Quiz Time... what is the tennis equivalent to the "gimme putt" in golf? I think it would be the foot fault. This broken rule is about as common as forgetting the score, which at my age is about as common as wrinkles.
Being about 5' 10" in my K-Swiss shoes, I discovered the other day that while I am not tall enough to see over the net when my oponent is serving, I can see through the net and under the tape and get a good look at his or her feet while serving.
This is the first time I have seen it while playing. "Ah-- take two, looked like you foot faulted" I said. I said it about a minute later again. I felt like a cretin, but c'mon, it's breaking a rule. And if I had really wanted to, I could have called it about 5-10 more times. It began to bother me so much I stopped looking for it. And we are not talking about stepping on the line, but across it, into the court before contact was made.
That was Monday. When I played the same person Wednesday, a mere 2 days later, he wasn't foot faulting. I watched for it maybe for 5 serves and nope. His motion had changed. After about his 3rd or 4th service game he said to me, "have you noticed my feet on my serve today?"
"Yeah, the front one isn't moving - no foot faults."
"I discovered that if I keep my front foot planted, it gives me better stability and I can also control the direction better."
Did you catch that? With one day of practice, my friend was able to retrain his body and his muscle memory and make a change that not only complied with the rules, but also resulted with a better stroke.
Now if we could just get the other 12 million recreational players who regularly foot fault to do this.
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