What would U do...........I did something Im not proud of

[Bones]

Im Playing a league doubles match in Premier League in London. Its 4-4 and I'm serving

• 1st Point - ace out wide - go to retrieve balls and to serve at 15-0 and its called fault. My Partner who I will say is calmest guy I know asks the question - I then double 0-15
• 2nd Point - Serve comes back hit a backhand winner - called out, my partner challenges saying he was right inline with it and it was not even on the line - however they are adamant 0-30
• 3rd Point - hit the serve - play a volley deep - its close, they hit it badly but call it out. we question and one of the guys said I think it was in - but the other guy is adamant with no discussion 0-40

Then

• Serve - Ball comes back its deep catching the line i believe (in honestly more in than on the line) - what do u do..................

In hindsight I should have played on - I called it out to spark an argument and call them out on the three previous calls as does my partner - I am not proud of myself and my frustration got the better of me.

After a heated discussion i gave them the point for them to go 5-4 up.

We won 7-5 however I am not proud of my behaviour - I would rather lose knowing I played with my ethics.

Thoughts?

 

[GatorTennis]

in USTA, I would've called for an official after the 2nd pt. If none was available, we would get the captains involved about rescheduling with a non biased observer. I must say there are a lot of folks who will cheat you until you explode and then call regular calls. They do it for gamesmanship and that's it. We had a teammate for a season who did this in a match. He knew his opponent and knew one really bad call would screw him up for the match. We did not play him in a match again and never invited him on another team.

 

[JackB1]

Sometime the only way to counter bad calls made on you is to do the same to them. I will always call balls I cant tell as in or out as in, but if an opponent is calling everything close as out, then you have to do the same to them. I wont resort to this unless I am sure my opponents are purposely cheating, but sometimes if you give them a dose of their own medicine, they all of a sudden stop making bad calls.

 

[eelhc]

In a match with no officials, the bigger cheater, the guy with no ethics/conscience, etc will always take the biggest advantage... So don't get in that game, retaliation is just silly. Do you want to sleep well at night or come to TT for reconciliation?


http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/i...ome-trying-stop-cheating-tracks-amateur-level

 

[tennis tom]

You don't go to hell for making a bad lie call in tennis--unless you're a psychiatrist.

 

[RetroSpin]

There have been numerous threads here dealing with this subject. You have to decide which is more important to you, playing with integrity and thereby letting your opponents take unfair advantage of you or giving yourself a level playing field.

If you are a person who values honestly highly, you probably will end up doing yourself more harm than good by hooking them back. You will feel guilty and perhaps undermine yourself to compensate. Plus, it is distracting to be looking for opportunities to hook them. Natural cheaters, like pathological liars, can do this stuff instinctively.

If you are going to fight fire with fire, my advice is to save it for an important point and whatever you do, don't back down. You ended up looking a like a wuss and a cheater because you folded.

 

[blip]

If that's what it takes for the other team to win, I call them out on it, but they can have it if it means that much to them. It much better to beat a cheater who can't see on the court.

 

[Hoot]

If that's what it takes for the other team to win, I call them out on it, but they can have it if it means that much to them. It much better to beat a cheater who can't see on the court.

That is correct. If you decide to call a close one out then don't back down ever. It will just make it worse when they think they can bully you on calls.

 

[blip]

Give them that ' I know, you know, that I know, you were cheating; but we beat you anyway' look.

 

[JLyon]

if you are certain the three previous calls were incorrect, then the next ball regardless of where it lands, call it out and if they argue, just say you saw it out, end of discussion.
Now as an official I would not condone this but unofficiated sometimes that will need to happen

 

[J_R_B]

if you are certain the three previous calls were incorrect, then the next ball regardless of where it lands, call it out and if they argue, just say you saw it out, end of discussion.
Now as an official I would not condone this but unofficiated sometimes that will need to happen

I agree with this. This sends a clear message that you know they're cheating and you're not going to stand for it. Waiting for a close call and hooking back is too passive-aggressive and just leads to the whole match disintegrating into a line call war. IMO, it's much better to be direct and get your point across unmistakably. Usually, the cheating stops at that point.

 

[Jonboy]

My personal experience of hooking is dont get caught up in it. You will spend more time dwelling on bad calls than thinking of the game itself. Its also leaves ill feeling. I play a lot of competitions and here's what I do. At the start if a call is marginal and Im beaten in a rally, I give it to them. Now most people reciprocate as many would be cheaters also hate perceived charity. So what you will have is an more open, friendly and fun game. Furthermore, people will say that your a decent guy.

However, if you have someone that doesnt, challenge his call in a friendly way. Give him that stare. If that still doesnt work , go get a referee. There are a few people who hook in my club and they are despised, and irrespective of their ability people just talk about their cheating. So is it worth it?

 

[esgee48]

1st time, they get benefit of doubt. Next time, they're cheating. Hit the ball hard and deep, but stay well away from the lines (1-2 feet.) When you get the chance, target the guy who is cheating. I mean, go hard body shots, but make sure he is inside the court, preferably near the net. Set up your points to go after the guy as a team. Make him flinch. Smile when you hit him. Did that several times and the guy has never tried to cheat again (at least against me.)

addendum: I find that the more advanced players don't hook or are quick to reverse calls on out calls. Happens a lot though at lower levels because they do not know how to look at the spot where the ball is landing. Too many times, I see people running and moving their heads and call the ball out even when the other 3 see it as in. 2 cents.

 

[JackB1]

I agree with this. This sends a clear message that you know they're cheating and you're not going to stand for it. Waiting for a close call and hooking back is too passive-aggressive and just leads to the whole match disintegrating into a line call war. IMO, it's much better to be direct and get your point across unmistakably. Usually, the cheating stops at that point.

So your solution is to call the next ball "out", even if it's in the middle of the court? Yea, that won't disrupt the match at all ??

IMO, when your opponent is obviously hooking, you have 2 choices (other than calling over an official, which isn't an option in non tournaments or flex league play) which are:
1) ignore it and play through it
2) stop giving them the benefit of close calls, since they aren't doing it for you

 

[J_R_B]

So your solution is to call the next ball "out", even if it's in the middle of the court? Yea, that won't disrupt the match at all ??

IMO, when your opponent is obviously hooking, you have 2 choices (other than calling over an official, which isn't an option in non tournaments or flex league play) which are:
1) ignore it and play through it
2) stop giving them the benefit of close calls, since they aren't doing it for you

It's not "close calls", it's calls that are clearly wrong (and more than one or two that could be considered accidental). Yes, this is a better solution because it leads to an immediate hashing out of the situation and typically ends the bad calls.

 

[sphinx780]

Seems to me that it ended up in line with your ethics...you reacted poorly with the call, but then gave them the point eventually. I'm with you, it's not worth the time or effort to bother retaliating. I'm on the court for the enjoyment of it. Making my calls honestly works for me.

 

[WYK]

IF there's money involved, I'll 'level the playing field' as creatively as I can. Because that's war. No money - I just heckle them to my heart's desire. My favourite is waiting for a close call to go my way and ask them if they are sure... go ahead, take your time, I'm getting used to it.

 

[mmk]

When you are serving to the more reasonable guy, and the jerk is up at the net, serve right at him. If you hit him, it is your point, no debate.

 

[AHJS]

I definitely would have called it out, but you did the right thing. Kudos to you man!

 

[Big_Dangerous]

There have been numerous threads here dealing with this subject. You have to decide which is more important to you, playing with integrity and thereby letting your opponents take unfair advantage of you or giving yourself a level playing field.

If you are a person who values honestly highly, you probably will end up doing yourself more harm than good by hooking them back. You will feel guilty and perhaps undermine yourself to compensate. Plus, it is distracting to be looking for opportunities to hook them. Natural cheaters, like pathological liars, can do this stuff instinctively.

If you are going to fight fire with fire, my advice is to save it for an important point and whatever you do, don't back down. You ended up looking a like a wuss and a cheater because you folded.

Yeah that's what I had to do a few years ago to this one guy. He was a notoriously bad line caller and cheater. He would call stuff out that wasn't even touching the lines. I remember my friend one time was playing doubles against him and he called an obviously in ball out. Even his own partner was like, "it looked good to me."

But I played this guy in singles and he would continually make terrible line calls. So finally on this one point I hit a lob over his head and he runs back to try and play it. He gets a racket on it, but shanks the ball over the fence on his side of the court. He waits until after the ball lands in the grass and then turns around and tries to say the lob was out. So immediately shoot him a look like, "are you kidding me?" Then as I go to serve the next point, I announce the score correctly giving myself credit for the previous point. He tries to correct me and I immediately say with my most serious and "don't **** with me" voice, 30-15. He pretty much shut his mouth for the remained of the match and didn't make many bad calls after that. Although he was such a poor player that I didn't even have to hit close to the lines to beat him either.

 

[Jim A]

Went through this the other day. Mostly in the breaker, called both serves(clearly in but deep in the box) out ...along with a shot close to the baseline but still in..not on the line or similar

 

[playtennis33]

Im Playing a league doubles match in Premier League in London. Its 4-4 and I'm serving

• 1st Point - ace out wide - go to retrieve balls and to serve at 15-0 and its called fault. My Partner who I will say is calmest guy I know asks the question - I then double 0-15
• 2nd Point - Serve comes back hit a backhand winner - called out, my partner challenges saying he was right inline with it and it was not even on the line - however they are adamant 0-30
• 3rd Point - hit the serve - play a volley deep - its close, they hit it badly but call it out. we question and one of the guys said I think it was in - but the other guy is adamant with no discussion 0-40

Then

• Serve - Ball comes back its deep catching the line i believe (in honestly more in than on the line) - what do u do..................

In hindsight I should have played on - I called it out to spark an argument and call them out on the three previous calls as does my partner - I am not proud of myself and my frustration got the better of me.

After a heated discussion i gave them the point for them to go 5-4 up.

We won 7-5 however I am not proud of my behaviour - I would rather lose knowing I played with my ethics.

Thoughts?

I am sorry that's crap if a ball is in its in you don't call a ball out that's in just because you think your opponent is hooking you. Basically your opponents may have made bad calls but maybe they were just that bad calls, which we all have made before. You purposely called a ball out that was in that's crap and shows no honestly or integrity. Also what does it matter that they made bad calls. You make the right calls and move on with life. The rules are the rules you don't get to apply them as you see fit. Also if you were doing this like you say to start an argument shame on you.

 

[tennis tom]

Ghost thread! BS, you don't go to hell for cheating in tennis. The OP chose the right shot to do the "cheat-'em-back" call, the baseline where the cheaters are the furthest away. The OP's mistake was to not stick to his guns and backing down. When playing against a bonafide cheater, a good move is to call one out that is smack on the middle of the line with both of you looking at it seeing it clearly. Look 'em in the eye when you do it! This tells them that two can play this game. The professional cheater will often stop their cheating ways because they see that you can do it as well, or better, then they do. I believe the OP's version and I don't lose any sleep over leveling the playing field because it's no longer tennis, it's the game of life, social Darwinism--eat or be eaten. Next time don't back down at any cost, stick to your guns.

 

[beernutz]

Im Playing a league doubles match in Premier League in London. Its 4-4 and I'm serving

• 1st Point - ace out wide - go to retrieve balls and to serve at 15-0 and its called fault. My Partner who I will say is calmest guy I know asks the question - I then double 0-15
• 2nd Point - Serve comes back hit a backhand winner - called out, my partner challenges saying he was right inline with it and it was not even on the line - however they are adamant 0-30
• 3rd Point - hit the serve - play a volley deep - its close, they hit it badly but call it out. we question and one of the guys said I think it was in - but the other guy is adamant with no discussion 0-40

Then

• Serve - Ball comes back its deep catching the line i believe (in honestly more in than on the line) - what do u do..................

In hindsight I should have played on - I called it out to spark an argument and call them out on the three previous calls as does my partner - I am not proud of myself and my frustration got the better of me.

After a heated discussion i gave them the point for them to go 5-4 up.

We won 7-5 however I am not proud of my behaviour - I would rather lose knowing I played with my ethics.

Thoughts?

I am not sure what set of rules you play under but in USTA matches any disagreement between partners over a call their side is making means the ball is good.