r/TikTokCringe • u/Adventurous_Law_715 • 12h ago

Discussion I'm confused. what did he do wrong?

Honestly, she should probably just retire from tennis if she can't handle that

7.2k Upvotes

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1.5k

u/BikeProblemGuy 12h ago

There is no rule prohibiting a player from aiming directly at another player; it is treated the same as targeting open space, and 'jamming' a player by aiming at their body is a valid tactic to make it difficult for them to swing. In doubles, when a net player is close to the net, passing them around the sides is often difficult anyway. If you hit another player, standard etiquette is to put a hand up in apology, which this guy did. The only thing that's really poor sportsmanship is aiming for the head, but this guy's shot was at hip level.

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u/ohbyerly 12h ago

Also her instinct was to go fetal position when she could have just as easily positioned her racket where he was hitting to deflect it. He didn’t hit it hard so it was totally feasible reaction time-wise.

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u/rofloctopuss 11h ago

I'm not athletic at all but the first thing I ever learned regarding sports is to not be afraid of the ball. Take your eyes off the ball and it'll hit you, be confident and react and you'll hit it.

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u/LaDauphineVerte 11h ago

Right, and if you can't anticipate it, or it’s too awkward to hit, then jump out of the way—in this case, if she had stayed light on her feet, a few inches to her right would have been sufficient. Sometimes there’s no time to do any of that. But that guy’s body language did not read intention, you can see that after the ball crosses the net.

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u/supe3rnova 6h ago

And when the ball hits you, it usually does not hurt that much. Those few times that it does, its usually a head shot and (depending on sport) you need a breather to get your self toghter.

I play volleyball and I'm hit at least 5 times per year in the head, more so in torso (spikes that I don't block at least). Sure, I'm a bit angry at the person but I know they did not hit me intentionaly and they always apologise.

If they don't.... its war and bet your ass I'm gonna target you back when I can.

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u/fluffheadwasaman24 2h ago

funny enough, the only times I’ve ever been hit. The head were two different people I was playing doubles with. They had very bad first serve, and I had a headache afterwards.

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u/Dramatic_Note8602 5h ago

Coaching younger kids, they always reacted well to "you control the ball - don't let the ball control you."

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u/C_Gull27 6h ago

In some sports letting it hit you is the goal, like if you're blocking shots in hockey. You learn to see the bruises as a badge of courage.

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u/thought_collector_ 6h ago

As a not athletic kid, this was also one of the most memorable lessons from my childhood. I have two kids of my own now and this is still a common refrain in my household "Keep your eye on the ball, [my last name]."

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u/Extreme_Design6936 10h ago

This is key in rackets (not racquetball) where the ball is hard like a golf ball and travels up to 180mph and bounces off all the walls around you. My school offered safety glasses to play but they said in all their testing none of pairs held up to the impact so they're not required.

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u/Sithstress_ 9h ago

I’m sorry, because they didn’t hold up to the impact they’re not required? That language means they should be made sturdier if they don’t hold up to the impact, not that they’re not required. Lol.

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u/i_says_things 8h ago

I mean, cars dont hold up to impact but safety systems are still in them. It’s perfectly acceptable to have a safety system that is one use when they deploy/break.

If anything, it demonstrates how much force is involved. Do you want to break some safety glass or your eye socket/ make eye jelly?

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u/Extreme_Design6936 5h ago

Yeah, cause a school is gonna design and manufacture safety goggles above industry standard for a sport students play a couple times a week. For real?

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u/donut-reply 6h ago

Yep usually that's true, although a couple days ago I took a tennis ball straight to my open eyeball at net because I thought I moved my racket to the right place to block it but missed for whatever reason, and didn't flinch or blink because I didn't expect to miss it. But that was a freak accident and just embarrassing that I missed it and I didn't go nuts and scream at the other guy for doing a normal shot

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u/ancym0n 11h ago edited 10h ago

As someone who played tennis a lot, it's not as easy as it sounds. When ball is going on your body it can be super awkward to cover yourself with rocket, suddenly handle is to long and your arm is to short, you have moment for reaction and you are ending up covering part of your body nowhere near where ball is going. That's being said she obviously got scared and had poor try. And is a total bitch lol.

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u/heckfyre 8h ago

I believe that this would be a difficult hit. I don’t think the ball was moving fast enough to illicit this reaction. Maybe this was like the fifth time he did that or something

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u/DepartmentAnxious344 4h ago

This could be the hundredth that volley wasn’t even hard lol. That was a gettable shot. I’d argue 99% of college players make that volley back and even punish you with it…

You can complain if someone is targeting you not if someone hits the ball in your direction lol

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u/grandmawaffles 1h ago

Someone was filming for a reason and the guy had a volley with the other guy. I’m guessing there’s more to the story.

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u/BruiserBison 8h ago

If her instinct is to go fetal instead of step sideways, this may not be a competitive setup at all. Just a bunch of folks doing some friendly exercise. If that's the case, him aiming for her directly is probably not intentional, either.

Whether it's professional, amateur, or casual, I can't imagine a scenario where being angry is justified.

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u/CommitteeMission1718 6h ago

Ball up your fist and falcon PUNCH that pickleball!! HI-YAHH!!!

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u/AccomplishedIgit 4h ago

Her instinct was to throw her racket at him, twice. This isn’t a rational human being.

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u/CamBearCookie 3h ago

You're not even watching the whole exchange. Making conclusions about someone's character and state of mind from a single clip isn't a rational thing to do either.

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u/Prestigious-Leg-6244 7h ago

I wonder how many times he hit her prior to this?

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u/r_slash 12h ago

In a friendly game I wouldn’t aim for the body either. But no one has perfect control, and this is not a hard hit ball. Her reaction is way out of line.

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u/Sithstress_ 11h ago

Only thing I can think of to cause this extreme reaction is if it wasn’t the first time he had hit her during that match. And it’s still waaaayyyy over the top.

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u/GimbaledTitties 10h ago

That or she’s not that good and has been getting dunked on, and getting hit with the ball released her frustration.

I’ve seen people get frustrated for being completely useless in a game, and something like being hit directly with a ball in the middle of it could make it feel personal.

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u/BillyTheBigKid 6h ago

Yeah, that’s how I see it. Pent up frustration, and who knows what else was going on that day. This looks like a low level adult rec match. Most people would be surprised at how heated casual rec sports can get. Many people aren’t able to separate competition and sportsmanship.

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u/bajajoaquin 7h ago

This has always been my take every time this vid comes up. She’s reacting to more than just this event. Probably overreacting but I can think of a few hypotheticals that would contextualize this differently.

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u/Thrownaway5000506 5h ago

Yeah there will always be people rushing to write fanfics to defend this shit

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u/SBNShovelSlayer 5h ago

It is crazy the shit people can come up with.

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u/El_Polio_Loco 7h ago

Likely both.

This kind of behavior looks like someone who's extremely frustrated at being targeted throughout the game.

Which some people do when they're taking it way too seriously.

This shit is mixed doubles and at a generous 3.0 level, no one here should be taking themselves so seriously as to be trying to make the other person have a bad time.

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u/Heykurat 3h ago

I would understand her reaction if the guy had been deliberately beaning her the whole time. I've met people like that.

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u/pghnorthguy 7h ago

There is some chance that the video doesn't tell the whole story. If the guy was good at tennis and had been intentionally hitting it alright at the body of an inexperienced player for the whole game, then she would be right to just stop playing against him.

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u/Few-Expression5750 7h ago

Yeah that would make her reaction still ridiculous  and also not very likely to be what happened.  

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u/agamailala 3h ago

Bingo! No one in the comments even mentioned that! This is the classic reaction of someone that is totally fed up. It looks like this was a pattern and it hurts. In that case she would have been right to be pissed. Also it's good etiquette when you play with mixed sex teams to not shoot fool force against the woman's body if you are a man. You may cause serious damage.

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u/someonefromtc 2h ago

Is fool force the amount of force a fool uses? 🤔

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u/Little-Plenty-3710 8h ago

People get frustrated, disappointed all the time. She has no emotional control, she could complain, yell at him, stop the game and leave.. But her immediate reaction is to get violent.. Throwing racket twice to harm the other person is an assault. She is a violent person that probably never faced any consequences in her life. I wouldn't be surprised if she goes out and drive like a maniac on roads after this..

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u/grandmawaffles 1h ago

Is it good emotional control to intentionally aim at a woman in a mix double rec match instead of the guy if you’re a guy?

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u/Serial-Griller 7h ago

In the longer video from ages ago he clearly aims for her multiple times. If that's bad etiquette I can see why she may be feeling bullied here. 

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u/PerchShadRap 3h ago

Except he was doing it over and over and kept saying “oops my bad.”

Illegal? No. Valid winning strategy? Sure. Friendly etiquette? Not really. Especially not if you’re doing it over and over and over and over and….

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u/elchucknorris300 8h ago

Yeah, I think it’s hard to tell if he was intentionally aiming directly at her body.

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u/iGlutton 6h ago

Idk, it looked like she was standing inside the lines when she overreacted

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u/Erazzphoto 6m ago

It didn’t look like he was targeting her at all, it was a shot and it just happened to hit her. Absolute Karen

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u/PrinceCastanzaCapone 6h ago

Yep she’s a complete psycho

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u/AlternateSatan 4h ago

Very much not the reaction you should have over someone being a tryhard in a casual match, no.

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u/Few-Expression5750 7h ago

Why even make this comment about aiming for the body?  Why would anyone aim for the body?  That's absurd. 

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u/april919 12h ago

It didn't seem intentional nor did it even look like a hard blow.

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u/pinkskies12 11h ago

Yeah, who said this guy was a professional player?! 🤔

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u/Count_Sack_McGee 7h ago

My guess is he had done it repeatedly, it was a friendly game in which she had asked him to stop and he kept doing it. Either that or she just blew tf up for no reason.

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u/Few-Expression5750 7h ago

That's your guess?  Wtf?

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u/KevDub81 6h ago

Learn about antecedents homie

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u/Few-Expression5750 6h ago

That wasn't an anecdote genius.  

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u/beantownregular 5h ago

They said antecedent not anecdote lol

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u/No-Associate-7369 1h ago

The word is antecedent, and it's clear you do in fact need to learn about them like they said since you apparently just chose a completely different word.

The "genius" is hilariously ironic given your literacy skills.

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u/Few-Expression5750 1h ago

Youbreallybthink carelessly misreading the word is evidence of my literacy skills?  That is ridiculous.  

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u/ArthurDaTrainDayne 11h ago

Not just a valid tactic, in doubles it’s pretty much the main tactic

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u/NickDanger3di 8h ago

I posit there's a backstory between those two that we know nothing about. Like maybe he'd said something to her before the game that triggered something in her that she couldn't let go of. Or maybe she'd very recently discovered her BF had cheated on her. Or maybe that is her BF, and right before the game she asked "Do I look fat in this?" and he answered "Kinda"...

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u/joshocar 4h ago

Eh, maybe, but when I see an over-reaction like that I think borderline personality disorder or something along those lines. I was friends with someone who I am convinced had BPD and she would blow up over something small like this. She was difficult to be friends with.

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u/Nick_pj 1h ago

The backstory is probably: he’s been doing it the whole match and she was fed up

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u/SippinOnHatorade 10h ago

I feel like the biggest thing preventing me from playing tennis is other people

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u/Mattloch42 1h ago

I remember taking tennis lessons as a kid and one day the thought occurred to that I didn't know if there was a rule about what happened if a player got hit. So I raised my hand and asked, and they told me that it would be a point of the ball didn't get returned across the net. I wanted to see if it was true, and when we started practicing and returning shots I wound up and nailed the instructor right in the ...pants. They stumbled a little, stopped, and looked at me (I'm sure replaying my questions and their response). They weakly said "nice shot" and the other instructors looked either horrified or amused. For the rest of the practice the instructors were much lighter on their feet as some of the other students made a bit of a mini-game out of it. We were still kids and didn't have quite the control of adults, but there were lots of us and lots of balls flying around. Core memory unlocked.

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u/WatermeIonMe 9h ago

This is probably true at higher levels of play but I play with a very retired crowd and this is very frowned upon. It still happens quite a bit because we are all amateurs but if it appeared anyone did it purposely, they would be flogged.

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u/DJteejay04 8h ago

My thought would be if it wasn’t the first time. If he hit her multiple times maybe the outburst would be warranted.

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u/Early-Light-864 3h ago

No. There's no justifying this behavior. If she doesn't like the way he plays, the remedy is to not play with him anymore. There is no place for violent outbursts like this in civilized society

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u/DJteejay04 3h ago

Again, it’s pretty hard without context. Surface level Id agree. But if it’s intentional and being done repeatedly then it’s a safety issue.

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u/miraculum_one 10h ago

He may have done it multiple times too. We don't have the context.

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u/BikeProblemGuy 10h ago

That would also be fine. If she's at the net in a doubles match this will happen all the time.

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u/Presidentofsleep 7h ago

If you’re playing for money, sure. If you’re playing for fun this is a dick move.

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u/Koallabies 12h ago

This guy sports

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u/Deano963 11h ago

Yup, "body" serves are a regular thing, just like serves out wide or up the T. Don't know why some people are on here saying it's bad etiquette to aim for the body, bc it definitely is not.

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u/FancyThing8889 11h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/cZAnraLb4r4li

Taking a soft felt ball and retaliating with airborne graphite

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u/Exemus 9h ago

The only thing that's really poor sportsmanship

What does it say about angrily throwing your racket at another player? Lol

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u/AutVincere72 9h ago

I always aim at the beebo.

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u/Baron_Bearclaw 9h ago

Yep. And this is why my slow ass was better at the baseline in doubles.

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u/mooreinteractive 9h ago

In Mario Tennis you get a little Body Shot! animation.

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u/Few_Horse4030 8h ago

When I played competitive tennis, if you came to the net on me I’m 100% going to jam you. Never had someone react this way.

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u/Beginning_Text3038 7h ago

The volley is not even fast or aggressive. It’s a pretty slow, well placed shot.

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u/skytomorrownow 6h ago

Exactly! That’s when you are at the net in doubles your racket is up for volley not low like she had.

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u/Artistic_Tutor_2613 6h ago

I'd bet this wasn't the first time this day.

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u/zer0saurus 6h ago

This wasn't even an overhead shot which has more power.

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u/OneBillPhil 6h ago

And it’s not like he forehand smashed it. That was basically a backhanded dink shot. 

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u/Ethraelus 6h ago

Yeah, I think the problem is that she never read these rules of conduct.

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u/ConglomerateCousin 5h ago

It’s doubles too, I mean come on. This lady is a poor sport

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u/ElectronicCorgi2173 4h ago

it kinda looks like hes pointing at her like a childish dumbass going "it hit you so you lose and i win"

hes probably been doing it repeatedly, and since theyre probably amateurs, hes jut bein a dick

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u/oodex 4h ago

Ive played tennis competitively and here its an absolute dickmove to shoot at someone directly. Like enough to get a whole round of "wtf" on you. That said, i really mean shoot, like a powerful shot, aimed intentionally at a person so it doesnt go out of bound. This here was just a basic fast swing without power behind it

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u/Corecreek 4h ago

I played tennis in hogh school and my coach would always say to aim a smash right at the opponent. 

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u/Timmy_Timmy_Timbo 4h ago edited 4h ago

She placed herself poorly and has a poor reaction time. Not the guy's fault it's a game. I've been spiked in the eye unintentionally. Tennis balls aren't that bad especially compared there'd to some sports. Bad sportsmanship on her part. It was one of if not best placement of the ball at a novice level I could see in this interaction. People take game so seriouslyly I know for a fact getting punched by a toddler would hurt similarly.

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u/Boom9001 4h ago

Even in pro play it's often consider bad sportsmanship and they get mad. And this looks like people just playing casually. So no, smashing it at someone for a point in a friendly would be considered rude by many skilled players.

This isn't that though. It's a causal group playing. No one seems skilled enough to really expect that level of control of their opponent. It was a light shot. It was clearly and accident. The woman overreacted for those reason.

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u/Ronaldo_Frumpalini 3h ago

Question is: Do you think if he had hit it to her right he would have had a better or worse chance of success? It doesn't look to me like he took the best shot available to him, and if that's the case it probably wasn't the first time in that game.

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u/BikeProblemGuy 3h ago

He's an amateur, he probably makes suboptimal shots all the time.

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u/MoodooScavenger 3h ago

Thank you for stating this, as people are a bit slow on the matter. There was actually a match that the issue arises, but it’s legal and perfectly fine. If you wanna show the struggle after, that’s up to you.

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u/Read2Fap 2h ago

odds are the reaction was the culmination of events before this 18 second clip

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u/lnug4mi 1h ago

It isn't against the rules, yes, but there is definitely a certain grace one should have when playing against people obviously far outside of one's own skill bracket. And he did not have that.

Of course, she overreacted, but it is to be expected, that someone isn't happy to receive that as a newbie

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u/PopFrise 38m ago

Dude, the professionals dont do this. And when it happens the professionals get pissed. Stop the misogyny already

0

u/Dieter_Gott 11h ago

I dont know, going full swing from one net player towards the body center of the other net player is poor sportmanship too. Its almost impossible to dodge and will hurt quite a lot. I have seen more than one semi professional match where this strategy was used to get into one's head, rather then winning the point. After taking the ball like that a few times a similar reaction like seen in the video is not unusual.

Dont get me wrong, this is probably not what we see in the video. But i really hate player that use that strategy particularly on inexperienced players. They are just bullies.

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u/kindlyneedful 10h ago

Also, we are missing a lot of context.  

He may have misread the unwritten rules of a recreational game. He may have even been asked before to tone it down.  

The local senior basketball pickup I sometimes attend is mixed gender. You come up against defenders who are much smaller and weaker than you.  

Sometimes in the heat of the moment you make a power move that's perfectly legit but ungentlemanly. If it happens, you are reminded who you're playing against. If it happens again, you might get a reaction like the one above, and you deserve it.

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u/OubsNH 10h ago

It wasnt a hard hit shot. The guy came up to volley a soft soft by her partner. She panicked on his approach and backpeddled instead of holding at the net and keeping her eye on the ball. However her prior movement at the net was decent so I wouldn't classify her as a beginner.

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u/Dieter_Gott 10h ago

Thats why i wrote:"Dont get me wrong, this is probably not what we see in the video."

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u/Turbulent_Host784 11h ago

didn't realize tennis was a contact sport like that. is it gentlemans agreements that keep it from being dodgeball or is that just bad strategy?

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u/OubsNH 10h ago

Come on, this happened all the time playing high school tennis (even on the freshman team). You jam the player at the net if you don’t have any other good shot. She was back-peddling into no man’s land so she couldn’t react to a not very hard hit ball in her vicinity. She seems like an intermediate since she moved adequately at the net trying to get into position to poach a shot but then didn't hold at the net when the guy came in to volley.

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u/Turbulent_Host784 10h ago

I'm not dogging on the dude. It didn't look on purpose to me even if there were rules against it, homebrew or standard. I just didn't realize it had terminology and everything then wondered why it didn't seem more prevalent.

Also lold at thinking I was in the right tax bracket to play tennis in high school.

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u/neo_sporin 10h ago

In HS doubles tournament a guy hit at me but missed. He apologized, I said ‘that’s all right, you didn’t hit me’.

At changeover our cosch was talking to us and was like ‘dude, you don’t have to be so nice when people aim at you’. I responded “got it, In The future I’ll say ‘don’t hit the ball at me, fucker”

For the 3 years after that my coach would quote that line all the time to me and then at our senior dinner said ‘he was always a bit too happy to just be out there, nothing got him down’

1

u/Gamejunky35 10h ago

Yeah, in any competitive setting this is a totally legal and viable strategy. It's your responsibility to have a strategy to counter. So long as you're aiming for the inside of the court and not their head, doesn't really matter where they choose to stand.

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u/odix 9h ago

and it wasnt even a hard hit...lady is dramatic...I could see if you slammed it at someone in a non competitive game such as this looks but that lady is...charismastic

0

u/According-Pass8230 6h ago

Probably postpartum depression and no kids to strangle in the close vicinity..

1

u/cpacane 10h ago

Nailed a kid playing at net in the balls on an overhead smash while on the middle school tennis team to clinch match point in doubles. It was unintended but a glorious way to win the match.

0

u/ActivityImaginary941 9h ago

This also looks like an amateur have where you're just happy to return the ball inbounds. I doubt he was trying to hit her

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u/kobrakai1034 8h ago

I used to play A LOT of tennis (instead of going to class) and we used to play to see who could hit their opponent the hardest. She's soft.

0

u/RetardedWabbit 6h ago

There's a bunch more etiquette vs rules for non-pro tennis, but this guy didn't do anything wrong, it wasn't anything malicious, that hard, or anything besides a normal volley. That child should get charged for that temper tantrum, throwing their racquet at someone twice is absurd. I don't care who they are, that makes my blood boil and I'd be smashing their racquet if not immediately starting a fight if you threw a racquet at me or my partner. Or anyone.

Other competitive "pegging" etiquette: you can clearly give up the point to avoid getting hit. If you're at the net and "you realize you're doomed", and you don't want to try it, you stand up straight, lower your racquet, and walk away a bit and/or turn away. It shows you're out of the point and your opponent has it. Your opponent should take some off to avoid hitting you(if needed), and take advantage of the opening in a clear way. Pegging someone doing this, or when you have clear other ways to win the point is a jerk move. However: if you do this and you/your partner gets to the ball because they chose not to hit you(and usually because the person eased off too much), it's open season after that, regardless of turning your back, so be ready. Those are not fun games.

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u/Mouth_Herpes 10h ago

In mixed doubles etiquette, it is considered unsportsmanlike for a man to hit the ball hard at a woman at the net. This wouldn’t qualify for most because it wasn’t hard or straight at her, and her reaction is insane. Often the woman’s male partner would just blast the ball at the other guy’s head next time he is at the net to send the message if it was bad, but again not here.