What pet peeves do captains have? Why do people care when we spin the racquet before the match?  

Michelle, Erin, and Carolyn discuss these things and what they do that may bother their opponents!

Here’s a Complete Transcript of our Conversation

Carolyn: 0:01

Hey, this is Carolyn. Erin and I have a quick request for you. If you are enjoying Second Serve, please follow the show and Apple Podcast. And if you have a little more time, leave us a rating and review wherever you listen. It helps others find our show and helps us know what you like about it. Thanks. Hi everyone, this is part two to our episode on pet peeves. If you haven’t listened to part one, I hope you’ll go back and listen. And if you guys have any to add to the list, um please contact us and let us know. But here is part two. How about Aaron as you as a captain? Do you have any pet peeves?Erin: 0:41

Yeah, I was gonna say, so my biggest pet peeve as a captain in the last few years has probably been someone asking to reschedule a match, or let’s say we have a reschedule. Actually, this is a bigger pet peeve. When there is a reschedule, like for weather or like for um, you know, a match has ended up on a holiday like near Memorial Day or near, you know, spring break or whatever it is. The day of the match, if it’s just a normal match day, you’ve put your lineup out, people know show up on that day. But reschedules, it’s like everybody wants the rules bent for them.Carolyn: 1:13

Yes. Yeah.Erin: 1:14

So I have had multiple times where we’ve set our lineup, we’ve sent it to the opponents. Maybe, you know, it’s a week out or two weeks out, and then you know, they still want to change the match day, or they forgot they had clinic that day, or you know, their kid has a doctor’s appointment or whatever. We’re doing group botox that day. Yeah, something like unfortunately, like you have to just find a sub because I think the rule nowadays, you’d think I would know this, but I haven’t capped it now for a couple years. Um, I think the rule now is even if you give your opponents the lineup, you can still switch it before the let’s say like Michelle and Aaron are gonna play, you know, Susie and Josie or whatever. Um, if Michelle, you know, if I one of my kids has a doctor’s appointment that I can’t get out of, I can still switch my lineup before I step on the court, but I just have to let my opponents know that.Carolyn: 2:04

Oh, really? I didn’t know that.Erin: 2:06

Um I think so, but um, yeah, just like asking for reschedules of reschedules for not great reasons, or if we’ve ever asked for a reschedule for whatever reason, um, just not being accommodated. Like I feel like we’ve accommodated so many people over the years, and then I’m like, surely they’ll do the same favor for us. And then, you know, it comes to it, like summer matches are awful because everybody’s out of town for vacations and stuff. And those seem to be like the worst times when people think they can do anything they want, even though it’s a USTA match.Michelle: 2:41

What do you think the solution is to that? Because it is kind of an important thing.Erin: 2:44

I can just say no, and I hate to say that I’m not a I’m not a no person. I’m very much a I would like to accommodate and like to, you know, have everybody like me. Um, but it’s just impractical.Michelle: 2:56

I have a pet peeve, but I don’t know what the correct way is really to do it. So a lot of times, and I’ve been I’ve actually been yelled at for both ways, but um, when you spin the racket, should you do that before you warm up? Because I’ve had host to. Right. And I’ve had people come out and want to warm. Yeah, and I’m kind of laid, like, especially if we’re the visitor, I’m not gonna just hop in the saddle and say, can we spin or whatever? But if I’m hosting the court, um I certainly try to do that because people like to warm up on the side they’re gonna play. But I’ve had people say they that they wanted to warm up first so then they can know what to pick. So I don’t I think that that’s maybe a P. But strategy. It’s strategy, right? And so should you stand your ground, even if you’re the visiting team, and say, I’d prefer to spin first. It’s a rule. Yeah, okay.Carolyn: 3:47

It’s a rule, but I never follow it. I’m I know whatever they want to do.Erin: 3:51

I’m a chicken as well.Carolyn: 3:52

I’m a chicken as well.Erin: 3:53

But that is, do you remember what the rule is? I’m sure you read it at one point, Carolyn. Do you know?Carolyn: 3:57

Uh you’re supposed to before you warm up, you’re supposed to spin the racket first.Erin: 4:00

So you just meet, do meet and greet, introduce yourself, spin, and then warm up and do your warm-up. Okay, so that’s another good one. That um not necessarily that, but just warm-up. So I find it fascinating how different people get to courts it. Like a we have always, we as our club, our friends, everyone we play with, has always shown up to courts 15 to 30 minutes before match time, right? So that we get a warm-up. So I would say last year I was playing a singles match and I showed up because it was singles, I knew I was gonna hit a ton. So I didn’t want to warm up as much as maybe doubles, because doubles, you know, sometimes it’s just hard to get a rally going. I showed up at like five minutes to match time or maybe 10 minutes till a quarter till, and um, my opponent didn’t show up until match time, and then she wanted to warm up. And this was like a seven o’clock at night match, like 35 minutes or away from my house. I’m like, ugh, and it was chilly. And it was chilly. So I was like sitting there, it was cold, you know. Then she shows up, then we have to warm up. So like our seven o’clock start time after we introduced ourselves and picked our sides and all that other was like 7.20 or 7.25 by the time we started. So um, that is a big pet pee for me. I think you should start your match at match time unless you like can’t get a court until match time. But if you have like if the court’s empty, I think people should show up 5, 10, 15 to 30 minutes early, get your warmup in, and then hit the ground running at match time.Michelle: 5:34

I think it’s kind of annoying to show up so close to match time and then expect to still have a full warm-up. I think that’s discourteous.Carolyn: 5:41

Yeah, or 15 minutes after match time, but it’s within that 15 minutes.Erin: 5:44

Well, that’s really like at 15 minutes you have to forfeit, right?Carolyn: 5:47

You have to forfeit that they show up like two minutes before that, and then they’re like, Are you ready to warm up?Erin: 5:51

Okay, I want to warm up.Michelle: 5:53

I think part of it’s too is like I’m not always clear on what the rule is, so you let it slide, and they’ve probably been getting it slid through. So maybe they know, maybe they don’t know. Maybe it’s all strategy. I never really thought about I have never warmed up with anyone and then thought, I really wish I had picked to serve, or so clearly I’m not paying attention. But I that’s a good point. I mean, yeah, but I if I’m if I’m the visit, you know, if I’m the home team, I feel like, okay, I’m in the driver’s seat, I can kind of set the pace for this and you can get things going. But people get very fussy, like we haven’t warmed up, I haven’t served, I haven’t, I’m like, well, you were late. I don’t know, you know.Erin: 6:31

Do you remember a couple years ago? Both of you remember that okay, so our club only has six courts, and when we host teams, um, like in the spring, we have to play five courts. So we take up all but one court, and maybe there’s a court left over for like random people to play on, or maybe one of our pros is doing a lesson. But we have multiple teams at our club, you know, that need all five of those courts, right? So do you remember a couple years ago, our pro like had to blow like a loudhorn? And she was like, okay, do you remember Carolyn? Yes. So we’ll we’ll have like a 9:30 a.m. start, and then maybe there’s a team that plays at 11, right? And you won’t necessarily have all five courts wrapped up in an hour and a half, but I remember her telling us, she said, let your opponents know that when they show up, like she was like almost like running at like states. You have a five-minute warm-up, right? So, like if you were the 9:30 match, you had to get their warm up. She wanted you to start a match, and she was blowing a horn.Michelle: 7:29

I love that so much.Erin: 7:31

I think it’s smart because it took the it took the pressure off us to like hurry people along or seem like we were being rude by saying we have to start it. You know, she was just like she would blow the horn, and we were like, that’s it, we gotta go.Michelle: 7:44

It it kind of feels like a um a power struggle too sometimes, but sometimes during warmups, I feel like I’m trying to herd it along because I’m looking at the clock knowing I have X, Y, or Z.Erin: 7:56

Yeah, we have to do. Yeah. I just We’re not getting paid to play tennis. No, and we don’t have all day to do it.Michelle: 8:02

And it makes me feel rude, but it’s like also it’s kind of a power play. Like it’s a power struggle with the I think if you, you know, I love the horn. I think she should bring back a horn. A horn idea.Carolyn: 8:13

I think everyone should implement a horn. We should all, I’m just gonna have one in my bag.Michelle: 8:17

Maybe we should just get a whistle. We just blow it. Whoever is exchanging the lineup, neither the captain or who’s acting captain that day, gets to blow the whistle. Yeah. We all have our own whistle of co of course COVID, but you know.Carolyn: 8:32

Yeah. You guys made me think of a couple more pet peeves, and uh as you were talking. It was someone that bounces the ball like 25 times before they serve, and then they serve like, I mean, it’s not a hard-served concept. Right, right. It’s not like a doll.Erin: 8:45

Amazing.Carolyn: 8:46

But it’s like they bounce, bounce, bounce, stop. Then they bounce more. You’re like, is this person for real? I’ve had that person do that before, and I was just like, this is crazy.Erin: 8:54

I know Michelle just played a person like that. She bounces the ball and then she looks up, and then she looks back down and bounces the ball more. So then you’re like looking behind you, like, did she just see something? But that’s her favorite, that’s her serving routine. So let’s just say pet peeve weird serving routines.Michelle: 9:12

Well, and people are ritualistic. I mean, it’s really funny. I mean, you know, you can I can actually like visualize people that I know, and then it makes me go, wonder what I do that. Right. Yeah. I know what I do. Here’s a pet peeve of my own. Oh. About myself again. I don’t know if you’re like, Yeah, let’s do our own pet peeves about ourselves. But we okay, I’m my number one. Again, I’ve mentioned hitting the ball and have it not stay in the court, but um so I must have been like a lab rat in a previous life or whatever. I will not sometimes run the shortest distance to get to a ball. I catch myself running with I’m such a rule follower. I run on the line like the line leader. I run with the lines like Pat Man or like I don’t I don’t understand what what I’m doing. Oh, you can’t go diagonal? She doesn’t go occasionally. It’s not all the time, thank God, but I will catch myself going. I’m going to go to make a right turn and I’m gonna follow the road. I mean, like it’s uh it’s just the weirdest thing.Erin: 10:17

I know that Aaron’s seen it, but you you’ve said it so many times when we play, it’s just fine.Michelle: 10:22

I don’t know if anybody notices it, but yeah.Erin: 10:24

I make more like a huge horseshoe. Like instead of going directly to the ball, I like to run a little bit backwards and then in a big you know loop. Or but um, I’ll tell you my pet peeve of myself, and it’s Carolyn’s pet peeve as well. Not about me, but about people in general, is uh yeah, just talking too much. Sometimes I’m like, I like people so much, I just chit-chat with people. But you’re genuine, and then I get their phone number after, and then I’m then they’re then I’ll hit with them at some point. Best friends, then we’ll end up on a team together.Carolyn: 10:52

But but they like you, they they like the chit-chat.Erin: 10:55

But I have to think now sometimes, like there are a lot of people like Carolyn that maybe they don’t want to hear me talking.Carolyn: 11:01

Yeah, but you also recognize when someone doesn’t want to.Erin: 11:04

But I also don’t mind being friendly with someone, like I don’t think we’re friends right away, like being friendly with someone on the court, maybe between you know, talking about kids or what restaurant we’re going to after whatever. But um, but I also don’t anymore, the more I’ve played, that doesn’t make me feel guilty if I beat them. Where I think, Carolyn, that’s what you’ve said. Like, you don’t want to be friendly with someone because then you’re like, well, we’re friends. And then if they call a ball of yours out, then you’re mad at them, or you or I don’t want them to be mad at me because I don’t feel that way. Like I’m just friendly and then I go right back to tennis.Michelle: 11:38

But I still want them to like me. And I want to and I want them to think I make but I still want to beat them. Right. And I want them to think I I make good calls, and I like and I think that they do. I mean, but you’re genuine and honest person. And and you’re not being nice for strategy. I think that’s so heartbreaking, especially to friendly chatterbugs like myself and you know, I mean, we I like to chit-chat. Um, but I try I I do try to curb it a little bit because I do feel like it distracts me too. It’s not just them. It actually distracts me, but I want them to know it’s genuine. I’m not trying there’s no like thought into it. Yeah.Erin: 12:16

Um supposed to be a social outlet for us. So we’re trying to make it social, but we do need to curb it sometimes.Carolyn: 12:22

And I don’t mind talking. It’s just I know I’m gonna lose if I do it. Yeah, I just don’t, I’m not in that mindset anymore. And then it’s just um, I think I’m just easily distracted. So Mike explained to me that I do something weird, which I normally played a lot of doubles before, but now I’m playing singles. And I’ll ask my opponent if they mind holding the third ball. And he told me that was crazy. He was like, Why do you do that? And I was like, Well, I’ve always done that, and I’m happy to hold their ball. And he’s he said he has never done that before. He’s like, I’m not their ball boy.Erin: 12:59

I think that’s crazy. I never thought about being it’s just a matter of like I don’t want to hold all three, and it’s and if if I need an extra ball, I can ask that person to like you know hit it over to me.Michelle: 13:14

That’s a good yeah, that’s a good point about even in doubles, you know, if you pick up a ball and then they clearly have two balls, so you just stick the third in your pocket. Yeah, is the prep are you supposed to hit it back?Erin: 13:26

That’s true.Michelle: 13:27

Because I I mean sometimes it seems like people are like hell bent on hitting it back to you and they’re not gonna hold the third one. But is that like is it rude for you to not do it?Erin: 13:38

And I just read the room on that, right? Like some people to some people a um, I really do ask people, Carolyn, in mostly in singles that comes up because again, I’m like, I can’t hold all three.Carolyn: 13:49

Yeah, I always hold the my doubles teammate, and he said he does too, but it’s just in singles. But when I asked a woman recently, it you know, she’d hold my ball, I could tell she was a little bit like no.Erin: 14:00

And then when I was like a ball girl.Carolyn: 14:02

And then when I started winning, she stopped holding it. Like she would hit it back. And so it’s hilarious. So I thought I was like, can you believe that?Erin: 14:09

He’s like, You asked someone to hold your ball. That’s so funny. I never thought about it, but I’m going to from now on. I’m just gonna I’m gonna hold two and I’m gonna put the other one somewhere else.Michelle: 14:19

What is it, four ounces? Like, take it down a notch. Like it’s a little, that’s a little. I think it’s more of a psychopath to not. I I don’t know, like, what are you supposed to do with it?Erin: 14:30

I think that’s the difference between men and women playing. Yeah, there’s a lot of huge differences. That’s all about the podcast.Michelle: 14:37

Do they leave and go?Erin: 14:38

Can you believe that she had the nerve nerve?Michelle: 14:44

Probably.Carolyn: 14:45

Thanks again to Aaron and Michelle for discussing this. I think it was really beneficial for me to hear the things that bother them because it makes me become more aware that even though people may do things that bother me, I most likely do a number of things that bother them. We hope you’ll check out our website, which is secondservodcast.com. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.