What To Do If Your Opponent Serves Illegally

[Boogar]

Sometimes you face an opponent that has an illegal serves. What do you do about it?

In my case I tend to say nothing at first, but if he does it again and again I do tell him. Now you know how that is in clubs without a referee.... Some just don't give a **** . What do you do in those cases?

The problem for me is that the discussion about the serve often throws me out of my game...

Some time ago i played against a much better player in a fun tournament, he kept serving illegally but i did not tell him because who am i to tell that good player how he should serve... made me feel uncomfortable and i kinda lost the drive to play.

So how do you deal with situations like this?

 

[Loopadoop]

If it gives him an unfair advantage, I will call him on it, if he continues, I will call a referee.

If just a fun tournament, may say nothing, but switch to long pips on my BH, If house rules allow it, nothing.

 

[yogi_bear]

If you cannot stop him from doing so just deal with it. Learn to receive them unless they are really hidden when struck. Observe the ball how it bounces, if it curves it has side spin. Also, try chwckimg if you can see the logo because it has no spin.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

One thing you could do is do it to mess the person up. Use that as a head game thing. You keep your head in the the game. You keep focused on trying to read and return the serve as well as you can. But, every so often, in the middle of the toss, as he is about to contact the ball, you raise your hand, like for a let. While you do it you step back and away from the table but in line with being able to see as much of the serve as possible. And then you walk back to the table and say: "That serve is illegal." And you say what he did that was illegal.

Now the key issue here is, you don't do it to get the guy to serve legally. No matter how you try, no matter how nice you are about it, some people are not going to change because you ask them. Some people can't change. It really could be a habit that is part of how they serve. And they would have to work on the serve to make it legal. So you are saying it, and doing it in a disruptive way, to mess with the person's head. Because, if they are serving illegally, and you are focusing on it and not focusing on their serve in the manner you should be, they have already gotten into your head.

So, in the middle of their serve motion, as you see it is illegal, you step back and raise your arm. You keep watching to see as much about the serve as you can (what spin, how much, placement). And then you say the serve was illegal in a way that will piss the guy off and then you tell him exactly what was illegal.

Then you go back to continuing to try and read the serve as though nothing had happened. Hopefully you got inside his head. But you have to focus on receiving the serve. It is not any different than if you could see the contact but the server's deception was good. You still need to watch the bounce and trajectory of the ball to make sure the deception didn't fool you.

 

[chuckjordan2]

I like USDCarl's reply.

This is a judgement call. On a fun match, the person may be a garage player and not understand the rules. If that's the case, then 'all rules are off'. I'd stop and start playing with my long pips racket.

Also, if he can serve illegal, so can you. One example is you can serve early (when he's not ready). This can be a double-edged sword and could be used against you.

The bottom line is winning. Do what you must to win. Take the game into your hands.

 

[Boogar]

Thanks for your ideas. I like your approach carl. I ll try that the next time. Maybe I should work on a hidden serve for situations like that

 

[Loopadoop]

Or just work on throwing the ball into the paddle for your own illegal serve, tell him if stops you'll stop.

 

[ttmonster]

Just ignore it and do your best if its outside of tournament play. Think that its just good serve receive training for you.
who cares about bragging rights inside the club. What matters is tournament play, if they serve illegally in tournament play , talk to the umpire politely. If the umpire does not do anything, atleast you have already practiced for such situations in your club , you should be able to find a solution to it.
Don't get me wrong, I get more pissed than you when I see these things , but there is not much you can do about it unless the rules are made clearer and the umpires understand and are ready to properly implement them. So its better that you adapt to the current situation.

 

[Der_Echte]

Sometimes you face an opponent that has an illegal serves. What do you do about it?

Call in the GOON SQUAD.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Just ignore it and do your best if its outside of tournament play. Think that its just good serve receive training for you.
who cares about bragging rights inside the club. What matters is tournament play, if they serve illegally in tournament play , talk to the umpire politely. If the umpire does not do anything, atleast you have already practiced for such situations in your club , you should be able to find a solution to it.
Don't get me wrong, I get more pissed than you when I see these things , but there is not much you can do about it unless the rules are made clearer and the umpires understand and are ready to properly implement them. So its better that you adapt to the current situation.

Ultimately, this is the thing to do. When someone gets under my skin, I just like to do something to get under their skin as well. But, ultimately, even if you use a tactic to play a head game on the opponent, you actually still do what Monster suggests and ignore it.

And of course, there is always this:

Call in the GOON SQUAD.

 

[Der_Echte]

Post the offending video to internet forums, cry about ratings points loss, act the fool, roar Ur head back and howl at the Moon.

 

[ttmonster]

.... well not everybody has Rambo Loops and Mamba Backhands

Post the offending video to internet forums, cry about ratings points loss, act the fool, roar Ur head back and howl at the Moon.

 

[Der_Echte]

Rambo would purposely miss one loop and ensure the ball flew like a missile into the offending player's eyes. Opponent's fault for not wearing eye protection in a combat zone.

Only a US vet understands that line as all the Sergeant Majors seem to have had DNA that would rip you a new one if you walked in the zone, even on your base without eye protection.

I would be 2100+ if I knew how to be balanced, ready, and had a BH to FH transition or judgment and prep on initiating the BH... so I deserve my low ratings points.

 

[Tom Lodziak]

Just ignore it and do your best if its outside of tournament play. Think that its just good serve receive training for you.....So its better that you adapt to the current situation.

I agree with this. There are so many people who serve illegal - and not always umpires available to enforce the rule - you need to adapt to the situation rather than get thrown off your own game. From my experience there are two types of illegal serve which happen the most:

(1) players who do not toss the ball - these are easier to deal with, as you can still see the contact point.

(2) players who hide their serves - not so easy to deal with if you can't see the contact point, but you can still pick up what the spin is by watching how the ball is moving.

So you can still return illegal serves well most of the time. Just something you have to get used to. You should embrace the challenge, get good at it and then it will not bother you so much in the future.

 

[Der_Echte]

My CEO taught me a valuable lesson about the illegal serving in clubs... never get upset about it, in fact, encourage the opponent to serve the most nastiest illegal serves possible, it is good training opportunity for when this happens in a real tourney with something on the line.

 

[langel]

Some players have illegal serves that are better for me, than their legal. So I let them think that they have some advantage where in fact it lacks.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Some time ago i played against a much better player in a fun tournament, he kept serving illegally.....

BTW: since I have a decent idea of Boogar’s level and I read this statement, I know he is not referring to those recreational players who do things like finger serves or throwing the ball into the racket. He is good enough for that not to be a problem. And most of the guys who do stuff like that, there isn’t much deception and the serves are not varied that much.

But with these players, usually, I just give them back their spin and see how they deal with it. Often these players don’t know what to do with their own serves.


Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy

 

[NextLevel]

I serve illegally as do many players I know. I don't hide my serves or consciously toss the ball low. The rules are such that many people who serve illegally do so and don't know. There are no levels of illegality in the rules.

Umpires rarely if ever call serve violations except of the worst kind. It is best to use serves you have trouble with as an opportunity to develop return skills or figure out what you need to work on.

 

[NextLevel]

I remember playing at the US Open one year. A player in my group had hidden serves. His opponent didn't complain. The audience including me were outraged. When the opponent won an easy first game, we asked him why he wasn't complaining. He said all the serves were no spin so it wasn't worth it.

Just an example of how focusing on irrelevant things can throw you off. We all beat that guy with that info. Most illegal serves are side top. But start there if you are are in a jam.

 

[ttmonster]

While I completely agree with you NextLevel that there are issues with serve legality in most players and some don't do it on purpose , but there is also a kind of illegal server who do it on purpose and makes it extremely difficult to read by hiding the ball with the body at crucial moments or suddenly by not tossing the ball when its fifth game deuce and its their advantage .... this kind is the worst to handle ... because its not consistent , you are not prepared for it and normally you don't have umpires till a certain level .... you feel cheated ... but I still say that there is little you can do about it , so best to learn how to adapt to it