Should I report a blatant cheater?

JackB1

JackB1

G.O.A.T.
I played someone last night who was the worst cheater I have ever encountered in 4 years of league play. This was an organized league 3rd round playoff match. My opponent was ranked in the top 5 and I am around 50. He would call anything close to the line "OUT". We are talking balls hitting FLAT on the line and even inside of the line. Anything NEAR a line was "OUT". A few of my wide serves that hit flat on the line and skidded away he called "OUT". I hit an overhead from midcourt that hit about 6" inside the baseline and he called it "OUT". After 6 or 7 of these, I told him "if that's the way you are going to call it, then expect the same in return". So I called anything near the outside of the lines that I normally leave as "in", "out". So then he starts really stretching his out calls on me, to where I have to hit the ball several inches inside the lines or he would call it OUT. It was really ridiculous, but I didn't see what else I could do? I wasn't goung to let him have an unfair advantage. So I started staying away from the lines as much as possible and finally beat him in a 3rd set tiebreak, but it should have never went that far.

So....#1, should I report him to the league? and #2, how else could I have handled this, other than just walking off? I didn't want to forfiet the match and there was noone else around to make the line calls.
 
This is always a tough situation since its team league play take a bathroom break and get a team member not playing to come over and watch that way you have a witness(may stop the bad calls), at this point contact the captain of your team he or she can report it.
 
Not much you can do, beat him badly and laugh at him after is all that comes to mind. I'm not sure what complaining would do, seems like a generic complaint that would get tossed. If it was thaaaatt bad, I'd probably walk off because that's just no fun when someone is cheating.
 
I cant imagine being in a match like that. I hope the bum gets hurt so he cant play anymore if hes gonna cheat like that. Glad you won
 
3fees said:
This is always a tough situation since its team league play take a bathroom break and get a team member not playing to come over and watch that way you have a witness(may stop the bad calls), at this point contact the captain of your team he or she can report it.
Click to expand...

this was a singles match
 
Bdarb said:
Not much you can do, beat him badly and laugh at him after is all that comes to mind. I'm not sure what complaining would do, seems like a generic complaint that would get tossed. If it was thaaaatt bad, I'd probably walk off because that's just no fun when someone is cheating.
Click to expand...

It surely wasn't any fun and I was tempted to walk off, but I didn't want to throw the match since it's 3rd round of playoffs and I want to keep advancing. This particular league has a "3 strike rule", where if anyone gets 3 reports filed against them, they will get tossed. So if others have complained about this guy, then it would help if I did too. Problem is he has only been in the league 2 years.
 
volleygirl said:
I cant imagine being in a match like that. I hope the bum gets hurt so he cant play anymore if hes gonna cheat like that. Glad you won
Click to expand...

yes, I have never been in a match like that before. But I felt like I could still win, even keeping the ball well within the court, so I just played on.
 
JackB1 said:
I played someone last night who was the worst cheater I have ever encountered in 4 years of league play. This was an organized league 3rd round playoff match. My opponent was ranked in the top 5 and I am around 50. He would call anything close to the line "OUT". We are talking balls hitting FLAT on the line and even inside of the line. Anything NEAR a line was "OUT". A few of my wide serves that hit flat on the line and skidded away he called "OUT". I hit an overhead from midcourt that hit about 6" inside the baseline and he called it "OUT". After 6 or 7 of these, I told him "if that's the way you are going to call it, then expect the same in return". So I called anything near the outside of the lines that I normally leave as "in", "out". So then he starts really stretching his out calls on me, to where I have to hit the ball several inches inside the lines or he would call it OUT. It was really ridiculous, but I didn't see what else I could do? I wasn't goung to let him have an unfair advantage. So I started staying away from the lines as much as possible and finally beat him in a 3rd set tiebreak, but it should have never went that far.

So....#1, should I report him to the league? and #2, how else could I have handled this, other than just walking off? I didn't want to forfiet the match and there was noone else around to make the line calls.
Click to expand...

Tough situation. Not much you can do. Maybe when you confronted him, instead of the first thing you said to him being that you're going to hook him back (kinda confrontational), instead say something like cmon man, did you really see that out, it was clearly in, this is rec tennis man and its no fun if you're going to be making calls like that. Maybe that would shame him into making decent calls. But probably not :-(
 
OrangePower said:
Tough situation. Not much you can do. Maybe when you confronted him, instead of the first thing you said to him being that you're going to hook him back (kinda confrontational), instead say something like cmon man, did you really see that out, it was clearly in, this is rec tennis man and its no fun if you're going to be making calls like that. Maybe that would shame him into making decent calls. But probably not :-(
Click to expand...

That is a good point. I am sure the "eye for an eye" approach was seen as an invitation to let it get worse. I doubt anything would have worked from the way it sounds. Some tennis players are just like that.
 
Had the same problem with a top ranked tourney guy in 3.0 a couple years back. Ball would richochet off the line and he would point to a mark in the clay that I made earlier that was out and claim that the shot I just hit was out. I would hit lobs and he would run after the ball and stand between me and where the ball was going to land so I couldn't see where it landed and call out. He was not trying to get into position to hit the ball (my lob) if it landed in. It seemed he would make the calls in important games that would keep the set score close.

I was lucky though didn't he didn't call stuff inside the line out. I feel for you. These people are just annoying.

He just wanted to cheat so that he could keep a high points ranking and compete for the number 1 spot.
 
I don't want to dilute your message or hijack your thread but I have to contrast the OP's opponent with the guy I played in USTA singles last night. He played so many of my obviously out balls as good that I started overruling him on the especially obvious ones and calling my own shots out. He seemed to have pretty good eyesight based on his play so I have to assume he was playing the out balls intentionally.

To the OP, sorry you had to put up with that crap. Nothing as bad as you wrote about has ever happened to me but I've been obviously hooked by two different singles players in the last year, one loss and one win, and both matches left a bad taste in my mouth.
 
OrangePower said:
Tough situation. Not much you can do. Maybe when you confronted him, instead of the first thing you said to him being that you're going to hook him back (kinda confrontational), instead say something like cmon man, did you really see that out, it was clearly in, this is rec tennis man and its no fun if you're going to be making calls like that. Maybe that would shame him into making decent calls. But probably not :-(
Click to expand...

That wasn't the first thing I said to him. My first several comments were almost exaclty what you said. After that didn't work and he called several balls that were obviously in, I stated "if that's how you are going to call it, I will do the same".

So does anyone think I should report him to the league?
 
JackB1 said:
That wasn't the first thing I said to him. My first several comments were almost exaclty what you said. After that didn't work and he called several balls that were obviously in, I stated "if that's how you are going to call it, I will do the same".

So does anyone think I should report him to the league?
Click to expand...


Yes, No league needs a cheater like that
 
If there is a league reporting procedure I would say report him. So he understands he cannot get way with blatant cheating.

Some people honestly don't see it right - but other are cheating. If there are enough reports on a person - perhaps the league should provide an umpire for these matches or if there are enough complaints - suspend the player.
 
Yes, report him.

One reason to report him is because he may report *you* for bad line calls, which you clearly made. Maybe you had better be sure you get to the courthouse first or no one will believe you.
 
Cindysphinx said:
Yes, report him.

One reason to report him is because he may report *you* for bad line calls, which you clearly made. Maybe you had better be sure you get to the courthouse first or no one will believe you.
Click to expand...

Good point Cindy. Also I would like to know if the league has any other complaints on this loser. Funny thing is I have recently made a concerted effort to not be bothered by bad line calls, but this guy took it to a whole other level that I couldn't ignore.
 
sad state of affairs. A question though. Do you think you would have won without getting tight on your own calls?
 
JackB1 said:
I played someone last night who was the worst cheater I have ever encountered in 4 years of league play. This was an organized league 3rd round playoff match. My opponent was ranked in the top 5 and I am around 50. He would call anything close to the line "OUT". We are talking balls hitting FLAT on the line and even inside of the line. Anything NEAR a line was "OUT". A few of my wide serves that hit flat on the line and skidded away he called "OUT". I hit an overhead from midcourt that hit about 6" inside the baseline and he called it "OUT". After 6 or 7 of these, I told him "if that's the way you are going to call it, then expect the same in return". So I called anything near the outside of the lines that I normally leave as "in", "out". So then he starts really stretching his out calls on me, to where I have to hit the ball several inches inside the lines or he would call it OUT. It was really ridiculous, but I didn't see what else I could do? I wasn't goung to let him have an unfair advantage. So I started staying away from the lines as much as possible and finally beat him in a 3rd set tiebreak, but it should have never went that far.

So....#1, should I report him to the league? and #2, how else could I have handled this, other than just walking off? I didn't want to forfiet the match and there was noone else around to make the line calls.
Click to expand...

Jack,

Was he an older gentleman? Gray hair, weight around the middle, skinny legs?

I'm just curious since we live in the same area and I ran into a guy precisely like that last summer. The more I pulled ahead the worse he got. At one point I was at net and hit a gentle drop shot while he was on the baseline. The ball was clearly in, it was game point, I started to walk around for the change-over, and he did is routine: he waked slowly towards the point of impact, rubbed his chin, and said, "I guess I'm going to have to call that one out".

I calmly offered him my hand, told him to enjoy the rest of the season, and left. I later learned he did the same routine with the other players and angered everyone in the division. We're not talking close calls. The ball could be several inches in and if he was beat, out of position, he'd just call it out.

In any case, congratulations on making playoffs! I'm glad you beat the cheater. The best thing to do is to report him to the league ASAP.

I made the mistake of remaining silent in my situation. I should have reported him and did not. If everyone reports poor sports the leagues would be better.

I'd like to see a "rep system" like that on Xbox Live. It wouldn't display individual ratings since a jerk might rate you poorly just for winning. And it wouldn't display a rating until a full season was complete. But at least players could look up a player's rating for previous seasons to gauge their reputation.
 
ABSOLUTELY REPORT HIM!!!!!!

If people don't report this behavior it will never get taken care of.

I'd leave out the whole story about you trying to call them like he was, just inform them that he was making consistent bad calls and even after you informed him of the fact it did not stop. Say that in your opinion they were made intentionally and that this was not a case of a few bad or mistaken calls.
 
TimothyO said:
Jack,

Was he an older gentleman? Gray hair, weight around the middle, skinny legs?

I'm just curious since we live in the same area and I ran into a guy precisely like that last summer. The more I pulled ahead the worse he got. At one point I was at net and hit a gentle drop shot while he was on the baseline. The ball was clearly in, it was game point, I started to walk around for the change-over, and he did is routine: he waked slowly towards the point of impact, rubbed his chin, and said, "I guess I'm going to have to call that one out".

I calmly offered him my hand, told him to enjoy the rest of the season, and left. I later learned he did the same routine with the other players and angered everyone in the division. We're not talking close calls. The ball could be several inches in and if he was beat, out of position, he'd just call it out.

In any case, congratulations on making playoffs! I'm glad you beat the cheater. The best thing to do is to report him to the league ASAP.

I made the mistake of remaining silent in my situation. I should have reported him and did not. If everyone reports poor sports the leagues would be better.

I'd like to see a "rep system" like that on Xbox Live. It wouldn't display individual ratings since a jerk might rate you poorly just for winning. And it wouldn't display a rating until a full season was complete. But at least players could look up a player's rating for previous seasons to gauge their reputation.
Click to expand...

No Tim, that wasn't the same guy. He's in Marietta. I think I will report the situation to the league and let them handle it. Like you said, if everyone ignores it, he will just keep doing what he's doing. That's a great idea about rating opponents sportmanship after you play them! Would keep everyone on their best behavior. Why don't they do that? That's really a great idea.
 
It blows, but that's life. I once played an old fart with glasses that called all my T serves as out because he couldn't see a mark since it was a hard court. Ya, you can't see the fuzz on the white life you old bag! So I just started to body serve him and hit at him with the ball. Each one he bought in the body was no automatically my point and he couldn't say isht.

Sometimes you're going to run into these types of people, so you'll have to figure out how to get around the problem. Either play 2 feet in and 2 feet shallow for safety margin or start hitting at them until they get a clue. Playing the lines to force an error on their part won't work because they'll just call those balls out.

Also, just a heads up, but letting people have balls as "in" when they're just out as you said in the OP, doesn't do you one bit for helping your reputation. I'm not saying you're the cause of it, but if you want people to be precise with their calls, it is IMPERATIVE that you make exact calls and don't give anyone the benefit of the doubt. Be vigilant in your calls and if you ever call something out that was super close and you inspect the fuzz or clay mark and discover that it did touch the line, correct your call immediately. People will respect that, trust me. If you're lax with your calls, that for some reason tells them they should be lax with theirs and sometimes some people will bend the call in their favor instead of their opponents. Just what I've experienced with some people... just FYI.

For now, don't worry about it. Maybe bring it up to your captain and next time change the lineup so that whomever plays this players ends up being the pusher on your team or the super conservative that always wins with safe margin shots/points.
 
A mate of mine had a ridiculous situation where he played an old guy who states before the match started: "my eyesight isn't very good, so I apologise if I miss a couple of calls".

Second point my mate serves, ball is called out when it was way in. Mate questionned the call and the bloke stormed off the court and said "I'm not playing like this". Match over.

Edit: report the guy.
 
The official process for USTA leagues is to file a General Grievance for player conduct. Grievances must go to the local league coordinator through your team captain. A grievance committee will review the grievance, and ask your opponent for a reply. They often can't really do much with one grievance, but if several grievances come in against the same person for the same problem they can see a pattern and possibly suspend the player.

If you choose not to file a grievance, have your captain report a complaint to the LC and ask the LC to keep this on file in case more complaints and grievances come up later.

The problem with situations like this is that the LC or grievance committee can't suspend a player based on one incident or one side of the story. I don't doubt what you are saying, but keep in mind that if you file a grievance the committee and LC will want to hear from the other person.
 
I'll be a contrarian.

I think once you decide to start cheating back in-match, the "report him after the match" ship has sailed. It just turns into a match with 2 cheaters (sure, he started it, but who cares?)

If you want to report him, play the match straight up and then report him after the match.
 
dcdoorknob said:
I'll be a contrarian.

I think once you decide to start cheating back in-match, the "report him after the match" ship has sailed. It just turns into a match with 2 cheaters (sure, he started it, but who cares?)

If you want to report him, play the match straight up and then report him after the match.
Click to expand...

I didn't "cheat back". After 6 or 7 blatant "OUT" calls on balls flat on the line or even inside the line, I didn't give him any benefit on those extremely close calls like I usually do. In other words, I called it how it looked without any hesitation. I didn't "cheat", I just "tightened" things up a little bit. I was nowhere near his level though.
 
Last edited:
Moz said:
A mate of mine had a ridiculous situation where he played an old guy who states before the match started: "my eyesight isn't very good, so I apologise if I miss a couple of calls".

Second point my mate serves, ball is called out when it was way in. Mate questionned the call and the bloke stormed off the court and said "I'm not playing like this". Match over.

Edit: report the guy.
Click to expand...

LOL!!!!!!!!!
 
Please, by all means report him. I am pretty sure I know which league you're playing in & I think the league people would want to know & would take action.
 
JackB1 said:
I didn't "cheat back". After 6 or 7 blatant "OUT" calls on balls flat on the line or even inside the line, I didn't give him any benefit on those extremely close calls like I usually do. In other words, I called it how it looked without any hesitation. I didn't "cheat", I just "tightened" things up a little bit. I was nowhere near his level though.
Click to expand...

I think the confusion about what you did stems from these two sentences which are somewhat contradictory.

"After 6 or 7 of these, I told him "if that's the way you are going to call it, then expect the same in return". So I called anything near the outside of the lines that I normally leave as "in", "out". "

Since you believed your opponent was clearly cheating you, telling him to expect the same in return sounds like you will be cheating back. The next sentence clarifies that somewhat but taken together I believe they leave some doubt as to exactly how you handled the situation.
 
I've only done this 3 times (3 times that were just ridiculous line calling) but I have found it extremely effective. I made an intentional ridiculously bad call. They blew up and then I stopped and said, you are correct, the ball was in and the point is your. Regardless of how bad your calls are, I will not resort to cheating.

After that, the person generally gives me back all of the court he had previously taken.

When I was a junior, I would call a line judge. That is fairly effective until the line judge l eaves after 2 to 3 games. Yet, my gamesmanship approach has been absolutely shocking to my opponent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

dandruffkb
Blatant Cheating in USTA Tournament
2
Replies
87
Views
6K
Roforot
R
H
line call, should I return the favor?
2 3
Replies
107
Views
10K
mucat
mucat
paul500w
On the White line means IT'S IN!!!!
2
Replies
55
Views
7K
sureshs
S
T
Ask Us You Cheater!
2
Replies
54
Views
5K
FedLIKEnot
FedLIKEnot
8
What should a team do with a (their own) cheater?
2
Replies
55
Views
5K
heninfan99
heninfan99
Back
Top