How to Deal with Cheating in Junior Tennis

It’s rare for me to go through a junior tennis weekend without having to hear one of my players discuss their opponents line calls. We record almost every match, so we get to see if their opponent’s call was correct. Sometimes they were. Sometimes they weren’t.

What’s always going to be the case is there’s nothing that can be done about the call. Once the call has been made, it’s done. You’ll never be able to overturn it without a referee physically present to overrule your opponent’s call.

Electronic line calling is in the future (hurry up SwingVision), but for now, kids have to accept the line calls their opponents make, no matter how wrong the call might have been.

So the most important thing becomes learning how to deal with the call once it’s been made.

And this is emotionally difficult.

The sport is already one of the most difficult ones for kids to compete in because they’re alone on the court. No one can help them deal with situations, or calm them down. They have to do it on their own. So when you have teenage kids going through puberty, feeling like they were just cheated, it’s going to be difficult for them to keep their focus, and maintain a high level of play.

Hopefully, the following advice can help kids, and even college players (yes they make their own calls too), handle these unavoidable situations.

Get a referee.

Getting a referee is a start, but let’s be honest, it can only do so much. Most of them have to monitor so many courts, so they won’t stay long. The bad line calls will be stopped for only a short period of time. Also, most of them are on the older side of life, so they’re going to miss some calls anyway. Finally, it’s hard to see every single call, and especially the far sideline when you’re simply standing. The best view is from a chair, and even then, once juniors get to a level where they’re hitting at a fast pace, it’s hard to track everything.

So at the bare minimum, go get a referee immediately, but don’t expect too much.

Don’t use the word cheat. Say your opponent made a mistake.

Whether your opponent purposely cheated you, or simply made a mistake doesn’t matter. You’ve lost the point regardless. What matters now is how you feel about the situation.

The way you feel will directly impact how you think, which will then impact how you play. And when you believe you were purposely cheated, you’re going to get more upset than if you were to believe your opponent is a good person that made an honest mistake. So if you want to put yourself in the best mental state possible for the next point, go get a referee while telling yourself your opponent made an honest mistake, and you need a referee because it looks like they need help with their calls.

I know this sounds cheesy, but it’s better than thinking you’re playing the biggest cheater in junior tennis, and completely losing your mind, and then losing the match.

How sure are you that you saw your shot land in?

Reviewing match film is an important part of my job, so I get a good look at most of the calls in a match. I’ve had more than a few situations where a player swears they were cheated, but after reviewing the film, they realized they were wrong. The opponent made the correct call.

So before you lose your mind on a line call, remind yourself there’s a chance you saw it wrong.

Very important though, this shouldn’t prevent you from getting a referee. If you’re unsure about your opponent’s calls, get a referee, but you’re getting them just so you can be sure about future calls, not because you think you’re opponent is a cheater.

If they’re consistently making bad calls against you, they don’t believe they can beat you straight up. Take confidence in that.

No need to add more to that.

You don’t lose matches because of bad calls.

Bad line calls are a small percentage of a match. Instead of complaining about losing a set or a match because of bad line calls, you have to ask yourself:

Why were you in a position where you were playing such an important point against your opponent in the first place? For example, if you’re at Ad-Out, how did you lose all those previous points? Or why if it’s 5-5 in the game score, how did you lose 5 games? Or why are you down a set and it’s 4 all now and you desperately need every point?

Keep your focus on the things that are really holding you back. You’re more than likely not encountering 40 bad line calls in a match, yet you might be encountering 40 unforced errors. Focus on the unforced errors. Not the 3 bad line calls.

Tell your opponent on a changeover that you forgive them for their line calls.

Tell them some version of the following:

“I forgive you for the mistakes you’re making when calling the lines. The pressure you must feel to win must be horrible. This is just a game. If you want to talk about it after the match, just let me know.”

You’ll catch them so off guard, it will throw them off.

Kids who are knowingly making bad line calls are expecting you to get upset. Heck, they want you to get upset, so you can spiral out of control, and they can win more easily. You showing empathy and kindness to them will throw them off, and might make them play worse.

Just don’t show empathy and kindness while you’re in the middle of a point, or by holding off on getting a referee. Go get a referee, and maintain the eye of the tiger for the rest of the match.

Be empathetic while getting a referee.

Following up on the kindness and empathy from my previous point, if someone is consistently making bad line calls against you, and you’re 100% sure of it, be empathetic towards them. The pressure they must feel from the environment they’re growing up in must be awful. We’re all a product of the environment we’re in. Kids don’t have a choice over who their parents are, what school they go to, and often times who they even train with.

Ultimately, they have limited control over the external pressures to win that are being placed on them. Every kid just wants to be happy. They’re just trying to figure out HOW to be happy.

So be empathetic to them. Kids making bad line calls on purpose are struggling internally. So WHILE YOU’RE GETTING A REFEREE, be empathetic.

Again, I know this sounds cheesy, but we have to keep ourselves in a strong state of mind. If we’re focused on our opponent cheating us, we’re going to get upset, and it’s going to be hard to maintain focus. However, if we’re empathetic towards our opponent, we're going to be calmer, therefore it will be easier to stay focused on the task at hand.

Cheating back.

This one I’m not a fan of, however, in rare circumstances, I can understand it. Sometimes, we have to stand up for ourselves.

The problem for most kids, is they’re not capable of the backlash that comes with making bad line calls on purpose.

First, how sure are you that your opponent made a bad line call against you? Because you better be a million percent certain they’re making bad calls on purpose if you’re going to cheat back.

Ok, let’s say you’re a million percent sure, and it’s happening in an egregious manner. Consider the following:

Once you make a bad line call back, your opponent will think you’re a cheater. Their parents will think you’re a cheater. Their coach, and anyone else who’s watching will think you’re a cheater. And they’re going to tell all their friends and anyone who will listen (unless they’ve read this blog of course).

Are you ready to handle that? Can you push that aside and not care because deep down you know you’re not a cheater? And that you were just standing up for yourself?

Most kids can’t do that. They want to stand up to themselves, but still care what everyone else thinks of them. I’ve seen kids attempt to cheat back, but the guilt they feel immediately is so strong, they actually play worse.

Finally, by making a bad line call back on purpose to send a message to your opponent, you take another big risk: the bad line calls only get worse.

Rather than stopping what they were doing, your opponent now feels justified and will take it to another level. Now what? The match just got nastier. You’re now being called a cheater, and your plan backfired. Now what?

You have to get a ref anyways.

So be careful with handling things this way. It’s a delicate situation.

Parents, you’re part of the solution.

The way you discuss these situations with your child is extremely important. If you’re always talking about cheating this, and cheating that, and everyone’s a cheater……..guess what your child is going think? And guess how they’re going to handle the situation during a match?

Yup, like they’re being cheated.

And when they feel like they were cheated, they’ll be angry.

But when they feel like their opponent simply made a mistake, they’ll be a bit calmer.

And most players do better when they’re calmer, not when they’re angry.

So if you’re a parent, and you want to help your child be calmer, be mindful of how you talk to your kids about these situations.

Also, when you talk about cheating all the time, it ruins the enjoyment of the sport. There isn’t a single sport out there doesn’t have any issues with calls, fouls, or penalties being made. The only difference in tennis is that for the most part, the decision maker is the player, whereas in other sports it’s the referee.

Yet in tennis, there’s this running conversation from many parents that the majority of kids are cheaters, referees are useless, and they consider pulling their kids out of tennis. And they have these conversations in front of their kids!

Do you think those kids are going to be very excited about the sport they’re playing?! NO!

So please, parents, you have to be a role model and a leader for your child. 99% of kids are not cheaters, yet 100% of kids make mistakes. Yup, that includes your child. I’ve seen even the most honest of kids make a mistake, and swear they didn’t, until they see it on the video. And then they feel horrible about it.

No one’s perfect. Everyone is trying their best. Trying to find ways to be happy, and trying to enjoy their tennis. Teach your child that.