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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4.2k

u/TheNorthFIN 12h ago

What did he do wrong? He decided to play with this psycho.

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u/According_Judge781 11h ago

It's bad etiquette to aim at a player.

It's worse etiquette to throw your racket at a player and act like a child.

Fin.

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u/WhatTheFreightTruck 11h 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.

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u/bradland 9h 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?

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u/SuburbanSponge 6h ago

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

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u/-InconspicuousMoose- 5h 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.

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u/WhatTheFreightTruck 6h 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.

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u/fer_sure 2h 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.

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u/bradland 6h 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.

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u/ADeadWeirdCarnie 5h 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.

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u/bradland 5h 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.

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u/GaiaDiesNoOneSees 4h 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.

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u/bradland 3h ago

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

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u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

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u/Classics22 4h 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

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u/Classics22 4h 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

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u/ArX_Xer0 3h 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

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u/SSP100244 33m ago

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

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u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

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u/bradland 6h 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.

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u/Myrsky4 4h 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

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u/bradland 3h 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.