People who try to win the warmup

[zaph]

Doubles match with warmup downline against a notorious player who treats the warmup like a match. I give him a feed he nails a flat ball straight at the baseline, if I get that back he hits another ball as hard as possible, often over the baseline, sometimes at my partners side of the court. His feeds are aimed the baseline flat full pace, often flying miles long or hitting the net.

I give him easy feeds to warmup the volley, I stepup to the net I get the ball nail at me full pace at net height. He isn't the only one who does this, but he is the worse.

How do you deal with assholes who try to win the warmup?

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Doubles match with warmup downline against a notorious player who treats the warmup like a match. I give him a feed he nails a flat ball straight at the baseline, if I get that back he hits another ball as hard as possible, often over the baseline, sometimes at my partners side of the court. His feeds are aimed the baseline flat full pace, often flying miles long or hitting the net.

I give him easy feeds to warmup the volley, I stepup to the net I get the ball nail at me full pace at net height. He isn't the only one who does this, but he is the worse.

How do you deal with assholes who try to win the warmup?

Is it possible that he's just a "do everything at full bore all of the time" type of guy? I have known the rare bird like that and they weren't trying to be jerks; that's just how they were.

I find that those types tend to be the least trouble once the match begins because they have little control [unless they act one way during warmup and completely change when the match starts].

I was warming up for a doubles match and the opponent hit volley winners off of every gentle feed I gave him; plus, he stood practically on top of the net. I just mentally shrugged: he's cheating himself out of a volley warmup because instead of being able to 3, 4, 5 volleys per ball he's only getting to hit 1. I deduced he would be zero threat at the net [and I was correct].

if it really gets to you [and hopefully you've already had a proper warmup prior to getting on the court], just sit down and say you're already warm. Whether you want to be snide about it and add "...and it looks like you are too." or something like that is a matter of personal taste.

Is he trying to win the warmup or intimidate his opponent or play mind games? Your mental toughness is your shield more than anything else. Complaining about it will probably just egg him on.

 

[scotus]

Some players actually do not know the purpose of a warmup, so they don't realize they're being rude.

I think it might be best to have a big smile on your face and suggest to him: "Hey, let's take it down a notch and see if we can get a long rally going, maybe work ourselves up to 20 consecutive shots."

 

[QuadCam]

I once warmed up against a guy who hit crosscourt volley winners on every volley feed. After the 3rd one, i realized that he had no idea how to volley straight ahead. Needless to say, it was an easy match.

 

[Dso]

Yeah- we've all seen them. Me and my partner showed up late for a match because of a traffic accident on the highway. I showed up about 5 mins late. The guys were doing just what you said. Smashing winners at me as I walked onto the court! What a bunch of jack asses.

Me- I like to get some pace going towards the end.. but if I hit a volley away from the guy I'll apologize… anything cross court is completely accidental.

On another note- I love guys that want to take a few overheads… while they stand AT the net!

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

On another note- I love guys that want to take a few overheads… while they stand AT the net!

Then they get mad when you lob it just out of their strike zone and they actually have to move backwards 2'. You just know they won't be getting anywhere near the net which is an open invitation for me and my partner to take over.

 

[xFullCourtTenniSx]

Is it possible that he's just a "do everything at full bore all of the time" type of guy? I have known the rare bird like that and they weren't trying to be jerks; that's just how they were.

A friend's doubles partner is like that. He's apparently incapable of not going for the corners. He wasn't trying to be an ass. I think warming up crosscourt could fix that though (for him). But he's not the type to play worse during a match.

 

[Lance L]

I know two guys like this, and it is pretty frustrating. There is no warm up, because I never get to hit more than one ball at a time.
The only thing I've found is to hit with more pace to prevent them from being able to tee off on it every time.

 

[Shroud]

I am a 5.5 in the warm up!!

 

[3loudboys]

It's a complete waste of your time - for every ball drilled at you smack it into row z and get rid of it. Don't give him any nice paced balls to get any rhythm with. If he wants to play points get the match on. Its only going to frustrate you trying to warm up with a slogger.


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[bitcoinoperated]

Stop and call them on it. If they continue call them on it again.

I often wonder if these people think pros practice like this.

 

[SinjinCooper]

Drop shots and lobs.

 

[xFullCourtTenniSx]

You guys could also just make sure the other guy is feeding then tee off on that (make sure every ball lands on their side of the court, even if it means hitting it 10 feet out). Or you could junk the crap out of your own feeds.

 

[Topspin Shot]

If he's being a jerk on purpose, I'll let him hit three winners and then tell him to go get the balls.

 

[Booger]

When that happens, I'll fire a couple 100mph forehands at the back fence as a not so subtle hint.

 

[WillisAU]

i'll just take longer on the warm up with these types. If they ask whether you're ready to start playing, you just say no, still need more warm up as you haven't gotten a rhythm yet/enough clean shots to warm up. :\

 

[TnsGuru]

I knew a person who purposely hit winners and overhit during the warm up so I couldn't get a rhythm. It worked for a little bit but eventually I worked my way into the match while he ran out of gas in the end. Tortoise beats Hare

 

[Chadillac]

Spend 4mins warming up the serve, it hits all the spots. Explain to them they are terrible and cant hit two shots in a row, this is the best way we can both get loose.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Spend 4mins warming up the serve, it hits all the spots. Explain to them they are terrible and cant hit two shots in a row, this is the best way we can both get loose.

+1

Never thought of that one!

 

[RajS]

I have a few good friends who hit really hard when starting with mini-tennis! It's crazy... after a few "exchanges" I suggest moving to the baseline and they always agree. They mostly do it because they really don't know how to hit any other way, they are not malicious. They are usually good at first strike tennis, but if you are practicing with them, good luck! for the most part, they won't last three rally shots!

 

[scotus]

I have a few good friends who hit really hard when starting with mini-tennis! It's crazy... after a few "exchanges" I suggest moving to the baseline and they always agree. They mostly do it because they really don't know how to hit any other way, they are not malicious. They are usually good at first strike tennis, but if you are practicing with them, good luck! for the most part, they won't last three rally shots!

The concept of mini tennis isn't well known to rec players. You will have to explain it to your partners what the mini tennis is supposed to accomplish.

 

[PDJ]

I know two guys like this, and it is pretty frustrating. There is no warm up, because I never get to hit more than one ball at a time.
The only thing I've found is to hit with more pace to prevent them from being able to tee off on it every time.

I'm a reasonably consistent player that was brought up with short warm ups so it's not really that necessary for me to get a decent hit before a match. Therefore, if my opponent insists on using the warm up to tee off, hit winners, give me nothing to hit then I in turn will give him nothing to hit - I will hit long, wide and in the net. It's rather silly, but satisfying. Especially when I hit nothing like that when the match starts.

 

[Dragy]

If it's a doubles match, you can warm up with your partner.

 

[Deleted member 23235]

Doubles match with warmup downline against a notorious player who treats the warmup like a match. I give him a feed he nails a flat ball straight at the baseline, if I get that back he hits another ball as hard as possible, often over the baseline, sometimes at my partners side of the court. His feeds are aimed the baseline flat full pace, often flying miles long or hitting the net.

I give him easy feeds to warmup the volley, I stepup to the net I get the ball nail at me full pace at net height. He isn't the only one who does this, but he is the worse.

How do you deal with assholes who try to win the warmup?

Hmm... i'm not this bad
So i typically like warmup my timing and stroke technique with mini tennis, then move back for easy full stroke shots baseline to baseline, often aiming long, then work steadily increase my swing speed depending on how well my opponent is handling them.

If someone does that to me, firing out the gate, and I can't handle it.. i'll typically make a comment like, "whoa, you have too much juice for me, can you slow it down so i can get more balls back, then we can work up to that speed?".... that usually requires swallowing some pride, but gets the job done... but typically i like banging in the warmup (presuming i'm already warm), as long as they are at least hitting it to me (going long is ok). also, i don't get too bothered about not getting groundies warmup, since I'm going to be at the net 80% of the time anyway.

side story... while practicing server, a new guy i've never met asked me to hit,... good fh, no bh, couldn't move & hit well, and no serve... we rally for about 5m, i fed everything to his fh, but then whenever i give him back an easy sitter at the baseline, he'd put it away (or try)... after 3 times I say, "don't be a d*ck hitting winners off sitters, i'm not your f'ing ball machine. if you want to drill, let's drill, otherwise if you're gonna just hit winners to show me how good you are, get off my court." we ended up having a solid hitting session after that (i avoided his bh) after that.

 

[heninfan99]

i suspect these are the same people that despise mini tennis

 

[Crocodile]

If you warm up yourself before the match I wouldn't worry about this one. Just use it as a chance to sum up what you will be doing from the get go.

 

[kimguroo]

just don't make a big deal from it. there are so many strange players which you can control.
if you bothered by the opponent, you can do two things. either hit hard to match intensity or hitting extremely softly or feed short balls.
Especially volleys, I don't feed fast balls for volleys. Some people try to hit sharp angles all the time. if I see that, I feed slower balls and aim at their feet.
during matches, opponent makes more mistakes if they see fast balls at net.

 

[Captain Karma]

To think I stopped playing Soccer because there were too many imbeciles to deal with .... only to find that there are imbeciles even in Tennis ... I would suggest returning a hard shot right to his body !!!!


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[S&V-not_dead_yet]

To think I stopped playing Soccer because there were too many imbeciles to deal with .... only to find that there are imbeciles even in Tennis

At least in tennis the imbeciles are on the other side [unless you're playing doubles with certain people].

 

[bateman]

I get this a lot also, casual club doubles sessions, some of the guys will absolutely tee off on any ball, usually landing 1ft behind the base line. I usually just let them waste the balls then take my time to pick them up, stretching as I do so... My favorite is when people purposefully attempt to lob on your volley warm up.. classic.

 

[mnttlrg]

If I have any kind of serious match, I do my real warm up beforehand and then dynamic stretch /block the ball around during actual warm ups.

This has the added gamesmanship bonus of them not seeing any of my power until the match starts.