redrealist
New User
Okay. For starters, perhaps the headline is a bit of hyperbole, but I played a guy yesterday who was unbelievable with his comments/actions.
For starters:
1. A call on my side of the court, a ball he hit that I thought was out, he said, "No way. That's in. That's my point." He took the point. That's OK, I figured, because I might have missed the call, and if he's so sure of it, so be it. What comes around goes around, right? Still, what's important here is precedent has been set for not following scoring/etiquette rules. Then ...
2. I'm serving and fault on my first serve. Some clueless guy and his dog sprint around the back side of the court and are standing near the door directly behind my opponent, so I wave them in. They were not there during the first serve. Anyway, as a courtesy, I expected my opponent to say, "Take first serve." He didn't. I asked him if I can have first serve. He said, "No. They're standing outside the fence. It's not a distraction." To which I replied it was to me. Anyway, I hit the second serve. Life goes on. Then ...
3. I'm serving and fault on my first serve, but he whacks the ball back over the net, and it caroms off the hitting wall behind me, and trickles into the doubles alley as I'm about to hit my second serve. I find this distracting and potentially dangerous, so I walk 15' to get the ball. Now, I fully expect for him to say, "Take first serve." He didn't. I told him that it was his fault that I had to break my rhythm and go get the ball he banged off the back wall, that bounced back onto the court. He said, "That doesn't matter. I can hit the fault serve wherever I want to." Now ... I'm starting to get a little miffed, but I take my second serve. Life goes on. Then ...
4. I hit a passing shot by him and as the ball is sailing by him far out of reach, I shout, "YES!" He said, "No talking during the point, that should be my point." I told him the ball was already by him and the point was over. He relented. Then ...
5. We get to a tiebreaker. I jump ahead 4-2 and we switch sides. He had served the 6th serve, so he should get one more serve when we switch sides. He served, and I flubbed it off my frame into a huge, deep puddle outside the court. He comes over to my side of the net to see what's going on. While he's walking toward the net, I said, "It's in the water. I'll get it after the set." This interchange and him coming over to my side got me a bit off-focus, so he returns to his side of the court, and serves and wins another quick point. 4-4. However, I now realize that he has served three times in a row. The guy has a good serve, and so do I, so serving is a HUGE advantage, and this is a key point in the tiebreaker. Now, I realize that when a point is played, the rulebook states that the point stands, and adjust future serves accordingly. I think, though, that's a major flaw in the tennis rulebook. I think it's akin to batting out of order in baseball. If a team does it and the opponent catches it -- even after the batter hits a home run -- the umpire would rule the batter out, and the outcome of his at-bat is voided. Now ... I know tennis isn't baseball, and rules are rules, but I still think what my opponent did was total horseshit. Serving three times in a row at a crucial point in the game is garbage. Furthermore, it was his unsportsmanlike action of coming to my side of the net and taking about a minute after the previous point, that made me forget it was my serve (not that it should be my sole responsibility). So ... If we're really going to be sticklers, as this guy wanted to be whenever it was to his advantage to do so, he should have forfeited the point when it was 4-3 me, right?
Anyway, at that point, I said we're either reverting the score back to 4-3, with me serving, or I'm done playing. He said, "No," so I packed my bag and walked, advising him I play tennis for exercise, to improve my game and have fun. This was not a fun match, so it was time to leave. He kept saying "Rules are rules." To which I said, "Then why did you overturn my call on a ball on my side of the court at the start of the set?" There was a precedent set at that moment that rules were not going to be strictly adhered to, right?
Wow. It makes my blood boil just to type this. Guy was a total ******. I also failed to mention that he insisted that we play at his courts, despite the fact that there are no wind screens and it's always gusting 20-30 mph there, benefiting his style of play. So ... What do you think? Have you experienced worse?
For starters:
1. A call on my side of the court, a ball he hit that I thought was out, he said, "No way. That's in. That's my point." He took the point. That's OK, I figured, because I might have missed the call, and if he's so sure of it, so be it. What comes around goes around, right? Still, what's important here is precedent has been set for not following scoring/etiquette rules. Then ...
2. I'm serving and fault on my first serve. Some clueless guy and his dog sprint around the back side of the court and are standing near the door directly behind my opponent, so I wave them in. They were not there during the first serve. Anyway, as a courtesy, I expected my opponent to say, "Take first serve." He didn't. I asked him if I can have first serve. He said, "No. They're standing outside the fence. It's not a distraction." To which I replied it was to me. Anyway, I hit the second serve. Life goes on. Then ...
3. I'm serving and fault on my first serve, but he whacks the ball back over the net, and it caroms off the hitting wall behind me, and trickles into the doubles alley as I'm about to hit my second serve. I find this distracting and potentially dangerous, so I walk 15' to get the ball. Now, I fully expect for him to say, "Take first serve." He didn't. I told him that it was his fault that I had to break my rhythm and go get the ball he banged off the back wall, that bounced back onto the court. He said, "That doesn't matter. I can hit the fault serve wherever I want to." Now ... I'm starting to get a little miffed, but I take my second serve. Life goes on. Then ...
4. I hit a passing shot by him and as the ball is sailing by him far out of reach, I shout, "YES!" He said, "No talking during the point, that should be my point." I told him the ball was already by him and the point was over. He relented. Then ...
5. We get to a tiebreaker. I jump ahead 4-2 and we switch sides. He had served the 6th serve, so he should get one more serve when we switch sides. He served, and I flubbed it off my frame into a huge, deep puddle outside the court. He comes over to my side of the net to see what's going on. While he's walking toward the net, I said, "It's in the water. I'll get it after the set." This interchange and him coming over to my side got me a bit off-focus, so he returns to his side of the court, and serves and wins another quick point. 4-4. However, I now realize that he has served three times in a row. The guy has a good serve, and so do I, so serving is a HUGE advantage, and this is a key point in the tiebreaker. Now, I realize that when a point is played, the rulebook states that the point stands, and adjust future serves accordingly. I think, though, that's a major flaw in the tennis rulebook. I think it's akin to batting out of order in baseball. If a team does it and the opponent catches it -- even after the batter hits a home run -- the umpire would rule the batter out, and the outcome of his at-bat is voided. Now ... I know tennis isn't baseball, and rules are rules, but I still think what my opponent did was total horseshit. Serving three times in a row at a crucial point in the game is garbage. Furthermore, it was his unsportsmanlike action of coming to my side of the net and taking about a minute after the previous point, that made me forget it was my serve (not that it should be my sole responsibility). So ... If we're really going to be sticklers, as this guy wanted to be whenever it was to his advantage to do so, he should have forfeited the point when it was 4-3 me, right?
Anyway, at that point, I said we're either reverting the score back to 4-3, with me serving, or I'm done playing. He said, "No," so I packed my bag and walked, advising him I play tennis for exercise, to improve my game and have fun. This was not a fun match, so it was time to leave. He kept saying "Rules are rules." To which I said, "Then why did you overturn my call on a ball on my side of the court at the start of the set?" There was a precedent set at that moment that rules were not going to be strictly adhered to, right?
Wow. It makes my blood boil just to type this. Guy was a total ******. I also failed to mention that he insisted that we play at his courts, despite the fact that there are no wind screens and it's always gusting 20-30 mph there, benefiting his style of play. So ... What do you think? Have you experienced worse?
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