Line calls, unofficiated club play

[Tdub]

It amazes me how many good, seasoned intermediate club players do the following: a) overrule his non-serve-receiving partner's "out" service line call (especially where the serve is faster, and thus harder to judge, and the non-receiver is standing on the service line looking down the line), b) generally not understand when he should defer to his partner on line calls, not understanding, e.g., that looking down the line is a superior view than looking across the line, c) not call his or his partner's shot out on the other side of the net (except in cases of first service) which obviously landed out (where the opponents don't call it out because they don't have a good a view of where the ball lands), d) question opponents' line calls when you're not in a (clearly) better position to see whether the ball is in or out (as would the contrary be, e.g., where you are near the net and looking down the line the ball falls on), and e) have no idea that there are "rules" that apply to unofficiated club play, specifically that this is the USTA Code, only 7 pages long, published each year, and can be found for free on the web.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

The player looking down the back service line usually does have the best perspective for calls on that line. The serve returner often has the worst perspective on that line. Both players on the serving team have a better perspective on the back service than the returner. The returner should refrain from making calls on that line in doubles (unless their partner is habitually asleep at the wheel or really bad at it). The returner usually has the best view on the other 2 lines of the service box (the side service lines).

Some players are very reluctant to overrule a call made by a partner. Team solidarity and all that. For some it's a cultural thing = "saving face". In some cultures, you never overrule your partner. It's just not done. I had one partner, from another culture, who insisted on making back line calls when he was in in the serve return position. I overruled him several times. He got really pissed at me for doing so. I later tried to explain to him, that it was my job to make those calls. His frequent calling of the back service line could be construed as an insult to his partner. He hadn't seen it that way.

There will be some calls that will be difficult for the partner looking down the line. If that person is close to the T and the serve lands close to that T, that player may have a hard time tracking a ball than close and seeing the actual bounce location. Ball/bounces that are very close to us will often exceed our smooth pursuit tracking ability -- the ball traverses our field of vision too rapidly (a high degrees/second) for our eyes to track or even see. Easier for a lines person who is standing (or sitting) a bit further away.

Another reason why a player looking down that line might have a significant difficulty on making accurate calls is because their eyes/head are moving as the ball is bouncing. Good lines persons do not do this. They fix their gaze on the line rather than watch/track the ball. They should track the ball earlier to determine the general trajectory of the ball -- approx what part of the line or box the ball is headed for. But it is important that they get their eyes to the line (or part of the line) before the ball gets there -- so that eyes/head are no longer moving when the ball is bouncing.
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[Tdub]

Agree, good analysis. But not sure what you mean by "Both players on the serving team have a better perspective on the back service than the returner."