Gamesmanship: How Far Should A Player Go To Win?

Tennis is supposed to be a contest of forehands and backhands but as there is so much at stake and it is played by humans something else can creep into the contest. Players can annoy, intimidate and deceive their opponents in an attempt to gain an advantage. They can also bend or break the rules to gain points. Some say this is merely an expression of desire to win and should not only be expected but tolerated.

My view is that it detracts from the contest. Also I believe attempts to win points in an underhand way is evidence that a players forehands and backhands are not good enough on their own to win. It should be discouraged because rules cannot cover all the devious ways by which a player can gain advantage. Maybe if a player attempts a tricky move they should be booed?...

I heard a story recently of a junior player changing to a different sport. Not because of their lack of talent with a racquet but they were tired of dealing with the gamesmanship that is rife on the junior circuit were matches are called by the players themselves. They had come to the conclusion that matches were often won not by the better player but by those that were prepared to cheat. "The ball was out", "it was a let", "foot fault"... or even "no it's not 30-40 I've won the game". Some of the parents are apparently worse than their children...

I think a line needs to be draw between "gamesmanship" and "rule-bending" (aka "cheating").

Gamesmanship is fine for me, as long as it doesn't get out of hand. Tennis is as much about trying to gain a mental edge over your opponent as anything else, and I think if you can do that within the rules than kudos to you.

Cheating is of course not remotely fine. I once played someone a bit like you describe HE: in Junior matches it's understood that you police your own side of the court, and early on my opponent hit a ball to the opposite corner to the one I was going to. It seemed close to the line from where I was, so I asked him: "was it in?" and he said yes. No problem with that, I was genuinely not in the best position to tell and was just checking. Now whether this upset him or not I don't know, or whether he was genuinely a cheat, but he queried every call I made that were close (ie the shot was out on my side of the court where I could see it (had a play on it) so I stop and say "out"), we ended up replaying I think at least 4 or 5 points like that, and in the end I admit I lost it and queried a call which I had no right to (similar to the first one I mentioned, shot close to the line on my side of the court but opposite corner to where I was) and insisted the point be replayed, simply because at this point I didn't trust him to call it "out" if it was. (I was BP down in the decider too which didn't help). Anyway it was wrong, I shouldn't have, I ended up losing in three sets, and it was all very ill-tempered, though we did shake hands afterwards. I can honestly say that's the only time I've ever dealt with that sort of stuff...

If you think that's bad, I heard that before a recent match, a tennis player sat in his opponent's chair when he arrived on court.

I also hear that he ate his opponent's porridge and slept in his bed too.

Gamesmanship I'm OK with. For instance I would love it if someone knocked Rafa's water bottle over!

I've got no time for cheating though. Games can be decided by the odd point here and there, so if an odd point was gained by cheating, it makes the whole thing a farce.

Hawkeye from what I've heard (and I'd like someone to convince me otherwise) when Jankovic played Sharapova in practice matches at Bollitierri's it was a question of who would out-cheat who in the calls department.

Having witnessed both junior and adult matches closer to home where some of the calling has been outrageous to say the least that doesn't surprise me. I even heard a county coach at an Under 14 county match contested by the likes of Liam Broady tell his players "if in doubt call it out".

So when these players go on to use all sorts of gamesmanship and "rule bending" don't be surprised as they were more likely than not to have learnt in from a young age.

Taking tactical MTO's and taking 30+ seconds for a serve is a constant source of annoyance for some fans. Not me really. If an umpire doesn't enforce the rules (which it is there job to do) then I'm not surprised players try and get away with it. Rule breaking is a different beast to trying to get a mental edge.

If a player stares at his opponent, or makes an opponent wait an extra 30 seconds at the net until he's lined his bottles up to get a phychological advantage then fine, I want to see a bit of gladiatorial mind games... It adds to it.

Similarly if a player wants to hit a shot straight at his opponent at the net (something HE is not keen on) then again, that's fair enough. Sitting in the chair that is reserved for the higher ranked player, again absolutely fine.

I even had no problems with Nadal barging into Rosol at the change over. After he'd calmed down Rafa was endlessly apologising to Rosol apparently, but again I had no real problem with it. "I'm Rafa and this is my court" .... Great stuff, I loved it.

Essentially, if its in the spirit of intense competitiveness then it's all good as far as I'm concerned. ALL the top players have engaged in a bit of gamesmanship, and anyone who thinks otherwise is naive or kidding themselves. As long as it doesn't break any rules or any bones them I'm all for it.

Good posts, I see the way MFC sees it. Gamesmanship especially in one on one setting of multimillion dollar competition is always part of it. Hell to this day my favorite player is James Scott Connors and he is by far the all time king in tennis gamesmanship. There is a funny passage about Connors in Agassi's book. It talks about how Agassi for years used to see connors every year because his dad was Jimmy's Vegas stringer. Then when Andre became a big star and Connors was around and they asked him about Andre, Jimmy acted like he had no idea who Andre was but followed it up with this, "they say he plays a lot like me, well i have been to vegas a lot so who knows he could be my son." Only Jimmy could get away with suggesting that he impregnated Agassi's mother. I mean could we imagine in our sanitized and corporatized world a tennis legend behaving like that? We are so starved for controversy and animosity in today's tennis world. I mean some idiot even spent 200 posts argueing about which chair fed should have sit in.

Socal - the 'thing' between Agassi and Conners was fascinating wasn't it. Andre talked about it so much in his book, how he felt Conners never gave him any respect. Straight away it seemed Connwrs was riled by Andre, and visa versa.

I love rivalries like that. A bit of needle and tension always livens things up.

I like a bit of needle, unless you are blatantly cheating or blatantly putting an opponent off. Agree with whoever said they want someone to knock over Rafa's water bottles, that would be pretty funny.

If you look in the women's game, there is no one better (IMO) at gameswomanship than Azarenka and Sharapova. With those horrific grunts it'd put anyone off.

Question:

Who is the most controversial when it comes to gamesmanship in tennis at the moment? Stepanek?

Danny_1982 wrote:Socal - the 'thing' between Agassi and Conners was fascinating wasn't it. Andre talked about it so much in his book, how he felt Conners never gave him any respect. Straight away it seemed Connwrs was riled by Andre, and visa versa.

I love rivalries like that. A bit of needle and tension always livens things up.

Well the funny thing was connors was like that with everyone. I don't know why he was the biggest villain in the history of the sport but I found him completely and totally watchable as sporting personality. I mean maybe it says something about me but watching connors play tennis, especially against a foreign born player in the states was like watching the schoolyard bully pummelling and terrorizing the weakling and in a sick way enjoying the whole spectacle of it. I mean the man was the father of the power baseline game in many ways although the modern western forehand power baseline game inventer was more Lendl. Jimmy was the first guy to be a real aggressive player from the back who could hit winners by aggression and positioning and dominate the tour with a proactive baseline game. We just won't see a player like that ever again in terms of being a great Bar Steward. I always knew as a fan connors was a Bar Steward, but he was our Bar Steward.

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I think Jimmy C would certainly have kicked Rafa's bottles over and he would probably have been none too polite if Rafa had kept him waiting at the net for the pre-match toss-up.
Agree there's a difference between gamesmanship and outright cheating. Too may times at local tennis clubs, players foot fault outrageously and nothing is said or done. To me, that's plain cheating. After all, even in the gentlest village cricket match a bowler is called for a no ball if he oversteps the mark.
Toilet visits should only be allowed at the end of a set, unless a player is clearly so ill that he's throwing up on the court.
Players should also not be allowed to constantly hold up the server. Sharapova's walkabouts at the end of the court are excessive. Her opponent should bang down an undefended ace when she does it, to show her and the umpire that play is supposed to be continuous. As for shrieking....

I'm not sure Conners would have been so stupid to have kicked Nadal's water bottles over. I know I shouldn't but part of me hopes that someone would be foolish enough to try this tactic. I have a feeling it would backfire completely as not only would they have an extremely motivated Rafa to deal with but they would also be facing a hostile crowd...

The player I would like to see Connors deal with is Murray. Todays players are too cowardly to deal with some of his antics. It would be great fun if Murray decided to use his rolling around in agony routine...

hawkeye wrote:The player I would like to see Connors deal with is Murray

Really? I'd never have guessed.

For Rafa, don't kick his water bottles, just turn them gently around to face the other way. I think the crowd would love that and Rafa would look a bit silly complaining.

JuliusHMarx

Ha Ha! I would like to see that too. But I think you are wrong. It is the crowd who would be outraged if anyone had the audacity to deliberately tamper with another players equipment. It would be the equivalent of reaching into someone's sports bag and looking through the contents...

Connors wasn't to be messed with, that's for sure.

I somehow doubt Murray would have wanted to do anything to upset him. On one occasion when Johnny Mac did, Jimbo even clambered over the net to give him a piece of his mind and the two ended up having to be kept apart. What's crazy about the whole thing is that it was only an exhibition !!.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYYUtb4GUHE&feature=related

I can distinctly remember Connors also giving Mac a bit of verbal at their first Wimbledon meeting, when he was keen to remind him that as a young upstart he should show more respect. But struggling to find a clip of that one.