[Ferg]

Anyone have any experience or tips to not let it affect you?

I lost a match last weekend, purely because my opponent pissed me off so much. I was much ebtter, and the shotmaker in the match, but all his 'come ons' at my UEs pissed me off so much I choked the first (unusal for me) and was so pissed off I lost the second easily. I won the third after regrouping but let him into my head again. Goddamn annoying it was.

[Mina Vagante]

These types of players annoy me too. The key, however, is patience. By getting angry and frustrated at their style of play, you are giving them exactly what they want. There is nothing better for a counterpuncher than to see the opponent getting angry and making stupid mistakes.

You are going to have to be more patient than usual but still keep the advantage in the point. Finding ways to change the game is always useful. Perhaps try slicing or coming to the net more often.

I know how annoying they can me, but my main tip is to not show how frustrated you are. Hitting with more margin for error will help eradicate the bad errors.

Hope this helped somewhat.

[Natash.]

My little brother had trouble with that. He was playing against a player who would shout "come on" and "let's go" at his errors and even his double faults. It was awful.

He would moonball and slice his returns all of the time.

[Noctis]

I Don't know, i just wack the ball trying to hit them if i get annoyed

[dualmedia_kay]

well, I played against a girl who did that! I got annoyed and started making stupid errors!

[Wiggly]

In these people will say that if your ball land less than 5cm from the line, it's out. À la Alves.

And they act like they are so much better than aynone else while they've got nothing to really hurt you.

Against them you play like Dementieva : crosscourt alllllllll the time. But you have to wait for the perfect ball to go for the kill shot. And since their serve usually sucks, stand well insde the court and demolish their serve. That guy kept on serving to my forehand with such a weak serve, I was hitting my return less than a meter away from the service line. Bang, in the corner, done deal.

If they moonball, then good luck.

[twight6]

Originally Posted by Wiggly

In these people will say that if your ball land less than 5cm from the line, it's out. À la Alves.
And they act like they are so much better than aynone else while they've got nothing to really hurt you.

Against them you play like Dementieva : crosscourt alllllllll the time. But you have to wait for the perfect ball to go for the kill shot. And since their serve usually sucks, stand well insde the court and demolish their serve. That guy kept on serving to my forehand with such a weak serve, I was hitting my return less than a meter away from the service line. Bang, in the corner, done deal.

If they moonball, then good luck.

[twight6]

I played this kid in high school that always asked for the third ball when serving. Typically we played with one can (3 balls, obviously) and usually what would happen is one ends up in the net, or on your opponents side, so when you're serving you only have two (which is all you really need). But I played this kid who, no matter what, wanted to the third ball. So I would have to go find it on my court, throw it over.. or, even worse, I would have picked it up like on a missed second serve, or an error, and stuck it in my pocket, so I would have to take it out and give it to him, even if he already had the other two!

Okay, I realize this sounds picky . But the worst part was, he always requested the third ball, and then threw it back to the fence behind him . So I would have to go get it out of the net, or take it out of my pocket, waste time giving it to him, and then he would immediately catch it and then toss it behind him into the fence.

My point is, it bothered me so much . I'm not really sure why I got so annoyed about it, but it really got in my head and every point I got even more mad, each time he did it.

So, I know what you're saying about annoying behavior . I did win the match in three sets after losing the first two. I found that I just had to ignore it, simple as that . It was either let it get to me and play bad, or just tell myself that's how he is, that's how he plays, and it's just another aspect of his game that I had to overcome.

[hdfb]

I try to block it out. You know they are celebrating over nothing and they themselves deep down know it too. Let your tennis do the talking, focus on your tennis only, don't even look at your opponents eyes.

[Shafanovic.]

Originally Posted by Ferg

Anyone have any experience or tips to not let it affect you?

I lost a match last weekend, purely because my opponent pissed me off so much. I was much ebtter, and the shotmaker in the match, but all his 'come ons' at my UEs pissed me off so much I choked the first (unusal for me) and was so pissed off I lost the second easily. I won the third after regrouping but let him into my head again. Goddamn annoying it was.

i know how you feel.

they annoy me too.

what works for me is doing it back to them. go shout come on for every point you win, hold up a fist and give them a death stare

[young_gunner913]

Ask Mr.SerenaWilliams, a couple weeks ago during a exho game we played, when he was getting ready to serve I put my hand up in the hair which he found hilarious but then I did it again and he got mad. He started kicking the crap outta me at that point, well, even more so then regular so I guess it was his motivation to beat me.

After the match I apologized and told him I'd never do that on purpose and that I'm not a... Justine Henin fan...

[Aaric]

It´s even more annoying when it´s not the player you are playing who does it and it´s his/her trainer

[Arnian]

Originally Posted by young_gunner913

Ask Mr.SerenaWilliams, a couple weeks ago during a exho game we played, when he was getting ready to serve I put my hand up in the hair which he found hilarious but then I did it again and he got mad. He started kicking the crap outta me at that point, well, even more so then regular so I guess it was his motivation to beat me.

After the match I apologized and told him I'd never do that on purpose and that I'm not a... Justine Henin fan...

you always manage to be classy

[Slutiana]

Originally Posted by Arnian

you always manage to be classy

It's called a joke.

[DefyingGravity]

You a) focus on your own tennis. Beating them is the best satisfaction of someone who tries to play mind games, so focus on what you need to do to play well, and don't react or change your game for anyone.

b) You can give your own come on, allez, ajde on your winners and give the Maria/Serena stare down, like I have done many times. At key moments, it's effective. Don't do it the entire time, because then you're no better.

c) If it ends up getting to you, slow down the pace of the game so you can regain composure. Nothing says he's got you when your natural rhythm has been disrupted. Remember, you still control the pace of the game, whether serving or receiving.