astray 2 courts over. There was an empty court between us and them. A guy on the other court snagged our ball and held it up.

I was nearest and he calls from 2 courts over, "Which hand?"
I reply, "What?"
He says, "Hold up your hand and I'll hit it into your hand."

At this point I roll my eyes and shake my head and just said something like, "Ball please."

He doesn't let up. "Hold up your hand, I'll hit it into it."

I say, "Dude, I don't care about your circus tricks, just give us the damn ball back."

He cusses, fires the ball back, I did not thank him.

After the match he confronts me in the parking lot. Words were exchanged, but that was it.

So yeah, that kinda cra p peeves me off.

Interesting perspective. Seems to me that two uptight people crossed paths. It sounds like both sides over reacted to a benign situation.
 
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S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
I don't think it was harsh for a number of reasons.

If I'm retrieving an errant ball two courts away for people I don't know and have never seen before I get to the ball as promptly as I can. I check to see if they have stopped play. If someone looks over to me, I hit the ball underhand (or toss it) back directly to them with the intent that the ball bounces a couple of times making it easy for them to catch. No words need to be said, but usually the stranger would say "thanks" and I acknowledge that in some manner (verbal "no problem", a wave of the hand, or simply lift my racquet briefly).

Even if the ball isn't actually ON my court but if it came to a stop on the court next to mine I still scoot over to get it...yes, I don't saunter over but promptly retrieve it and get it back to their court. It seems like common court courtesy to me. Who knows, they might be future people I meet and play with.

What I would never do is make requests of them BEFORE I send the ball back. Hold your hand up, I'll hit it to your hand. Spin around twice and say "there's no place like home". Stand on one foot and ask me nice to please give us our ball back. It's du che bag stuff (IMO). Get the ball back promptly and courteously, and I will probably get the same action in return... usually with a smile.

You may feel it was harsh, but after he wanted me to participate in his performance art I asked politely and in a normal tone "can we have the ball please?". He repeated his plea for a willing partner, and I wasn't his huckleberry. Well Boo on me. And then, he confronted me 45 minutes later. Again, to my way of seeing other people, that underlined he was the a hole and someone I would have no intention of getting to know or possibly sharing a court with in the future.

Not everyone is entertained by your choice of actions. Some people just want common courtesy and a generally prompt low key return of the tennis ball so OUR court can continue playing the way they would like to.

I completely agree with you in that when I am returning someone else's ball, I observe their court, wait for a break, then catch someone's attention and hit it back. Almost always, they realize a ball has strayed and they are looking for someone to return it. I don't ask them to participate in a magic trick or roll the ball around like the Harlem Globetrotters.

And the fact that you politely refused to participate should have been his cue to just send the ball back. He didn't let it go and should have. And confronting you in the parking lot? That's just juvenille.

I still might have indulged him. If I was pissed off at myself for just blowing a game, I might not be so indulgent.
 
N

Nashvegas

Guest
I completely agree with you in that when I am returning someone else's ball, I observe their court, wait for a break, then catch someone's attention and hit it back. Almost always, they realize a ball has strayed and they are looking for someone to return it. I don't ask them to participate in a magic trick or roll the ball around like the Harlem Globetrotters.

And the fact that you politely refused to participate should have been his cue to just send the ball back. He didn't let it go and should have. And confronting you in the parking lot? That's just juvenille.

I still might have indulged him. If I was pissed off at myself for just blowing a game, I might not be so indulgent.

My first reaction to the story was like yours S&V. After MM elaborated I changed my tune. If I'm in the middle of a match I don't want an interlude like that. If I knew and liked the guy I'd go along with it. Definitely wouldn't subject someone to that routine myself though even if I did know him. Get the ball back already.
 
Played with this ass-hat cheater today, amongst 100 other bad karmas, he mumbles the score with his head down, making it impossible to understand--but when he's up on the score 40-5, you can hear him loud and clear.
 

OnTheLine

Hall of Fame
Somehow this hasn't been mentioned, or I just missed it. Whackadoodles that try to win the warm-up. Seriously, what are they doing?

Match today ... doubles, warming up on Ad side and her partner and mine on deuce. Warm up going on both sides. She keeps hitting hard FH cross-court. After retrieving the 3rd one of these (I would screw up my partner's warm up if I went for them) I said: "you trying to win the warm up?" her response ... "yes, I am trying to warm up" I look at her and say: "so am I, lets keep them on this side" ... her final response: "well, I am good". I had fed her 4 balls. 1 of them was hit back to me.

As annoying as the start was, satisfying to win 6-2; 6-1 :)
 
I hate when the opponent calls out the score while I am serving.
This makes me stop calling out the score, and then I lost track, if he stops calling out the score.,
 
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