WALKING OFF THE COURT

If you know sports, then you know what walk-offs are. It’s always great when the Astros have a walk-off home run. Or, even better, when LSU has a walk-off home run.

Things don’t have that same feeling when a player walks off a tennis court. Chances are, it’s not a good thing.

So, why would a player walk off a tennis court? I’ve seen a few scenarios as I am sure every league player has.

Cheating–the person feels the opponent is cheating and it just isn’t worth the match any more. At what point would you walk off the court if you feel the other person is cheating?

Some players won’t even walk onto the court if their opponent has that reputation of cheating or just not being an honest player. You see “that player” walking to your court and you just know it’s not going to be a fun match. At what point do you just pack up and give them the points?

There are times when the players just decide they don’t want to play any more. A pair of younger players were pitted against the older women who were wiser in their shots as opposed to just wailing on the ball. The older, wiser women were winning. The younger ones decided they did not feel well and gave up the match.

Of course, there are the times that injury comes into play. A calf muscle, an ACL, heat exhaustion. All good reasons to walk off a court. It’s not worth an emergency room visit to finish the match.

Then, there are those one in a million times that “you just have to go”. What should be a 2-hour match turns into a 3 1/2 hour match and it’s time to pick up your child from pre-school. Well there’s not much you can do about that. Not many husbands are going to welcome that emergency call to pick up their child because the tennis match is going longer than it should.

If you have to walk off the court, hopefully there is a real reason as opposed to pettiness. It’s just tennis.

Let’s take it to the net ladies.