Annoying Situation - Bathroom Breaks!

Has your opponent ever taken a really long bathroom break? Did you think it was a strategy?

Dave and Tom are back to discuss this and more! They are both NTRP 3.0s, who have been to states and sectionals numerous times.  Please check out their previous episodes about annoying situations that happen on the court at: Annoying Situations on the Court - Part 1 and Annoying Situations on the Court - Part 2.

Use our referral link to get a FREE Swing Stick ($100 value) with your first year of SwingVision Pro. Hurry this is a limited time offer that you won't want to miss!

We are excited to team up with Michelle from Tennis Warehouse and her "Talk Tennis" podcast to bring you a "TW Tip of the Week!" Use the code SECONDSERVE to get $20 off clearance apparel when you spend $100 or more.

If you would like to see pictures of our guests or listen to any of our previous episodes, please visit our website https://secondservepodcast.com. You can search for any topic that you're interested in and find an episode about it. We also have information about ratings, rules, tennis gear and more on our "Resources" page.  Thanks so much for listening!

Transcript

Carolyn: 0:07

Hi, this is Carolyn, and I'm here with Erin, and we really appreciate Tom and Dave being back again for this episode. In our two previous episodes we discussed annoying situations that happened on the court, but in this episode I tell everyone what I do on the court that is annoying according to my husband, Also at the end you will hear from Tom's wife named Kirsten, who also plays tennis and had a story to add. So here it is.

Tom: 0:33

Hi, carolyn, you said you had another one more specific about your play. What was it?

Erin: 0:37

Oh yeah, what do you do, that's annoying.

Carolyn: 0:40

So a lot of times when it's hot outside, between the first and second set, when I lose, I go to the bathroom and a lot of times I change clothes and my husband watched me play one time and I went. I lost the first set and I went to the bathroom and I changed my clothes and I went as fast as I could, but it takes a while. You're all sticky and sweaty.

Carolyn: 0:59

And everything like that. And after the match he said hey, you're taking way too long, they probably think it's strategy. And it's really not strategy for me. It's just hot outside and I'm changing clothes and so I've played with both Dave and Tom. I don't think I did it with Dave because I think at that point my husband had already said like, hey, your opponent's probably thinking some sort of strategy, but with Tom I did it. Did you notice that? Did you think it was strange?

Tom: 1:30

I did not, but I will tell you in a match.

Dave: 1:32

As soon as a woman says I got to go to the bathroom, I check out, right, I don't really want to the details.

Carolyn: 1:39

That's funny. How about you, erin? Does that bother you Like, when it either your opponent or anyone?

Erin: 1:46

It doesn't bother me with you, because I know you do it and I'm used to it, and I think we've played before too where I say she needed to go to the restroom or she's going to change, and if you say it to someone it's kind of one of those things. If they understand, if the expectation is set, then they're like, oh okay, no big deal. But if someone just disappears, maybe it's different in singles, unless you say like I'm going to change and make an announcement, not that it's anybody's business. But I have felt like when I go to other. I mean, our bathrooms aren't super close at our club compared to our courts, but there are some where they're even a little bit further away.

Erin: 2:26

But I have felt like at other clubs in our area players will take long bathroom breaks between sets, especially if they probably 90% of the time if they've lost that first set, whether they're just taking a walk to think about it, whether they're sneaking off to talk to a pro which I don't know how many people actually do that I don't even care to tell you the truth, some people do and they want to follow them, you know, like, because I actually think coaching should be allowed in adult rec tennis. But so I don't know. It bothers me sometimes because we are on a time crunch in a sense of like. We can't be out there all day. It's adult rec tennis. We usually have an hour or two, an hour and a half or two. You know, you can't just go leisurely walking off for 15 minutes to take a bathroom break.

Dave: 3:10

But if it's really hot you're leaving the other people out there in the sun to bake a little bit. But I don't know if I've ever been in a men's match where someone, a guy, left the court to go to the bathroom.

Tom: 3:20

I have I was in the doubles matches many years ago and we're winning and one of the opponents from another club we're at the home match and he says, oh, I'm really sorry, and he runs off like we've got a serious problem, but we're not talking like five minutes, we're not talking 10. It was more than 20. It was forever. When you're just sitting there waiting yes.

Tom: 3:44

And I think they came back after we were winning and it changed the momentum of. You know, and that's the shame of the whole thing is you've got momentum and rhythm, it's working, and then it's like starting over.

Erin: 3:58

So the exact same thing happened to Carolyn and I this summer, where we had lost the first set but we're up significantly in the second and our opponents had to had a stomach issue and she went to the bathroom for 20 minutes. Right, carolyn, it was a long time and, darned, did they not come back? Did she not walk back on the court? And then they got us to like a set tiebreaker, and then, of course, we had to do a match tiebreaker, but it completely changed the momentum and she was gone. It was no less than 15 to 20 minutes, yeah, and what do you say? It's not like. I know there's a rule. There's definitely like a bathroom break, or I don't know. Maybe there's not. I'm learning that in the pros now.

Tom: 4:36

There's not a time limit. There's a rule that allows you, and I think this year the pro tennis has changed the city pass rule. They are yeah, and they are now limiting it. You know, if it's bad for business will change.

Erin: 4:54

Well, it definitely happened to us and it worked. Luckily we won that match and it was phenomenal. But it was just kind of a bummer, that. And then we doubted or were like, did she really have a stomach issue? Or it was the strategy, and then you start to not respect someone. If that's, if the case was like I just need to go away for 20 minutes to get you off your game, then that's not a respectable way to change the course of the match. But then we were like, do we question her being sick too? Are we the jerks?

Carolyn: 5:22

I just think there should be a rule. You get 10 minutes, use it as you want to leave the court and everybody gets this time Like we're gonna change, we're gonna get rules changed yeah.

Tom: 5:30

I don't know. I mean, the last thing I would want to do if I was playing poorly was spend 20 minutes in my own head. Not help me at all, because you don't like to do that.

Erin: 5:41

Right, exactly.

Carolyn: 5:43

Okay, anything else. Aaron, do you guys have anything? Just kirsten in the background. No, I Kirsten.

Dave: 5:47

What's annoying about?

Carolyn: 5:48

men's tennis everything.

Dave: 5:51

I seriously had a stomach issue during yeah match, during yeah six five, and I had to say I need to use the restroom and it was a set break. And I'm sorry, I apologize.

Tom: 6:09

How did, how did your opponents?

Dave: 6:10

They were fine, they were just lovely.

Erin: 6:13

See if you set the expectation.

Dave: 6:15

And that's how we were with ours too. It's a good thing you weren't playing against Aaron, and they just kept saying are you okay, are you okay, I'm fine, I'm fine, let's play. We ended up losing in a match tiebreak, but the plan was I really I mean I and it could, that could.

Erin: 6:34

But I, that's what I'm saying.

Dave: 6:36

I ran. It was at our club, I ran up.

Erin: 6:40

I was probably back in four minutes yeah but yeah, and that's what I'm saying like we don't know, like you hate to feel Like the person doubting yeah, doubting someone that they're sick or not, but then it also like significantly changed the momentum of the match. So then it was like, well, they was that strategy, so it's, it's not good on either side.

Carolyn: 7:01

There needs to be a room. Yeah, and I actually had it where I went. This was a really long singles match and I went to the bathroom before between the first and second set and when I got back the woman then said she had to go to the bathroom and I thought we always went together, she. But I was like that's great, because I need to rest, like I was thinking in my mind like I ran around 20 back in time and you're gonna.

Carolyn: 7:31

Yeah, I was like great, I need to sit down at rest, maybe we need that strategy if we lose the first set we just I'll, I'll go you go, then you get back.

Tom: 7:39

I'll go 20 minutes each.

Carolyn: 7:45

Thanks again to Dave and Tom. I really believe there should be some sort of role Regarding the amount of time you can be off the court to go to the bathroom or change clothes or do whatever you need to do. I mean, no one in a basketball game is ever getting upset because someone went to the bathroom. But let us know what you think. You can message us on our website, which is second serve podcastcom. You can also listen to our two previous episodes regarding annoying situations on the court. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.

Dave: 8:42

You.