Don’t tug on superman’s cape and don’t spit in the wind, and let me add one more-never kick an opponent when she or he is down-never! The object is to win the game(with all due respect to Former coach Herm Edwards) so if you are up in a tie-breaker do not rub it in.
Three stories-1-watched a National Match years ago and the top seed had a guy down 8-4 in the breaker and began talking smack to that athlete. I remember thinking-“not a good idea” and the guy who was down 4-8 and was ready to give up but after the trash talking he dug deep and came back and won.
Story two-Years ago I mentored a young doubles partner who was a good player. He was like 19 at the time and I was 36 and he had me big in the second game after winning the first. In my mind I was done and was rehearsing my conciliatory speech to him when his father yelled from the crowd, “You’ve got the old man now!” So I went from “good match, you beat me” to “Hell no!”
I came back and won that game and yelled, “see you in the breaker, Kid!” Won the match-and no way I would have won the match if the father would have just kept quiet.
A more recent famous incident occurred at a pro stop when a player who shall remain nameless had an injury and was down 2 games to one and behind in game four. The opponent made fun of them which was a bad thing to do. Back came the athlete and down went the guy who made fun of him!
The moral of the story-the object is to win. Be humble! Therefore-never kick an opponent when they are down-it just might be enough to wake them up!