[StanfordMatt]

Didn't Michael Chang beat Lendl that way back in the day?

It's very easy to overthink and get too careful returning a serve like that.  I was taught to put everything out of my mind and treat it like any drill when your opponent hits a short shot, i.e. drive it hard and deep down the line and come in to choke off the return, you only lose to a low percentage cross-court shot or topspin lob.  But I grew up in the Jurassic Age of tennis when net play made all the difference -- and I still have nothing in my mind!

He did, although the primary factor motivating Chang's underhand serve was exhaustion and cramping (it was in the 5th set of a match that had gone on for 4.5 hours). Martina Hingis also infamously used an underhand serve against Steffi Graf in the 1999 French Open final and was booed mercilessly by the French crowd for doing so. Hingis' intent was clearly to catch Graf off guard with the tactic. It worked for Hingis in the short-term as she won the point but ultimately lost the match.

I didn't see it, but if the Georgia player was not prepared to receive serve, she was entitled to immediately say so and not return it. If she was ready to receive but surprised by the underhanded delivery, that is legal, but the sportsmanship is unclear to me. I mean, is the South Carolina player supposed to announce in advance that the next serve is going to be underhanded? Sounds like it didn't work anyway.

In my view, we saw two different types of underhand serves yesterday. Lampl's opponent utilized the tactic frequently enough that there was no surprise factor. The serve wasn't particularly effective; it was almost as if she knew the rules of tennis mandated that she be the one to start the points during her service games and that was the most efficient way for her to get the task over with and into the point. I would've liked to see Lampl take more advantage of the weak serve, but I didn't think there was anything unsportsmanlike about it. Even when Hingis used the underhand serve against Graf and the motivation was to trick the returner, I still don't think there was a sportsmanship issue. While the French crowd took exception, if you watch the clip on YouTube you can see that both players were set and ready for the point to begin. The difference with the way in which South Carolina's Martins used the underhand serve was, as Viking Guy noted, she RUSHED to the baseline and served quickly in an attempt to catch Georgia's player off guard. In my opinion, this was bush league. Oldalum is correct to point out that the Georgia player could've refused to return the serve and told the umpire that she wasn't ready so that the point would be replayed. However, I think it would've been very risky to leave a call like that up to the judgment of the umpire given the stakes. And regardless of what the Georgia player could have done, it was the intent of Martins that made the serve so nefarious.

Personally, I think Martins' actions were representative of a growing decline in sportsmanship across college tennis. I don't watch as much of the women as I do the men, but if you watch a men's college match you're almost assured to see at least one example of a blatantly bad line call. It's rampant throughout the sport. There was a good article in the Washington Post last fall discussing how bad cheating has become at the youth levels and most college players are products of the youth system. It's gotten to the point where on big points, college players will call winners out knowing full well that the ball was in just to "make sure" in case the umpire doesn't overrule them. Sadly, even William Genesen was guilty of this in Stanford's second round match versus Ole Miss last week. On set point for the Ole Miss player in the second set tiebreaker, Genesen called a clear winner for the Ole Miss player out only to be immediately overruled by the umpire. In another instance of poor sportsmanship from this year's ITA National Indoor Tournament, Texas A&M's Patrick Kypson spit in his hand before going to shake hands with the Ohio State player who had just defeated him. I'm not sure what can be done to solve these problems, but I know it's a far bigger issue for college tennis than playing with ad's or the length of doubles matches.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now and let this thread return to celebrating our women's team's victory.

[StanfordMatt]

Didn't Michael Chang beat Lendl that way back in the day?

It's very easy to overthink and get too careful returning a serve like that.  I was taught to put everything out of my mind and treat it like any drill when your opponent hits a short shot, i.e. drive it hard and deep down the line and come in to choke off the return, you only lose to a low percentage cross-court shot or topspin lob.  But I grew up in the Jurassic Age of tennis when net play made all the difference -- and I still have nothing in my mind!

He did, although the primary factor motivating Chang's underhand serve was exhaustion and cramping (it was in the 5th set of a match that had gone on for 4.5 hours). Martina Hingis also infamously used an underhand serve against Steffi Graf in the 1999 French Open final and was booed mercilessly by the French crowd for doing so. Hingis' intent was clearly to catch Graf off guard with the tactic. It worked for Hingis in the short-term as she won the point but ultimately lost the match.

I didn't see it, but if the Georgia player was not prepared to receive serve, she was entitled to immediately say so and not return it. If she was ready to receive but surprised by the underhanded delivery, that is legal, but the sportsmanship is unclear to me. I mean, is the South Carolina player supposed to announce in advance that the next serve is going to be underhanded? Sounds like it didn't work anyway.

In my view, we saw two different types of underhand serves yesterday. Lampl's opponent utilized the tactic frequently enough that there was no surprise factor. The serve wasn't particularly effective; it was almost as if she knew the rules of tennis mandated that she be the one to start the points during her service games and that was the most efficient way for her to get the task over with and into the point. I would've liked to see Lampl take more advantage of the weak serve, but I didn't think there was anything unsportsmanlike about it. Even when Hingis used the underhand serve against Graf and the motivation was to trick the returner, I still don't think there was a sportsmanship issue. While the French crowd took exception, if you watch the clip on YouTube you can see that both players were set and ready for the point to begin. The difference with the way in which South Carolina's Martins used the underhand serve was, as Viking Guy noted, she RUSHED to the baseline and served quickly in an attempt to catch Georgia's player off guard. In my opinion, this was bush league. Oldalum is correct to point out that the Georgia player could've refused to return the serve and told the umpire that she wasn't ready so that the point would be replayed. However, I think it would've been very risky to leave a call like that up to the judgment of the umpire given the stakes. And regardless of what the Georgia player could have done, it was the intent of Martins that made the serve so nefarious.

Personally, I think Martins' actions were representative of a growing decline in sportsmanship across college tennis. I don't watch as much of the women as I do the men, but if you watch a men's college match you're almost assured to see at least one example of a blatantly bad line call. It's rampant throughout the sport. There was a good article in the Washington Post last fall discussing how bad cheating has become at the youth levels and most college players are products of the youth system. It's gotten to the point where on big points, college players will call winners out knowing full well that the ball was in just to "make sure" in case the umpire doesn't overrule them. Sadly, even William Genesen was guilty of this in Stanford's second round match versus Ole Miss last week. On set point for the Ole Miss player in the second set tiebreaker, Genesen called a clear winner for the Ole Miss player out only to be immediately overruled by the umpire. In another instance of poor sportsmanship from this year's ITA National Indoor Tournament, Texas A&M's Patrick Kypson spit in his hand before going to shake hands with the Ohio State player who had just defeated him. I'm not sure what can be done to solve these problems, but I know it's a far bigger issue for college tennis than playing with ad's or the length of doubles matches.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox now and let this thread return to celebrating our women's team's victory.