Yesterday, a new guy comes to my Meetup group. We play to 21. Games are Elo rated. Against 3 others, he won, lost, draw. My turn to play against him. I let him serve first (so he can tire himself out, I'm defensive). He serves a strong serve. Fault. He serves a strong serve again, double fault. He did this 5 times, 0-5. My serve. I served my 5 serves. His turn, he did the same thing again, double fault. The score is 3-8.
I stopped. I walked up to the net, motioned for him to come to me. (The following re-creation is not verbatim, but very close).
Me: Why do serve a strong second serve?
Him: To practice my serve.
Me: Tennis is a game, like every other game in life, is a game of give and take. It is fundamentally about respect. . . I put the ball in the box, you have to put the ball in the box.
He took a moment to comprehend what I said.
Him: OK.
Then he served underhand if his first serve was fault. I won the game 21-12.
I understood this concept when I was 9 years old, the FIRST time I picked up a ping-pong paddle (after watching (observing) others play.) Nobody had to to tell me. You cannot "practice" a shot unless you are ahead. You have to "give" one to "get" one. You DON'T get a FREE shot.
I can't believe a grown adult did not know this concept. I understood it the FIRST time I picked up a ping-pong paddle, 38 years ago, and nobody had to tell me.