Is unethical to score an Ace in Tennis like this?

Most Unethical Moves in Tennis

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no. in fact people should do it more against players who return from the fucking stands *coughnadalcough*

but it only works as a surprise. do it often against a top player and you will get killed.
 
Not at all. Tennis is very much a mind game. It will only get you a couple points in a match though so overall it has little to no effect.
 
Of course its not.

It's a legitimate and legal serve.

There are far more tactics in tennis that are unfair, like taking an injury break to disrupt the match and change the momentum.

Sampras had done underarm serves. It's just not done much because it's usually not effective at all.
 
That is an awesome way to make an ace.

I did that when I played table tennis too btw. Back then, it was (at least on an amateur level) an accepted technique.
 
I don't think unethical is the right word. Bush league or unsportsmanlike, perhaps, would be a better choice to ask about. I don't think it is any of those.

Michael Chang tried something similar in the French Open years ago.
https://vimeo.com/50229630
 
Familienoberhauptvogel said:
it's outside the norm for sure but I don't remember there being any rules to the form of serve from my time playing tennis.
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There definitely are some rules. For example, you have to hit from the left half of the court and have it bounce in the right (or vice versa), within the first box-thing drawn on the court. Having it land near the net seems fine, though.



EDIT: Oh, the form specifically. Yeah, you're right; no rules there that I know of.
 
Tell you what, if I did that I would feel bad about myself for doing it for weeks and months. It is just unsportsmanlike.
 
It's not exactly a nice way to serve, but perfectly legal I'd say. The reason why this is not being done more is because it's just not effective. It's a very easy to return serve for pretty much all instances unless the returner stands where Raffa stood during the US Open final.
 
Why would that be unethical?
Because the other player not expecting it?
You think we should ban surprising plays?

This is silly, it dangers no one, it's entertaining and it's unlikely to be something that dramatically change the game of tennis. Good on him.
 
It's not douchey or unfair.

It's an underarm serve. Like a drop shot, a shot that is hit multiple times in most matches.

If an opponent is far back, you are trying to catch him. But if your serve doesn't just drop right over the net, it's an extremely easy winner for your opponent. Risk reward. Like any shot.

An underarm serve will lose you the point most often, so it's hardly a guaranteed trick point. It's not that easy to pull off well.
 
Even if it doesn't work just letting your opponent know that are are willing to do it has enough of an effect on its own. It forces the opponent to account for it and change their own playstyle, possibly moving them out of their comfort zone and disrupting whatever game plan they might have had.

It's like doing Shoryukens on wakeup in Street Fighter. It rarely works against experienced players but you don't do it because it works, you do it because now your opponent has to respect the possibility and that, in turn, gives you more options to work with.
 
Chichikov said:
Why would that be unethical?
Because the other player not expecting it?
You think we should ban surprising plays?

This is silly, it dangers no one, it's entertaining and it's unlikely to be something that dramatically change the game of tennis. Good on him.
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My thoughts, basically.

To me it seems like the equivalent of a bunt in baseball. Useful in specific situations but not how you want to serve every time.
 
Pfft. That's amateur hour.

I thought the thread would be about this:

pBCymdw.gif
 
lol, this happens in every social game I play, at least once.

It truly is a reminder to someone sitting deep to, git gud.
 
The only rule you have to be careful of for this is that the ball has to be hit above the server's waist. I think technically it must also be an "overhand" hit, but that simply means the head of the racket must be above the shaft.

Like other people said, this kind of serve would be VERY situational, and using it more than once in a match against a top ~50 professional would be considered disrespectful and you'd get your ass blown out even harder than normal.

There are some serves that entertainers do that, while hilariously tricky, aren't legal. For example, throwing the ball up, swinging (missing), then tapping it over isn't a legal serve. The ball must be hit in one motion on any shot, including a serve. So the first "missed" swing would count as your serve and it would be a fault.
 
Any Questions said:
Tennis is a gentleman and gentlewomans game. Like cricket. This type of behaviour is unsportsmanlike and should not be condoned.
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I don't really know anything about tennis, so I will have to take your word on this. But this post got me like 'wat'.

I don't see the difference between this and something like trying a surprise onside kick in football. Kind of surprised by all the negativity in this thread.
 
i mean, it's a very "cheesy" play, as in - if you surprise your opponent, it may work, but if they expect it, it's incredibly easy to punish, i would presume?

it's like a bunt in baseball, right?
 
It's a perfectly legal play that only works once or twice a match because if your opponent is expecting it you'll get destroyed
 
Unethical, no.

Against the spirit of tennis? Probably.

Tennis is still one of those few major sports where the athletes let their opponents replay serves when something unplanned happens... Like this video a goon shouting something during a critical serve after a 4 hour match between Nadal and Smyzcek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahrOBadEYcY

If OPs video happened in a higher level match, the person who did it would be booed and get a lot of criticism for it. A coach would probably step in and tell him not to do it again. That doesn't make it unethical though. Golf and tennis are games where "winning at all costs" is frowned upon and athletes who do that don't last long in the sports... some do, but most don't.
 
i mean, if it were deemed unfair, rules would be changed to dictate that the ball needs to be served in an overhead motion with a downwards trajectory.

But as long as it's within the rules, i don't see why not. - i like the meta it creates.
 
Rynam said:
I wonder, would that be a legal serve?
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It's absolutely a legal serve. You're not going to be able to do it often - you'll get destroyed because how soft a serve it is, but it will catch you off guard when used as a surprise serve.
 
I'll note in advance that I'm absolutely not any good at tennis so I can't really pretend to understand what is in the spirit of the game. But with that preface out of the way, it's hard for me to understand why this would be perceived as dirty and unethical. If you're even remotely expecting it it seems like something trivial to punish. And if you're not ready for it, I feel like the server is already at a pretty big advantage to begin with. When pros are hitting the ball as hard as they do to begin with, it's not like aces or shots where the opponent barely gets a racket on the ball (there's probably a term for this I'm not aware of) or all that rare. All things equal, the server is expected to win way more frequently than not to begin with. So it's not like there's a delicate balance that you're upsetting here in terms of giving the server a big advantage. They already have an advantage. And this isn't a surefire gambit to begin with.
 
it's considered a dick move but it's 100% legal and i've considered busting it out every once in awhile during a match
Just be prepared to have an angry opposition
 
The only thing that should be illegal in this case is the absurd level of salt of those proposing that that play should be illegal are indulging in.

Chopper said:
Pfft. That's amateur hour.

I thought the thread would be about this:

pBCymdw.gif
Click to expand...

The gif's perspective makes it even better. Amazing.
 
Yeah, I don't see what's unethical about it either. If you get caught by a serve like this it's on you because you weren't paying attention and your opponent took advantage of that. It's like in (American) football when a team does a surprise onside kick, they only do it because they think you aren't paying attention.
 
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