foot fault percentage

[desilvam]

I was watching a singles recreational match (both around 4.0) at our public courts last week. I noticed both players foot faulting blatantly about 9 inches or so on every serve! One guy followed it up to the net so that was a big advantage.

That got me thinking.. what percentage of recreational players (4.5 and below) foot fault in your opinion? I think most 5.0 and above have this cleaned up.

 

[Kevo]

I see foot faults regularly by about half of the players in our 4.0 league. I used to call them if they were bad (toes actually over the line not just on the line). One time, though, a guy got really upset because he thought he had aced me when I called it. I told him I didn't even try to hit the ball because half his foot was over the line, but that just made him more angry. He tried to start a fight over it after the match even though he won. I was so disturbed by how angry he got about it I couldn't hardly play at all for the rest of the match. I decided never to call a foot fault in a match again. It's not worth the damage it does to my game. I even see it quite often in tournaments at the 4.0 level not just league play. It's pretty bad really.

 

[rasajadad]

Tomorrow night I will go to practice doubles with my men's team (4.0). Out of the 8 players on court, 6 foot fault.

 

[cknobman]

Kinda hard to generalize the way your asking people to.

Foot faults vary greatly all depending on who your playing.

Ive played dozens of 3.0 and 3.5 matches and only seen a foot fault once or twice and then suddenly I will play one person who will double fault every single time unless you call him on it.

 

[sureshs]

Too much foot faulting goes on. It is very obvious if you are watching from the sidelines. I make it a point to start 6 inches behind the baseline and never foot fault. It is illegal, but people take it so casually, and then nitpick on other minor things.

 

[Leelord337]

sometimes i purposely footfault to get a little more zip on my serves...you know when brad gilbert was coaching andy roddick i saw a coaching session here at the westside tennis club mens claycourt championships and BG was standing about 2 feet inside the court serving to roddick..talk about foot faulting..

 

[Ripper]

I only know of one guy who foot-faults on EVERY serve. He can't do it any other way. The day someone starts to call him on his foot-faults, I don't know what he's going to do. I call him "Foot Fault"

 

[r2473]

I see foot faults regularly by about half of the players in our 4.0 league. I used to call them if they were bad (toes actually over the line not just on the line). One time, though, a guy got really upset because he thought he had aced me when I called it. I told him I didn't even try to hit the ball because half his foot was over the line, but that just made him more angry. He tried to start a fight over it after the match even though he won. I was so disturbed by how angry he got about it I couldn't hardly play at all for the rest of the match. I decided never to call a foot fault in a match again. It's not worth the damage it does to my game. I even see it quite often in tournaments at the 4.0 level not just league play. It's pretty bad really.

It sounds like a singles match (becasue he aced you, not your opponent), so how could you tell? I mean, it is really hard to prepare to return serve if you are watching the servers toes.

Was he like 3 feet inside the line?

 

[tbini87]

I only know of one guy who foot-faults on EVERY serve. He can't do it any other way. The day someone starts to call him on his foot-faults, I don't know what he's going to do. I call him "Foot Fault"

i have watched people play like that, and it drives me nuts. i also wonder what they do when they start getting called, because it must screw up their whole routine and alignment. as far as how many people do i seem to see it fairly often. i don't think it has to do much with level, but the technique people use and how much movement they have with their feet when they serve. some lower level players don't move their feet at all on the serve, so you know that if they line up behind the line, they will never foot fault because their feet dont move.

 

[rasajadad]

sometimes i purposely footfault to get a little more zip on my serves...you know when brad gilbert was coaching andy roddick i saw a coaching session here at the westside tennis club mens claycourt championships and BG was standing about 2 feet inside the court serving to roddick..talk about foot faulting..

Coaches do this to train their players to return faster serves, not to cheat. I watched the Bryan brothers practice at the US Open this year and their coach was serving full speed from close to the service line!

PS- The Bryans were whacking them back.

 

[panamamyers]

I agree about leelord foot faulting. He does it about 98% of the time.

 

[Fedace]

I was watching a singles recreational match (both around 4.0) at our public courts last week. I noticed both players foot faulting blatantly about 9 inches or so on every serve! One guy followed it up to the net so that was a big advantage.

That got me thinking.. what percentage of recreational players (4.5 and below) foot fault in your opinion? I think most 5.0 and above have this cleaned up.

Below 4.5 level, i say about 75 % of people foot fault at some point or another. they may not foot fault all the time but good % of the time.

 

[johlhausen]

if someone foot faults once, wouldnt they do it like 95% of the time? most people have a pretty uniform service routine/motion. I used to do it all the time, and got called on it by an ump 3 times, but my coach and I worked on it and fixed it.

 

[Leelord337]

I agree about leelord foot faulting. He does it about 98% of the time.

haha, yeah right