Do Your Opponent's Line Calls Drive You Nuts?


Every pickleball player has been the "victim" of a bad line call.

Whether it's in rec play or in a tournament, everyone who plays pickleball has had this experience.

Your opponent calls a ball out which you were "sure" was in!

It can be unnerving.

Especially in a tournament!

Especially on a make or break point!

Do you watch pro pickleball, either the PPA or MLP?

Have you seen line calls challenged?

They then do a video review.

And on the video replay, in slow motion, can you always tell correctly whether the ball was in or out?

There are times, I'm sure the ball was in, yet the replay, and the software system they use show the red dot - OUT!

There are other times the ball certainly looks out, even on the replay, yet the software system shows the green dot - IN!

So, not only do the pros make mistakes on their calls, so do the announcers when watching the replays.

And so do I, even when watching the replays.

And so do you!

Therefore, should I get so worked up about my opponent's "cheating" in a game when I'm not always right even about calls on slow motion replay on Pickleball TV?

Probably not!

And have you seen these types of photos (like the one below) showing how line calls of the same ball on the same line look so different depending on the viewer's angle of view?

It is clear that you, nor I, nor even the pros, are always right about line calls.

So, what's the message?

 1.  Allow your opponents to make the calls on their side of the net.

 2.  You make the calls on your side of the net.

 3.  Be as honest as you can in your calls.

 4.  Play questionable balls as "in" because that's the rule.

 5.  Understand that there will be calls made that you are sure are wrong. It's alright! It doesn't mean they have to be cheating. 

 6.  Don't let the frustration of a "wrong" call spill over into losing the next point or two. Flush it!  Let it go!

Remember the photo below the next time you are so sure what you saw.