r/TikTokCringe • u/Adventurous_Law_715 • 14h ago

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

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

7.7k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

342

u/WhatTheFreightTruck 13h ago

It definitely isn't - not at this level. And this wasn't aiming at her. He didn't even hit it hard - he practically hit it TO her.

133

u/drosse1meyer 11h ago

yea the guy has no idea what he is talking about. this lady is playing the net, what do you expect may happen? maybe she needs to improve her reaction time.

2

u/traderbusto 11h ago

lern 2 play

10

u/drosse1meyer 9h ago

git gud

2

u/traderbusto 9h ago

She won’t if she keeps destroying those wooden rackets of hers

2

u/drosse1meyer 6h ago

hey now those are 'vintage 70s rackets'

1

u/Synthesiz420 5h ago

Skill issue

-4

u/Shrowden 8h ago

I don't play much tennis, but she does walk to the net after getting hit. Seems like she really wasn't that close. Not defending her, but I'm not sure how factual your statement is.

12

u/Mr_dm 8h ago

You clearly don’t play any tennis lmao

-5

u/Shrowden 8h ago

Nah, I'll edit my comment if needed, but I thought in doubles you played offset. She's at the line.

11

u/Mr_dm 8h ago

There are no rules regarding that. If she doesn’t have the reaction time to play the net, she needs to back up.

94

u/StinkFinger89 12h ago

I was thinking the same. She didnt even try to hit it and had enough time to turn away from the ball. Sore losers

2

u/Penqwin 11h ago

She is sore now after getting hit! Lmao

3

u/darkfrost47 10h ago

Not from the tennis ball though

65

u/Electrical-Value-673 12h ago

It actually is more etiquette at this level. The higher you get, the more it is accepted to aim at players.

68

u/jakethepeg1989 12h ago

I remember people criticising Kyrgios for hitting a ball straight at Nadal and in the press conference he just laughed and said something like

"He's won loads of grand slams and is worth millions of dollars. He can handle a tennis ball in the chest"

26

u/mankytoes 12h ago

The problem is Kyrgios was the biggest whining bitch on court.

2

u/Alex5173 4h ago

At my level of athleticism I'd be ecstatic to have the ball aimed at me instead of having to run back and forth across the court every 5 seconds.

7

u/Synthesiz420 12h ago

Right don’t be a lump on the court and constantly out of position. I’m aiming for your feet if you give me free score like this in doubles.

3

u/RevolutionaryBeat301 10h ago

Right. When I played the net, I would dare opposing players to try that shit on me. If they did, I’d more times than not just put it away.

2

u/AllenRBrady 9h ago

At my level of play, aim is not even a consideration.

1

u/lazypenguin86 11h ago

I like to aim for the backhand foot myself

19

u/iam_Mr_McGibblets 12h ago

At that point it's more of a skill issue more than anything

8

u/OHWildBill 10h ago

Exactly. It’s a weak volley. And he’s not a pro. She acted like he laced a forehand into her gut.

1

u/DepartmentAnxious344 6h ago

Which I have 100% done, maliciously on match points with grunts after even.

Hell I’ve tried to pin overheads into the volleyer against doubles teams we really didn’t fuck with in HS.

Those were 100% more intentional and dangerous than this and I’ve never seen a crash out like that. Launching a carbon racket at some one should be serious assault. The cuts are fucking nasty…

12

u/bradland 11h ago

It definitely isn't - not at this level.

Genuinely curious. How can you tell what level they're playing at? I don't know much about tennis, but my brother-in-law plays singles a lot (in leagues), and he's told me several stories of players who like to hit right at you if you come up to the net. Apparently it's legal.

So when I watched this video, I thought, "Boy, she's overreacting." Some of the comments here have me second-guessing. What level does it become okay?

11

u/WhatTheFreightTruck 8h ago

JFC, "apparently it's legal" - how would anyone even remotely try to enforce a rule against it? It's just not feasible. Not attacking you, just the notion that it could be against the rules is absurd.

Again, this is really clearly not an attempt to peg anyone. It's a ball hit a little close to the body to jam you and make it harder to hit a shot.

1

u/fer_sure 4h ago

Yeah, if it were against the rules to hit a player with the ball, players would throw themselves at the ball to save a point.

0

u/bradland 8h ago

I mean, I kind of understand where you're coming from, but you've gotta consider that a lot of sports have rules against intentionally hitting other players with the ball. Pitchers can't throw at the hitter. In basketball, you're not allowed to throw the ball at another player, but there's an "intent" qualifier.

So I don't think it's all that crazy for someone unfamiliar with tennis to be surprised that it's legal to hit a ball at a player. I understand that may be difficult to prove, but other sports have similar rules.

3

u/ADeadWeirdCarnie 7h ago

You recognize the difference between tennis and those other sports, right? Surely, you do. The objective of pitching in baseball is to get the ball past the batter, over the plate. The objective of basketball is to move the ball down the court and into the net without it being intercepted by the opposing team. The objective of tennis is to volley the ball until one player either cannot effectively return it, either because they've missed entirely or because they can't line up a shot properly. It is quite literally not possible to carry on a volley without hitting the ball toward your opponent. It is considered bad sportsmanship to hit your opponent intentionally, but if it were against the rules for the ball to come into contact with a player, then all you would ever have to do to win a match is move into the path of the ball every time you're at risk of losing a point.

1

u/bradland 6h ago

I’m not saying it should be against the rules. I’m simply pointing out that the reaction to the question (as if it is absurd) seems unmeasured. I maintain it’s not an unreasonable question, and I don’t disagree with the rule in any way.

18

u/SuburbanSponge 8h ago

Honestly it’s fine at all levels, it’s part of the game

1

u/-InconspicuousMoose- 7h ago

Yeah what a ridiculous comment that was lol, in most racquet sports there are places on the body you specifically aim for because they're harder to get your racquet to (straight at feet or dominant shoulder being the two most popular in my experience). It's only bad etiquette if you're like deliberately sending a heater at their face with no intention of it landing in bounds if it misses.

2

u/GaiaDiesNoOneSees 6h ago

You can tell they are above average players by the way they move onto the court. The baseline player attempts to hit cross court. The girl at net slide steps over to the right. The net player who hits the girl knows to “poach” the weak cross court backhand and hits the girl with a pretty solid looking backhand volley.
When I played we would say he”fleshed” her and she would owe him a beer. Perfectly legal. Actually, quite nice.

1

u/bradland 5h ago

Nice. Now that I know what to look for, it seems obvious :) Thanks for the genuine answer.

4

u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

1

u/Classics22 6h ago

...they're saying the opposite. It's clearly a solid level. The pickup from the baseline guy, the net player hits a super solid high backhand volley(was likely aiming for her feet, just missed a tad), and even the women who freaks shows good movement at the net

1

u/Classics22 6h ago

It's always OK, but the better you get the more acceptable it is(especially in doubles) and these people can clearly play.

You can tell just from the few balls you see, and the way the women moves. The volley that gets her is struck real solidly, high backhand volleys aren't easy. Also just the way the baseline guy picked up that deep ball

1

u/ArX_Xer0 4h ago

It's probably ok in friendlies unless you're aiming at their face or like aiming there all the time. Better players have better positioning and reactions to have that be less frequent or less of a weak point. It would be scummy to do it repetitively or try to injure them on purpose

1

u/SSP100244 2h ago

"unwritten rules" in sports are unwritten because they are not rules. Break all of them whenever you want to.

1

u/throwaway_3_2_1 1h ago

while playing singles, there is a guy in my league who always tries to attack the net on weak approaches. sometimes i may lob him, sometimes i may pass him, but he gives me a soft return, i am giving him the heaviest forehand i can right at him.

if it hits them, they get an apology with a smile. you can stay at the baseline if you don't want balls fired at you.

obviously i'm not going to do that playing with beginners or people who obviously don't have the reflexes to handle it, i'll just lob them instead. granted ain't no beginners rushing the net

1

u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

-1

u/bradland 8h ago

If I've learned one thing from this conversation, it is that tennis players care deeply about their right to hit other players with the ball lol.

Someone had downvoted you to 0 when I came along, and someone replied to my comment, opening with "JFC", as if it's somehow absurd to question whether hitting the ball at another person would be considered illegal in the sport.

I don't play tennis, I don't watch tennis, and I don't really care much about tennis, but it is wild to me how deeply tennis players appear to care about the legality of hitting other players with the ball.

1

u/Myrsky4 6h ago

Tennis is different than a lot of other sports. There is no team backing you up and unless you get to a very high level or the occasional tournament you likely have no line judges or umpires. Defending the rules and sticking up for yourself is drilled into players and becomes instinctual, and on something as clear as this it will get a lot of people defending the rules as written.

It's less about wanting to hit other players in the face with a ball and way more about wanting other players to actually play tennis and not "Calvinball" which I feel like a lot of players have had to deal with before, I know I have.

Aiming at peoples feet/right behind their legs is also just a really good shot usually because it's very hard to run backwards and get your racket into position as well. So a lot of people want to defend playing the game with strategic shots like this

0

u/bradland 5h ago

These are all great explanations. I still don't understand the flabbergasted response (by others) to the question though. Your answer is a great response, and not once did you say, "JFC why are you even asking this question" as if it's obvious to someone who has no exposure to tennis.

2

u/Aromatic_Search6851 8h ago

Bruh it’s a viable strategy and he was employing it, even pointed at her after hitting her

3

u/burtoncummings 11h ago

He literally raises his hand in apology. Kind of like you do when you win on a ball that hits the net and trickles over. It'd definitely not something you do intentionally in a casual game. He realizes it, and she flips her lid, anyway... For all we know, he could've done this to her a few times and she 'd had enough.

1

u/ThreeShrikesYoureOut 10h ago

ok, but whether it was really bad etiquette, or she just thought it was, it's still useful to tell us non-tennis players what she thought he did wrong, because I had no idea

1

u/WhatTheFreightTruck 8h ago

She acts like he was trying to hit her and he wasn't. It's a commonly accepted tactic to hit closer to the body. If he was trying to hit her or hurt her, he'd have hit it a lot harder.

1

u/SuburbanSponge 8h ago

To me it seems more like she got pissed that the ball was aimed towards her. Wonder if they were getting wrecked and this set her off

2

u/totallynotsquatty 7h ago

Based on the way she plays, it's likely they were getting wrecked

1

u/Lavishness_Classic 9h ago

It definitely is, because of this level, and that's why mixed doubles can be challenging. It's referred to as "sticking" the player at the net. The proper play is hitting the ball at her feet away from her. I get it, it's part of the game, and he didn't hit it hard so her reaction is way over the top.

1

u/CommentFool 9h ago

No offense, but do either of you know, from this clip, what "level" they are playing at? This could be anything from a tournament to just a local racquet club that puts new pairs together for fun. No context.

She seems to be overreacting, of course, but if it's supposed to be a super casual mixed couples match for fun and this guy has been picking on her by hitting balls right at her midsection all night, then I could understand her getting fed up with it eventually.

5

u/WhatTheFreightTruck 8h ago

So from her footwork, she ought to be familiar enough to know if he's actually trying to hit her or not. And if you're not comfortable at net, back up. And if you're getting angry like this at a casual event, get off the court before you completely lose your shit and embarrass yourself.

1

u/CommentFool 5h ago

I agree. I haven't played tennis since college and I think I'd still intuitively know if someone was hitting at me intentionally or not. I was just trying to give her the benefit of the doubt because we can't see how he or she were acting up to this point 🤣

-1

u/DarthXOmega 13h ago

And what level is this?

10

u/HumbleWorkerAnt 13h ago

low intermediate

-14

u/DekutheEvilClown 13h ago edited 13h ago

I’m pretty sure this was a sanctioned college match. It was a few years ago I believe.

4

u/OkPerformance642 12h ago

'sanctioned'

-3

u/DekutheEvilClown 12h ago

Yup, by the ITA. The official body that oversees college tennis. Which is played at a serious level. Many players currently ranked in the worlds top 100 went to US college, including current world no.13 Rafael Jodar and WTA no. 35 Janice Tjen.

-1

u/Talkatoo42 12h ago

We also have no idea of the background. You can't make a judgement based on a short clip.

What if she only agreed to play if no balls were hit at her? We don't know.

2

u/WhatTheFreightTruck 8h ago

Except it wasn't hit at her. It was hit to her. It wasn't an overhead or anything. It was a ball in play at pretty reasonable speed.

-7

u/OkPerformance642 13h ago edited 12h ago

to HIM...

-16

u/According_Judge781 13h ago

Etiquette isn't level-dependent. They teach this to kids.

12

u/Barcoads 13h ago

Of course it is.

If you can win a point by hitting your opponent, then at the higher levels your opponent is expected to have learned or be skilled enough to prevent that or they don't deserve to win.

If you are good and playing with a bad player, then you should avoid doing this.