When you've been hit, do you get angry or get even?

goober said:
If you are at the baseline and you hit someone at the net that is totally on them for not being able to handle it. Honestly that shouldn't happen in a 4.0 level doubles match unless they guy was completely not paying attention for some reason. On a return of serve situation the netman is completely set and ready- expecting a ball hit at him. If he can't handle that situation, he shouldn't be at the net.
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If you hit hard enough it can happen to anyone. When you smack a hard return on a weak serve you have to be super fast to react to a 100mph return half court.
 
blakesq said:
I only have to disagree with a portion of your response. It can and does happen in 4.0 tennis, because at 4.0 (and higher) a person can simply make a mistake, misjudge the ball, get his timing screwed up, anticipate wrongly, whatever. Mistakes happen.
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I don't disagree with anything you are saying. Once you get to a certain level of tennis, if you are at the net with your knees bent, racquet in front of you and the opposite player is on the baseline- you shouldn't take a clean shot in the nads. Obviously it can happen, and fluke shots do occur. If it happens that you keep getting hit at the net, well you may have to rethink whether you should be up there or not until you improve your net skills. That's all...
 
If I get hit, I get pissed off at myself for not being able to get the racquet to the right place to protect myself/return the ball. I do not retaliate because it is useless
 
More often i find people trying not to hit me and I tell them not to be afraid to rip it at me ... If i get hit it's my own fault.
 
There are two completely different things: 1) aiming at a persons body (whether you hit them or not) and 2) aiming towards a person, usually the netman to win the point. Sometimes in #2, the netman gets hit. This it totally acceptable tennis in my way of thinking. #1 is totally unacceptable, whether or not the player gets hit with the ball.

So at the end of the day, the difference between good, aggressive play and an a55hole is their mental attitude, not whether a player gets hit or not.
 
My last league match i got hit in the face twice and after the second time i smashed the racquet into the ground about 100 times, nobody said anything to me after that so i think they were scared for their lives or something.:twisted:

Im working on my anger though....
 
I often go near peoples feet with some fairly hard pace but
I never want to hit anyone. If I get hit I do not pout about it ot take it personally.
Doubles is a fast paced game.
 
gameboy said:
Then, why do you even bother when you could be very wrong?
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Oh, I don't worry about it as I almost never get hit. If someone hits someone intentionally, they are the loser, not the person who got hit. 5 minutes later the guy who got hit will forget about it, the other guy is a jerk forever...
 
I can't remember the last time I got hit. "Hit" as defined as being hit above the waist, not counting the arms. I remember getting hit lightly on the nose once by a 3.0 woman in a 3.0 ladies match maybe 4 years ago, but whose fault is that?

I think some of you guys need to learn to duck. Me, I duck a lot. There are a lot of people -- male and female -- who try to hit hard and flat, and if you can just duck their ball will go long.

As for mixed . . . I wish I played on the planet where men don't hit at women. In the *very first* point in my *very first* 7.5 mixed combo match, the opposing guy hit straight at me. I missed the shot, but I didn't get hit.

Cindy -- whose current 7.5 mixed combo partner rips the ball past the opposing lady all the time and who loves him for it
 
I get hit pretty often when playing dubs. I find that is just part of the game. Also it's not unusual for me to hit someone else. I do go at people feet quite a bit with volleys. Also if I have an oponent that is very aggressive at the net I will start hitting most returns right at their stomach. I find it very effective.
 
If you aren't getting hit when playing doubles, you aren't a very good or aggressive doubles player. If you aren't moving forward, you aren't a good doubles player, and sometimes when you move forward you get hit, it's all part of the game.
 
Cindysphinx said:
As for mixed . . . I wish I played on the planet where men don't hit at women. In the *very first* point in my *very first* 7.5 mixed combo match, the opposing guy hit straight at me. I missed the shot, but I didn't get hit.

Cindy -- whose current 7.5 mixed combo partner rips the ball past the opposing lady all the time and who loves him for it
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This doesn't sound like you...are we hearing from Cindy's evil twin? :)

The best advice I ever received with regard to playing mixed came from a male partner. He told me to stop trying to poach, fake etc. and to simply be still, with racquet up and weight forward.

As he pointed out, the 4.0 guy is aiming for me, so if I am balanced and waiting for the shot I have a better chance of angling off a solid volley.
 
coloskier said:
If you aren't getting hit when playing doubles, you aren't a very good or aggressive doubles player. If you aren't moving forward, you aren't a good doubles player, and sometimes when you move forward you get hit, it's all part of the game.
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Sorry, I don't agree. I mean, if we are talking about volleys and groundies above the waist, why can't you either get a racket on such shots or get out of the way?

I think if you are getting hit a lot, it could be for many reasons. But the couple of ladies I know who have shown me their bruises on arms and legs from getting hit are *terrible* volleyers.
 
slewisoh said:
This doesn't sound like you...are we hearing from Cindy's evil twin? :)

The best advice I ever received with regard to playing mixed came from a male partner. He told me to stop trying to poach, fake etc. and to simply be still, with racquet up and weight forward.

As he pointed out, the 4.0 guy is aiming for me, so if I am balanced and waiting for the shot I have a better chance of angling off a solid volley.
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Exactly. The 4.0 guy *is* (or should be) aiming to score points off of the opposing woman if she is the weaker player on the court.

Besides, if my 4.0 partner is stronger than I am (as is definitely the case in 7.5 mixed combo), then we want the opponents to have to play to him as much as possible. My taking chances at the net will result in us either losing points we could have won or, if I do a really good job, winning points my partner could have won for us anyway. So I play the net much more conservatively in mixed than in ladies. And when I am deep, I run into the net like my hair is on fire at the first opportunity.

Funny story. I have a couple of 3.5 lady friends. Both are very strong and will undoubtedly be bumped to 4.0. I told them I was mulling whether to play 8.0 mixed, and they said they had played 8.0 mixed with 4.5 male partners.

Both ladies hated hated hated it. One told me that her 4.5 male partner introduced himself and said essentially, "All right. You stand right here, near the net and the alley. Don't hit a ball unless you would have to duck otherwise. I'll take everything else." She said it took her the whole season to convince him to let her stand in the correct spot when he served or received. The other had a similar experience, and both said they had enjoyed playing with 4.0 guys more than 4.5 guys.

OK, where was I going with this story?

Oh, yeah. Right. A woman playing mixed with a significantly stronger guy does get the speech about just being ready and not doing anything fancy. So I probably won't play 8.0 mixed, 'cause where's the fun in that?
 
Cindysphinx said:
Sorry, I don't agree. I mean, if we are talking about volleys and groundies above the waist, why can't you either get a racket on such shots or get out of the way?

I think if you are getting hit a lot, it could be for many reasons. But the couple of ladies I know who have shown me their bruises on arms and legs from getting hit are *terrible* volleyers.
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If your opponent hits a good volley, you shouldn't have time to get out of the way.
 
hint. i know alot of 4.5 guys...havent met a 4.5 guy who likes 8.0..its true we cant really play..ego's!
BUT,..it makes you a much better player because the ratio of received balls a 3.5 player gets with the 4.5 partner is on average 8:1. :)
 
what do you guys think about an overhead, hit by the guy very hard, but hit downwards into the court, but which hits the lady in the head on the way back up? (lady standing at the service line)
 
deluxe said:
what do you guys think about an overhead, hit by the guy very hard, but hit downwards into the court, but which hits the lady in the head on the way back up?
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I think "Accidents happen."

Just apologize and move on. A lift of the racket is sufficient.
 
My partner hit the opposing lady in the breast yesterday while tossing the third ball over to her before her partner served. She wasn't expecting it and was looking elsewhere.

Later, I hit the opposing guy in the balls while tossing the third ball to him when he wasn't looking!
 
coloskier said:
If your opponent hits a good volley, you shouldn't have time to get out of the way.
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I guess I took issue with the idea that getting hit means you are a good, aggressive player. Which would mean that not getting hit means you are not a good, aggressive net player.

Some folks don't get hit because (1) they have fast hands, and (2) they know to watch the net player, so they know when the bullet volley is coming.

I can think of one friend I play with. I have hit her many, many times. Usually in the legs, sometimes in the arms, sometimes in the body. Not in the head (yet). Her problem is that she turns her head and watches her partner, and she often watches the deep player instead of watching me. She would be the opposite of a good, aggressive net player, I'd say. In contrast, she has never hit me once (although there have been some close calls when she cracks her FH from the baseline right at me).
 
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There is a massive disconnect in this thread - there is a massive difference between getting hit by the opposing net player or getting hit by someone from the baseline - I think people are talking about different things.

No matter how fast your hands or reflexes are, if you don't get hit by an opposing net player occasionally then that is bizarre - it happens -
 
There's also a disconnect on what it means to get "hit." I get hit in the legs all the time. Pretty much whenever someone aims at my feet and I don't reflex it back.
 
If I get hit, I almost always feel it's because I was in the wrong place. I didn't react quickly enough, or I didn't pay close enough attention to realize the person at net was getting a short ball. The only time I get angry is if someone was deliberately going at my head.

On the reverse side, I really hate it if I hit someone - especially if I hurt them. I'm a pretty hard hitter and I enjoy "swinging away," but I put the pressure on myself to not hit someone if I have an easy overhead. Sometimes it's unavoidable (like when someone runs into the ball), but I want to/need to have enough control to avoid it when possible.

I recently hit someone at a charity fundraising clinic - now that was horrible. We were working on volleys and I got a high one and attacked it - and hit a very nice woman very hard in the sternum. Worse, I didn't realize at first that she was hurt - it knocked the wind out of her, so I was not immediately appropriately apologetic. I felt like an ass. It really put a damper on the the clinic, and NO ONE (especially me) wanted to hit a high ball for a while after that. I had just come back from my team's state tournament finals the day before and was very tired, and I'd LIKE to think that was why I hit her, and it wasn't just complete idiocy on my part...

I don't believe in karma, but if I did that would be a nice explanation for why every nagging tennis injury I'd ever had seemed to show up the next morning and stick around for weeks!
 
Also: I don't get hit all that often, but there is one lady in my area who is always hitting me! Luckily she is also usually on my team, ha ha. She's an excellent player. It's not that she goes after me, but that our relative court position, coupled with her preferred volley angles, don't work out to a good matchup for me when she gets a ball at net! I seem to always be at a 45-degree angle from her, and she usually volleys at that angle on one side or another. I know I need to adjust, but the fact is that she's an aggressive net player and I have terrible near vision. I have a hard time holding my ground at net, and if I drift back I am in her line of fire. I tease her about it, but she's a good sport - and competitive enough not to be too worried about it!
 
slewisoh said:
The best advice I ever received with regard to playing mixed came from a male partner. He told me to stop trying to poach, fake etc. and to simply be still, with racquet up and weight forward.
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I must clarify that this is only on the return of serve, when my partner is serving to the opposing man. For the rest of the point, I'm nearly as active as when I play women's doubles - including handling my own overheads.

I've only played 8.0 a few times and it wasn't much fun for anyone. And I'm hardly a delicate flower...
 
well ive been taught there are 3 options when someone is at the net for singles.. lob, angle pass, or just beam it at them good ol Lendl.

but if i get hit during doubles i usually seek revenge if its against people i dont know, with friends we usually just laugh it off.
 
deluxe said:
what do you guys think about an overhead, hit by the guy very hard, but hit downwards into the court, but which hits the lady in the head on the way back up? (lady standing at the service line)
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That's a good start. Rather bounce the ball low at the up man, a lil breeze between the knees.
 
Cindysphinx said:
I guess I took issue with the idea that getting hit means you are a good, aggressive player. Which would mean that not getting hit means you are not a good, aggressive net player.

Some folks don't get hit because (1) they have fast hands, and (2) they know to watch the net player, so they know when the bullet volley is coming.

I can think of one friend I play with. I have hit her many, many times. Usually in the legs, sometimes in the arms, sometimes in the body. Not in the head (yet). Her problem is that she turns her head and watches her partner, and she often watches the deep player instead of watching me. She would be the opposite of a good, aggressive net player, I'd say. In contrast, she has never hit me once (although there have been some close calls when she cracks her FH from the baseline right at me).
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Completely accurate. The other response was an opinion unencumbered by data.
 
Here's my thoughts. I'm a 3.0 girl who plays like a 3.5. I'm young so I hit hard and have somewhat decent reactions. If I've never played with you before (women's doubles) I test the waters a little. Slam one at the body of the net man (girl) but only when I know she is paying attention. I never aim for the head. I do this a few times because I normally play on the deuce side and I have a one handed backhand and my most FAV shot is a return down the alley beside the net man. They don't normally see it coming haha. I've started off playing with just guys so I've been hit plenty since they were trying to be funny lol. And the one time I can actually remember that I was hit by a girl I was at the net and even saw the ball coming and it was like I had a brain fart and stood there. It hit me directly in the forehead! It was sooo funny! All I could do was laugh. The girl felt bad (I think) but it didn't hurt (or leave a mark, thank god!) so I told her not to worry about it. If I'm not quick enough to hold the racquet up or move then I shouldn't stand there or so close. In mixed, however, most of the time the guys that I have played think "this girl isn't going to hit at me".......WRONG! If your a guy playing against me that gives me free reign to hit you :) I probably won't hit at the girl but to show the guy that I'm not just a target I nail a few at him (normally at the feet). I know most of these guys and they don't mind hehehe. And I don't mind if they nail a few at me either. This is good practice for ladies doubles. Ladies don't hit as hard so I'll be confident and aggresive at the net come fall combo :twisted: Now this isn't for everyone though. This is normally for people that are pretty evenly ranked with me. We have quite a few older (50 yr and up) people that play. I play pretty "nice" with them since most of them are just out to have fun and play. It really just depends on the person(s) :)
 
Angle Queen said:
In a lackadaisical ladies practice last week (hot temps and w/o my regular partner) and got gobsmacked by a volley. Jammed my sunglasses into my visor and slammed 'em back down across the bridge of my nose. It's turned into one heckuva shiner.

Since I like to think I defend myself and my court position fairly well, it's rare for me to get hit. In this instance, we are all teammates and I know there was no ill-will intended.

But as I sit here with the ice pack still on my face trying to get the swelling down, I think of the few other times I've been hit and wondered how you other players handle those situations. Since this mostly happens in doubles, how do you and/or your partner react in those situations?

My own experiences are that if someone hits my ladies partner, I'm gonna put one close to our opponents at the next opportunity (usually because I'm usually the one at net)...and that's that. Never in/at the face...but close enough for them to get the idea. If I'm the one getting the close call, I just shrug it off...pride bruised a bit...and hope to get my racket on it better next time. Funny how I'm willing to avenge her...but not myself.

In mixed, the situation is quite different. If they hit my male partner...he generally will seek the revenge himself but only if it was the opposing man who did it. If it was the woman who did it, we'll laugh it off as a (un)lucky shot. But if I get hit (regardless which gender opponent did it)...my partner is all set to hit the guy (again, regardless of who actually "hit" me). I try to talk him out of it. Kind of a double-standard, I suppose, given how I try to take care of my ladies partner.

So what do ya'll think/do?
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would you try to put one in the vagijay ??
 
Revenge is sweet

Had to bump this up since it came up today.

Playing 7.0 mixed. We are a 4.0 / 3.0 combination playing against a 3.5 man and wife combo. I expect my partner to take the brunt of the easy shots the opponents will make. They should, if they can, put the ball towards my partner because I was clearly the best player on the court and she the weakest. What I object to is when the guy gets a sitter with a clean choice of shots to win the point, but instead the guy chooses to blast the ball at my partner at close range.

Twice this happened today. Both times he wound up and drilled a ball right at her both times hitting the ball into the net but the intent was there. After the second one we broke them to take a lead in the first set and then took a water break. During the water break I told the wife queitly that she should not worry about retaliation because I would not be aiming at her. She thanked me at the time because she was not aware that I would be aiming at him.

During the next 3 games a total of 9 shots were hit by me .... hard at him. Three poach volleys, two serve returns down the line from point blank range, two overheads and two groundstrokes on sitters. I did not hit him once but not for lack of trying. By the end of the third game of my onslaught the wife asked me what I wanted to happen .... I simply said no more cheap shots at my partner.

She went back and talked to her husband and turned around and said "no problem". We had a clean match after that which we won at 4 and 4.
 
Again, we live on different planets, apparently.

I have been playing 8.0 mixed, sometimes with a solid 4.5 partner, sometimes with 4.0 partners. I get utterly hammered at net. *Hammered,* I tell ya. Every finishing volley goes to me. Every overhead goes to me. If my partner comes to net, the passing shot comes to me.

At first, I was not doing well with this. I almost got hit in the face twice. If I did make the volley, it was a sitter. And I was coughing up cheap errors when the guy would aim groundies at me.

I've found the solution, though. Last summer, I took a lesson on volleying, and the pro told me to get as low as possible while at net. The idea was that being low turns a low volley into a head-high volley (if your are crouched such that your head is at net height, all volleys are head-high volleys, right?). It also allows you to uncoil into the ball and use your legs more.

So I have this new ready position at the net: Crouched low, heels up, weight on toes. I am getting more weight on my volleys, and I am not dumping any into the net.

None of this would be necessary if I played on the planet where men don't target the woman at net . . . .
 
I certainly don't advocate hitting directly at someone with the intent to hurt them.

But having said that, it is the responsibility of each player to be able to protect themselves - meaning, if you're going to be up at the net, you need to have good enough hands to handle the kind of pace your opponents can generate, and you need to be savvy enough to change your position (i.e. back off) if your partner hits a weak shot to the opponents.

If you can't do this and you are being hit, then perhaps you are attempting to play at an inappropriately high level.
 
OrangePower said:
I certainly don't advocate hitting directly at someone with the intent to hurt them.

But having said that, it is the responsibility of each player to be able to protect themselves - meaning, if you're going to be up at the net, you need to have good enough hands to handle the kind of pace your opponents can generate, and you need to be savvy enough to change your position (i.e. back off) if your partner hits a weak shot to the opponents.

If you can't do this and you are being hit, then perhaps you are attempting to play at an inappropriately high level.
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We don't see this guy at the net now till the match is over.
 
A men's drill I used to go to had a lot of this. Guys were getting hit with overheads all the time and the guy getting the feed in a reflex volley drill would hit a swinging volley as hard as he could...Of course, as soon as somone got hit, it got worse. I quit going because I only have so much tennis time, and I wasn't getting much out of that situation.
 
Cindysphinx said:
None of this would be necessary if I played on the planet where men don't target the woman at net . . . .
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To be fair, I expect my partner to recieve most of the attention from the other team. Why would you hit it to me and likely lose the point rather than hit it to my partner and likely win the point.

What I do not like is when you are trying to intimidate my partner. He did this by overswinging on on short balls inside the service box and taking them down the line while she is standing at the net. In no case was this the best shot to win, but rather a blatant attempt to hit it hard at my partner.

"you wanna play, i'll play with you and I play hard too"~Quote heard on the radio
 
Hewex said:
A men's drill I used to go to had a lot of this. Guys were getting hit with overheads all the time and the guy getting the feed in a reflex volley drill would hit a swinging volley as hard as he could...Of course, as soon as somone got hit, it got worse. I quit going because I only have so much tennis time, and I wasn't getting much out of that situation.
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Develop quick reflexes or die trying early morning drill session.
 
dizzlmcwizzl said:
To be fair, I expect my partner to recieve most of the attention from the other team. Why would you hit it to me and likely lose the point rather than hit it to my partner and likely win the point.

What I do not like is when you are trying to intimidate my partner. He did this by overswinging on on short balls inside the service box and taking them down the line while she is standing at the net. In no case was this the best shot to win, but rather a blatant attempt to hit it hard at my partner.

"you wanna play, i'll play with you and I play hard too"~Quote heard on the radio
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Who was serving up all that high soft cheese in the first place?
 
Cindysphinx said:
Who was serving up all that high soft cheese in the first place?
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One was a reflex volley I hit while in the ad side alley. The entire middle of the court was open because I had moved wide to get the ball, but he went at her down the line instead of the open court.

The other happened when he guessed correctly on a second serve and ran around his backhand to take it as a forehand, taking it down the line. This one could have been excusable in my oppinion if he had not already drawn my ire.
 
When I play doubles..If i get hit, its my fault. Its my fault I didn't get my racquet up, its my fault I wasn't ready for the volley, its my fault I didn't run away! Usually if my weight is forward and I'm ready for the volley I rarely get hit. If I'm already backing away..I don't have the split step or able to react to the ball..but still able to play dodgeball!

I was taught to hit volleys at the feet of my opponents. Sometimes I don't get a clean shot and it gets away from me, and if I do hit someone..I profusely apologize, because it was not intended.
 
I'm glad this got bumped up because it is something I've been wondering about lately. While I haven't hit anyone, I have been hitting the ball between the legs of the opposing net man with alarming frequency. When I'm at the net (or at least no deeper than the service line) and the opponents are one up one back, the only place to go with a floating volley or overhead is near the up guy. I go at the feet of the net man, but I'm not that good, and sooner or later I'm going to get the body. I don't want to drill someone, and every time I come close I apologize and no one seems bothered by it. I also don't want to hit that shot to the open court either, because the back guy has a MUCH greater likelihood of getting it back. So that's my quandry.

I won't hit at a women unless she has skilz--strong 4.0 or above. I just can't do that.

I haven't had anyone hit at me on purpose (that I am aware of). Getting hit it part of the deal, and if the hitter apologizes I am fine with it. I don't think I would be fine with it if someone hit me in the head and glared at me. I think there would be words. But generally, getting hit is part of the game. It's like baseball. You get hit by pitches regularly. But if someone is throwing chin music on purpose, that's a different story.
 
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