What to do against a sandbagger/ringer?

Stanimal3

Stanimal3

New User
I’m new to USTA league. Played my second match ever. Mixed doubles 6.0

The team had a ridiculous set w/l ratio. And as I watched one guy play, I knew he wasn’t a 3.0 and unlikely a 3.5. Turns out he was one of my opponents.

It’s really easy for me to have a good time playing tennis. Even when I’m losing. But this really soured me on the League experience so far. This guy was clearly a strong 4.0 at the least.

To make matters worse, he never cracked a smile, was extremely serious the entire time but toyed with us. Flat serves on the lines, slice serves running away, volley winners from every position, drop shots, slice winners, heavy topspin, so on. Reflexes were stellar, form was pretty immaculate, and he didn’t need to try that hard. Kind of looked bored.

Did we play our best? No. I also need to learn how to pick on the weaker player when that person is female (although she was a solid but weak 3.0). But there’s only so much to expect from us at 6.0.

Should I expect this more often? What do I do in these situations? Just lie down and take it? I face the same team In a few weeks. We learned that the players were recruited, I assume to make nationals? The guy I played against has played nationals in various categories including 3.5 men’s and had a strong winning record in 4.0 match play at a local club.

I should be a 3.5. I’m working on my game weekly. But Im not sure what I can do with my current skill set and consistency level when I’m faced with players like these.
 
Just play your best and move on. Not much else to do. Sometimes you end up playing people way better than you, and that happens regardless of the rating system or the league structure - I've seen mismatches in ultimate tennis and in UTR and whatever other random leagues I've played.
 
Stanimal3 said:
Should I expect this more often?
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Don't know. I've never played mixed league before.

Stanimal3 said:
What do I do in these situations?
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Like @Max G. said, just play tennis.
I don't know about you, but I learn way more about my game with a loss rather than a win. Losses aren't fun, and we would all prefer wins, but losses really get me to focus on what I could do different if I played that match again.
 
Like others said, just play your best and work on the best tactics against opponents like that. This sort of shenanigans does happen, particularly in Mixed, but hopefully it isn't common in your league.

It often happens with self rated players, was this one an S or did he have a C? What level is he rostered at on the team?
 
Stanimal3 said:
But Im not sure what I can do with my current skill set and consistency level when I’m faced with players like these.
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I don't understand the question - you try your best, very likely lose, and hopefully learn something in the process

the USTA is such a strange alternate universe where weak / beginner adult tennis players feel entitled to never have to compete against someone that is better than them

that's sports - you win some, you lose some

are you similarly flabbergasted about what you should be doing on the court when you play someone weaker than you?
 
Stanimal3 said:
I’m new to USTA league. Played my second match ever. Mixed doubles 6.0

The team had a ridiculous set w/l ratio. And as I watched one guy play, I knew he wasn’t a 3.0 and unlikely a 3.5. Turns out he was one of my opponents.

It’s really easy for me to have a good time playing tennis. Even when I’m losing. But this really soured me on the League experience so far. This guy was clearly a strong 4.0 at the least.

To make matters worse, he never cracked a smile, was extremely serious the entire time but toyed with us. Flat serves on the lines, slice serves running away, volley winners from every position, drop shots, slice winners, heavy topspin, so on. Reflexes were stellar, form was pretty immaculate, and he didn’t need to try that hard. Kind of looked bored.

Did we play our best? No. I also need to learn how to pick on the weaker player when that person is female (although she was a solid but weak 3.0). But there’s only so much to expect from us at 6.0.

Should I expect this more often? What do I do in these situations? Just lie down and take it? I face the same team In a few weeks. We learned that the players were recruited, I assume to make nationals? The guy I played against has played nationals in various categories including 3.5 men’s and had a strong winning record in 4.0 match play at a local club.

I should be a 3.5. I’m working on my game weekly. But Im not sure what I can do with my current skill set and consistency level when I’m faced with players like these.
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play your best.
enjoy the challenge.
learn everything you can about playing someone much better than you (ask him questions after!!!).
thank him for the free lesson!

zero people at 5.0 complain about "ringers" (eg. playing someone that is a 6.0+)... they are all thrilled they get to play better competition, and learn something in the process.
if anything, it motivates them to get better (fit, more consistent, etc...).
 
cks said:
Don't know. I've never played mixed league before.


Like @Max G. said, just play tennis.
I don't know about you, but I learn way more about my game with a loss rather than a win. Losses aren't fun, and we would all prefer wins, but losses really get me to focus on what I could do different if I played that match again.
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I have little problem with losing. It’s an opportunity to learn.
mikej said:
I don't understand the question - you try your best, very likely lose, and hopefully learn something in the process

the USTA is such a strange alternate universe where weak / beginner adult tennis players feel entitled to never have to compete against someone that is better than them

that's sports - you win some, you lose some

are you similarly flabbergasted about what you should be doing on the court when you play someone weaker than you?
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I have no issue playing someone better than me. And yes, I’m flabbergasted when I’m playing someone who is several levels below me. It doesn’t feel fun and I try to avoid embarrassing them.

Losing isn’t my issue. It’s the fact that I’m playing to have fun and playing to learn. And I’m not sure what I can do tactically and in terms of motivation against someone who is so clearly out of my league (and doesn’t belong in this division) that nothing I can currently do will make a dent.
 
schmke said:
Like others said, just play your best and work on the best tactics against opponents like that. This sort of shenanigans does happen, particularly in Mixed, but hopefully it isn't common in your league.

It often happens with self rated players, was this one an S or did he have a C? What level is he rostered at on the team?
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He was listed as a 3.0 on the roster. I’m assuming self rated. He was recently bumped to 3.5

He’s got over 50 wins this year in league and only 3 losses. 2 at nationals in 3.5men’s.

Any advice on tactics?
 
Tennis is best played when opponents are at a similar level. It’s not fun to beat up on someone at a lower level and vice versa. In both situations though there is something to be gained. Hopefully this isn’t a common occurrence for you and I totally understand when someone is sandbagging (cheating) that is bothers fair people.
 
tactics-wise - don't hit it to him. Return his serves to his partner no matter where on the court she is if you can get to them, but don't worry about breaking his serve, focus on his partner. On her very first serve, hit your return up the alley, and whether he gets to it or not, he will be watching for that shot most of the match, which should open the cross-court return because he is probably looking to poach everything. Don't be afraid to play the lob game either, deep high lobs.
 
mikej said:
I don't understand the question - you try your best, very likely lose, and hopefully learn something in the process

the USTA is such a strange alternate universe where weak / beginner adult tennis players feel entitled to never have to compete against someone that is better than them

that's sports - you win some, you lose some

are you similarly flabbergasted about what you should be doing on the court when you play someone weaker than you?
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IMO this is not a good response. Ratings are there for a reason. You don’t learn anything by getting your brains beaten by someone who is on a totally different level.

All the cliches about experiencing the next level and getting motivated to do better is meaningless. It is like asking a lightweight to battle a heavyweight and get motivated.

Improvement comes with realistic gaps that you can close. Then move to the next level and encounter a newer set of realistic gaps that you can address. Else why even have ratings. Let 3.0s play 5.0s all the time.
 
Stanimal3 said:
I have little problem with losing. It’s an opportunity to learn.

I have no issue playing someone better than me. And yes, I’m flabbergasted when I’m playing someone who is several levels below me. It doesn’t feel fun and I try to avoid embarrassing them.

Losing isn’t my issue. It’s the fact that I’m playing to have fun and playing to learn. And I’m not sure what I can do tactically and in terms of motivation against someone who is so clearly out of my league (and doesn’t belong in this division) that nothing I can currently do will make a dent.
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You can still learn and have fun.

Trying to stay in your safe zone will limit your growth and you'll just hang out there forever.
 
MGArchitect said:
tactics-wise - don't hit it to him. Return his serves to his partner no matter where on the court she is if you can get to them, but don't worry about breaking his serve, focus on his partner. On her very first serve, hit your return up the alley, and whether he gets to it or not, he will be watching for that shot most of the match, which should open the cross-court return because he is probably looking to poach everything. Don't be afraid to play the lob game either, deep high lobs.
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What @MGArchitect says: avoid the better player at all cost.

On his serve: to her at the net
On her serve: create some height to prevent him poaching.
Whenever given the choice: play to her.

They might not like it, but you don’t need to take it lying down. If the netplayer is insecure she is free to stand at the baseline. If they don’t like lobs, too bad, there is no height limit.

NOTE: I’m not suggesting to hit any player on purpose.
 
Ringers/sandbaggers are inevitable in skill-capped competition formats. Just shrug your shoulders, get bageled, and see if you can learn something from the experience.
 
Stanimal3 said:
He was listed as a 3.0 on the roster. I’m assuming self rated. He was recently bumped to 3.5

He’s got over 50 wins this year in league and only 3 losses. 2 at nationals in 3.5men’s.

Any advice on tactics?
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What was he doing to you that you had trouble with? Work on fixing that. If he's way above your level and gave you trouble with many things, start with the one that gave you the most trouble haha.

You're at 3.0, the only way is up! Embrace it! (unless you get bumped to 2.5 :eek:)
 
Stanimal3 said:
I’m new to USTA league. Played my second match ever. Mixed doubles 6.0

The team had a ridiculous set w/l ratio. And as I watched one guy play, I knew he wasn’t a 3.0 and unlikely a 3.5. Turns out he was one of my opponents.

It’s really easy for me to have a good time playing tennis. Even when I’m losing. But this really soured me on the League experience so far. This guy was clearly a strong 4.0 at the least.

To make matters worse, he never cracked a smile, was extremely serious the entire time but toyed with us. Flat serves on the lines, slice serves running away, volley winners from every position, drop shots, slice winners, heavy topspin, so on. Reflexes were stellar, form was pretty immaculate, and he didn’t need to try that hard. Kind of looked bored.

Did we play our best? No. I also need to learn how to pick on the weaker player when that person is female (although she was a solid but weak 3.0). But there’s only so much to expect from us at 6.0.

Should I expect this more often? What do I do in these situations? Just lie down and take it? I face the same team In a few weeks. We learned that the players were recruited, I assume to make nationals? The guy I played against has played nationals in various categories including 3.5 men’s and had a strong winning record in 4.0 match play at a local club.

I should be a 3.5. I’m working on my game weekly. But Im not sure what I can do with my current skill set and consistency level when I’m faced with players like these.
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Not trying to be a jackwagon or anything, but I think there's a couple things going on here:

1) as it's only your 2nd USTA match ever, it's tough to say where on the 3.0 range you fall for your area; sure, maybe this guy is out of level playing as a 3.0 right now, but people tend to assume that they're at the top of whatever their rating is, when the reality is that most people are somewhere in the middle.

2) sounds like he had y'all beat from the warm-up when y'all were watching him hit. It's adult rec league tennis, no need to be intimidated by another player, at least not until the match is in motion.

3) criticizing him hitting winners and serves and whatnot b/c they were winning isn't a great look. It would feel worse if he played down to you and just hit a ball back at you in a patronizing way.

4) If they are just ringers, view them as a challenge. You have nothing to lose playing those matches and have a chance to play spoiler. They had to make some mistakes, focus on what those weaknesses were. Look at the mistakes you made...at the 3.0 level, I'm sure that way more points were decided by error than by winner...so take those errors and figure out how to put you and your teammate in better position to not make these errors. Even if out-matched, you can employ tactics that narrow these margins drastically, but not if you're already defeated going into the match.
 
mcs1970 said:
IMO this is not a good response. Ratings are there for a reason. You don’t learn anything by getting your brains beaten by someone who is on a totally different level.
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re: ratings are there for a reason - yes, for the USTA to make a lot of league money from people who are relative beginners at a sport but like to hang banners

re: you don't learn anything by getting your brains beaten by someone who is on a totally different level - disagree, when I was growing up as a top 200 junior player in the country (nothing to brag about, there were 700 levels of people way better than me, just for context), our coach would tell us to play 60% of our practice matches at level, 20% against people we should beat 1,1 (as opportunities to work on things we might not feel comfortable working on against a competitive peer we don't like to lose to, or as opportunities to focus in on winning every single game as concentration practice), and 20% against people that we expected to beat the tar out of us (as opportunities to see what things they did better than us, what shots of ours they could reliably pick on to win points etc)

great value in such matches as long as they're the minority of your matches, much as USTA beginners whine about them

- find out what serves you're having the most trouble getting back, then get out there with buckets of balls and/or a good teaching pro and start learning to hit them
- pick up on things like poaching, chipping-and-charging, closing the net etc that weaker players might not be doing in doubles that you can practice and emulate
- see if you can come up with creative ways to neutralize this person's ability to take over the match - lob returns, two back formations, etc

or you can approach USTA as something where your only goal is to win all your matches, and those better than you are cheaters, and not get much better
 
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Stanimal3 said:
And yes, I’m flabbergasted when I’m playing someone who is several levels below me. It doesn’t feel fun and I try to avoid embarrassing them.
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you're a 3.0, no one is several levels below you

or did you play tennis against a labrador?

admittedly a smartass reply, only my last response was meant to be in any way productive / helpful
 
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mikej said:
and 20% against people that we expected to beat the tar out of us (as opportunities to see what things they did better than us, what shots of ours they could reliably pick on to win points etc)

great value in such matches as long as they're the minority of your matches, much as USTA beginners whine about them
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+1
Completely agree.
 
mikej said:
re: ratings are there for a reason - yes, for the USTA to make a lot of league money from people who are relative beginners at a sport but like to hang banners

re: you don't learn anything by getting your brains beaten by someone who is on a totally different level - disagree, when I was growing up as a top 200 junior player in the country (nothing to brag about, there were 700 levels of people way better than me, just for context), our coach would tell us to play 60% of our practice matches at level, 20% against people we should beat 1,1 (as opportunities to work on things we might not feel comfortable working on against a competitive peer we don't like to lose to, or as opportunities to focus in on winning every single game as concentration practice), and 20% against people that we expected to beat the tar out of us (as opportunities to see what things they did better than us, what shots of ours they could reliably pick on to win points etc)

great value in such matches as long as they're the minority of your matches, much as USTA beginners whine about them

- find out what serves you're having the most trouble getting back, then get out there with buckets of balls and/or a good teaching pro and start learning to hit them
- pick up on things like poaching, chipping-and-charging, closing the net etc that weaker players might not be doing in doubles that you can practice and emulate
- see if you can come up with creative ways to neutralize this person's ability to take over the match - lob returns, two back formations, etc

or you can approach USTA as something where your only goal is to win all your matches, and those better than you are cheaters, and not get much better
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We disagree. There is mostly very little value or lessons to learn when the levels are way apart.

Let that be. I don’t disagree that sometimes that’s how things go and “maybe” you might learn something sometimes.

Where I thought your response was poor was using words such as “entitled” or “flabbergasted “ to deride someone who was making a valid point. There was no reason to use those type of words. There was absolutely nothing in the OP post that reeked of entitlement or that he enjoyed sandbagging if the tables were reversed. Seemed unnecessarily snarky and antagonistic.
 
Don't have any advise, but have a funny story. Was at state one year scouting two other teams play. One of the singles matches has a good 4.5 playing a sandbagger who was really a strong 5.0 maybe better. Anyway, when the 5.0 would try to give away points to keep the score close, the 4.5 would reply by hitting normal rally balls on a line drive to the back fence, wildly double fault, etc. Really was fun to watch the 4.5 try to make sure he got crushed while the 5.0 tried to tank to keep the score close.

Anyway, the 5.0 was protested and found out to be a former D1 all conference player that did not disclose that on his self-rate. He was DQ'd.
 
andfor said:
Don't have any advise, but have a funny story. Was at state one year scouting two other teams play. One of the singles matches has a good 4.5 playing a sandbagger who was really a strong 5.0 maybe better. Anyway, when the 5.0 would try to give away points to keep the score close, the 4.5 would reply by hitting normal rally balls on a line drive to the back fence, wildly double fault, etc. Really was fun to watch the 4.5 try to make sure he got crushed while the 5.0 tried to tank to keep the score close.

Anyway, the 5.0 was protested and found out to be a former D1 all conference player that did not disclose that on his self-rate. He was DQ'd.
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Our capitan was sure to tie himself to the tree-of-woe and lose to those sandbaggers. Tried that once and discovered after three hrs I won. Team congratulated me and I told them the match was not over. Pastelitos 4All!
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pastelitos_salvadorenos_web.jpg
 
mcs1970 said:
We disagree. There is mostly very little value or lessons to learn when the levels are way apart.

Let that be. I don’t disagree that sometimes that’s how things go and “maybe” you might learn something sometimes.

Where I thought your response was poor was using words such as “entitled” or “flabbergasted “ to deride someone who was making a valid point. There was no reason to use those type of words. There was absolutely nothing in the OP post that reeked of entitlement or that he enjoyed sandbagging if the tables were reversed. Seemed unnecessarily snarky and antagonistic.
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Who’s he going to sandbag against? he’s a 3.0 - it’s exactly the type of entitlement low level USTA league tennis breeds - ‘I’m bad at this sport and don’t think I should have to play matches against someone better or matches I cannot win’ - get better - or default the next time your team is winning a match easily, let the scoreline be a 2-6,2-5 ret victory for the other team, since you’re so against teams having to compete against better players

There are two types of people - those that enjoy a routine win more than they enjoy a routine loss, and liars
 
mikej said:
Who’s he going to sandbag against? he’s a 3.0 - it’s exactly the type of entitlement low level USTA tennis breeds - ‘I’m bad at this sport and don’t think I should have to play matches against someone better or matches I cannot win’ - get better - or default the next time your team is winning a match easily, let the scoreline be a 2-6,2-5 ret victory for the other team, since you’re so against teams having to compete against better players
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Hmm you are doing it again. Nowhere in the OP did I read that OP was against competing against better players. Nor did I say that. He just said this particular guy seemed way out of his league.

You can definitely pick up some things playing a better player. Playing a much better player especially when one is a very low level rec player is a different thing. As I mentioned there is not much you can even pick up though we all use the cliches of getting motivated or learning some thing. See the latest sureshs and j011y match up where sureshs said there was absolutely nothing he could even do.

Your personal analogy had you as a top 200 player who was looking to move up and had the coach practice different ways to get you to move up to the next level. So it is a bit different than a low level rec guy signing up for a certain level and then finding he is completely overmatched because someone at a much higher level decided to play down. Rec guy is not “whining” when he asks if this is the norm.

Your first response to me had some good things that one can try even in that situation. Best to leave it at that than some of the other stuff that you are inferring incorrectly that really doesn’t add much to the question raised.
 
mcs1970 said:
Hmm you are doing it again. Nowhere in the OP did I read that OP was against competing against better players. Nor did I say that. He just said this particular guy seemed way out of his league.

You can definitely pick up some things playing a better player. Playing a much better player especially when one is a very low level rec player is a different thing. As I mentioned there is not much you can even pick up though we all use the cliches of getting motivated or learning some thing. See the latest sureshs and j011y match up where sureshs said there was absolutely nothing he could even do.

Your personal analogy had you as a top 200 player who was looking to move up and had the coach practice different ways to get you to move up to the next level. So it is a bit different than a low level rec guy signing up for a certain level and then finding he is completely overmatched because someone at a much higher level decided to play down. Rec guy is not “whining” when he asks if this is the norm.

Your first response to me had some good things that one can try even in that situation. Best to leave it at that than some of the other stuff that you are inferring incorrectly that really doesn’t add much to the question raised.
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All good, didn’t really ask for your review of which of my posts were good, just as I didn’t review which other responses to the OP were good or bad or whatever

My opinion is he should learn to compete and learn from matches against those worse, the same, and better

Others can (and do) voice the opinion that some contrived self-selected population of beginners was not narrow enough to allow for such a match - and all the power to this opinion!
 
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mikej said:
All good, didn’t really ask for your review of which of my posts were good, just as I didn’t review which other responses to the OP were good or bad or whatever

My opinion is he should learn to compete and learn from matches against those worse, the same, and better

Others can (and do) voice the opinion that some contrived self-selected population of beginners was not narrow enough to allow for such a match - and all the power to this opinion!
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More hyperbole from you. All good though.
 
Find a shot or two they struggle with, then use that the WHOLE match. If they struggle with high looping balls or lobs, do that the WHOLE match. I mean, ROS and every shot after.
 
ChaelAZ said:
Find a shot or two they struggle with, then use that the WHOLE match. If they struggle with high looping balls or lobs, do that the WHOLE match. I mean, ROS and every shot after.
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Had doubles partners who struggled with lobs. They got it, they got it, then, they don't get it. Did not want to partner with them till that shoe was on my foot. My partner was so hot after I mishandled the lobs that she left me 150 miles from home without a ride home. Never played mxd agin
 
Ronaldo said:
Had doubles partners who struggled with lobs. They got it, they got it, then, they don't get it. Did not want to partner with them till that shoe was on my foot. My partner was so hot after I mishandled the lobs that she left me 150 miles from home without a ride home. Never played mxd agin
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Thats a long walk home!
 
Normally lower level players BEG higher level players to hit / play with them and the higher level player refuses (unless you pay them).

Then for some reason in league, higher level players want to play guy 2 levels below them. And the lower level player gets mad.
 
mikej said:
re: ratings are there for a reason - yes, for the USTA to make a lot of league money from people who are relative beginners at a sport but like to hang banners

re: you don't learn anything by getting your brains beaten by someone who is on a totally different level - disagree, when I was growing up as a top 200 junior player in the country (nothing to brag about, there were 700 levels of people way better than me, just for context), our coach would tell us to play 60% of our practice matches at level, 20% against people we should beat 1,1 (as opportunities to work on things we might not feel comfortable working on against a competitive peer we don't like to lose to, or as opportunities to focus in on winning every single game as concentration practice), and 20% against people that we expected to beat the tar out of us (as opportunities to see what things they did better than us, what shots of ours they could reliably pick on to win points etc)

great value in such matches as long as they're the minority of your matches, much as USTA beginners whine about them

- find out what serves you're having the most trouble getting back, then get out there with buckets of balls and/or a good teaching pro and start learning to hit them
- pick up on things like poaching, chipping-and-charging, closing the net etc that weaker players might not be doing in doubles that you can practice and emulate
- see if you can come up with creative ways to neutralize this person's ability to take over the match - lob returns, two back formations, etc

or you can approach USTA as something where your only goal is to win all your matches, and those better than you are cheaters, and not get much better
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I have to admire your ability to make this thread about how great of a junior player you were. Probably explains why you're missing the point.
 
In my first couple of seasons of USTA, my team mates would tell me that several opponents who won a lot were sandbaggers and I believed them. After playing for a couple of years, most of those ‘sandbagger’ guys who had computer ratings never got bumped up, I was beating many of them regularly and I realized that none of those guys were real sandbaggers. It was my team-mates who were at the lower end of the level and USTA is serious when they say that a 0.49 dynamic rating difference between the high and low limits of the same level corresponds to a 6-0, 6-0 loss. So, I now rarely believe it when people label everyone they lose to badly a sandbagger also especially if the opponent is computer-rated.

Maybe there are a few self-rated players who are sandbaggers, but I rarely run into them because we don’t have anyone locally in OC trying to game the system to produce a nationals winning team.
 
Creighton said:
I have to admire your ability to make this thread about how great of a junior player you were. Probably explains why you're missing the point.
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I wasn’t, and was aware that I wasn’t, and that there were a gazillion people much better than me I could learn from

And when one of us got a ‘bad draw’ and had to face some top 50 junior player and started whining, one of our coaches would routinely and memorably remind us we should ‘give our left testicle’ to have a chance to have a first person view of how that person plays tennis - maybe not Shakespearean wording, but true

Something lost on the USTA 3.0-4.0 crowd
 
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socallefty said:
In my first couple of seasons of USTA, my team mates would tell me that several opponents who won a lot were sandbaggers and I believed them. After playing for a couple of years, most of those ‘sandbagger’ guys who had computer ratings never got bumped up, I was beating many of them regularly and I realized that none of those guys were real sandbaggers. It was my team-mates who were at the lower end of the level and USTA is serious when they say that a 0.49 dynamic rating difference between the high and low limits of the same level corresponds to a 6-0, 6-0 loss. So, I now rarely believe it when people label everyone they lose to badly a sandbagger also especially if the opponent is computer-rated.

Maybe there are a few self-rated players who are sandbaggers, but I rarely run into them because we don’t have anyone locally in OC trying to game the system to produce a nationals winning team.
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Well said, equal NTRP rating does not guarantee or even predict an equal or competitive match, and as you’ve said the USTA explicitly describes the expected variance within each level

That’s what happens when you basically have four USTA levels that nearly everyone in the country plays at (3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5) rather than ten or fourty such levels
 
mikej said:
I wasn’t, and was aware that I wasn’t, and that there were a gazillion people much better than me I could learn from

And when one of us got a ‘bad draw’ and had to face some top 50 junior player and started whining, one of our coaches would routinely and memorably remind us we should ‘give our left testicle’ to have a chance to have a first person view of how that person plays tennis - maybe not Shakespearean wording, but true

Something lost on the USTA 3.0-4.0 crowd
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How old are you?

Imagine reliving the glory days of your mom and dad paying your tournament entry fees and private lessons on the internet.
 
Find a guy who is 4.5 or better, then put one of those masks on him like from the Mission Impossible movie so he looks just like you, then have him play your matches for you. Problem solved!
 
Creighton said:
How old are you?

Imagine reliving the glory days of your mom and dad paying your tournament entry fees and private lessons on the internet.
Click to expand...
a hundred and forty

imagine being upset and 'soured' on the 'league experience' by having to play against a 3.0-3.5 guy who's better than you as a new 3.0 player, or being one of the USTA folks who likes to slap the 'sandbagger' label on folks they lost to

or being upset that said player that beat you didn't smile enough

i guess we all have our things we find ridiculous, welcome to the club
 
Last edited:
and creighton, judging by some of your prior posts just two months ago (https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...s-3-5-at-it-again.758485/page-3#post-17694571), you and your teams are exactly what the OP hates, which is also good for a laugh:

"Yeah, I threw games last year to come back down to 3.5 from 4.0 then got smoked 0,1 in one district final . I did manage to only lose 3,3 to someone that went unbeaten at nationals though in my other district deciding match ."

"I was a starter on 3 teams that were gunning for nationals, each with multiple players way out of level."

so, you know, enjoy still trying to capture your glory days by chasing banners in USTA league tennis
 
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