Mia Ford
I always see something that needs sharing when I spend some time on my Instagram feed. Take yesterday, for example. SLT editor Jenuine posed a great question about tennis etiquette to her recreational tennis peeps on Instagram and whether or not it was OK to cheer your own winner.
“If my teammate hits a great net shot that the opponent isn’t able to return, I’m gonna cheer, “Great Shot!” Is this rude?”
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And almost everyone who chimed in had pretty much the same answer. . . No.
There is no etiquette rule in tennis that says you can’t cheer for either your partner’s or your awesome clean winner. I mean, it was great, right? And if you’re opponents get annoyed or are too thin-skinned to realize you’re not dissing them, that their problem.
So tell your partner, give her a high-five, smack her on the butt. . . whatever. Just make it quick, as you only have 20 seconds between each point (which should be used to plan your next winner).
On the other hand, it IS rude to cheer when your opponent makes an error.
That’s a celebration that should happen only in your head. You probably wouldn’t like it very much if your opponents did that to you.
There are no official rules for tennis etiquette, but the league ladies do love to gossip. And no one wants the reputation of being “that player.”
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you think it’s rude when a player cheer their own winner? Do you do it with you own winners? We’d love to hear from “both sides.” Let’s discuss in the comments below.