# tennis (1 Viewer)



## Jack of all trades (Oct 14, 2017)

I'm thinking of using tennis in my next book. I want to have someone pretending to be a pro tennis player being impersonated. So I'm trying to think of clues that would give away the impersonation. Any suggestions? What about the wrong number of games? Or getting the score wrong?

Thanks!


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## Pluralized (Oct 14, 2017)

Maybe if they kept droning on about how good they were, or brought that shit up when it wasn't really germane to the conversation. 

Or if you said "33-Love" randomly and they don't try to correct you, that might be a dead giveaway.


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## Jack of all trades (Oct 16, 2017)

I'm looking for a series of clues. The first makes the MC suspicious, and ending with something obvious, like your 33-love suggestion.


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## SueC (Oct 16, 2017)

Well, I'm sitting here by myself laughing - here's my thought. Have them try to pull balls out of their underwear. (did you laugh?) I was thinking of how the girls tuck tennis balls under their skirts and pull them out effortlessly. Or making a comment and then swinging an arm like they are hitting a ball backhanded. Wearing only white. Weaving back and forth. Still smiling . . .


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## Bloggsworth (Oct 16, 2017)

If you're going to that unsubtle it's going to be a very short story as his ruse would be rumbled in the first chapter. When you say "Impersonating" do you mean adopting the look, voice and mannerisms of an actual tennis player, or is your man masquerading as a professional tennis player, and more importantly, in what company is he playing the part? Other tennis players? Rich socialites? The man in the local pub? Who exactly, is he trying to con?


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## Jack of all trades (Oct 16, 2017)

I'm thinking it'll be a sports convention, maybe. Not just tennis. Or maybe something else. The con artist is trying to blend in with a group and pretending to be a pro tennis player, nothing very high, just a few local tournaments from another area, so not easily checked, and the MC notices inconsistencies, then lays verbal traps to expose the fraud.


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## Bloggsworth (Oct 16, 2017)

Less blatent might be to have the con-man wear an item of clothing from a company which no longer makes professional grade tennis racquets, say Dunlop. He could then be asked "_Oh, I see that you're sponsored by Dunlop/Puma/Slazenger_." When he answers in the affirmative...


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## Jack of all trades (Oct 16, 2017)

I don't know much about tennis matches on the lower level. I believe men play more sets than women, but is that true for local tournaments, or only big ones like Wimbledon?


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## Pluralized (Oct 17, 2017)

I think the wise tennis great Andre Agassi once said, “Only two types of people wear sunglasses indoors. Blind people, and assholes.”


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## VonBradstein (Oct 22, 2017)

Jack,

I can’t help but be curious but I am interested as to why? It sounds like you don’t necessarily care for tennis and last time I checked it wasn’t the most dramatic sport. Why this one? Just curious.

Anyway, yeah men and women usually play the same number of sets outside of the grand slams.


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## Jack of all trades (Oct 22, 2017)

The fact that it's not all that popular makes it ideal. If the character chose soccer or baseball, more people might figure out he's faking. Tennis, on the other hand, doesn't have the same numbers of fans, making identification of the deception less likely.


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## VonBradstein (Oct 22, 2017)

Gotcha. Sounds good. I just hear tennis story and think of that godawful Kirstin Dunst movie. 

I would be interested to know the motivations for the scam as tennis is not a widely gambled-upon game and Federer aside, most players don’t earn all that much from sponsorships, etc so I assume not money? Is he just a lunatic? 

I’ll tell you one thing that would give it away - every other game or something (not sure) they switch ends and occasionally take a banana break on the chairs at the sidelines. As a casual viewer I never know how they know when to do this. That could be a potential giveaway and a little more interesting than just getting scoring wrong (which isn’t that hard)




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## Jack of all trades (Oct 22, 2017)

There's no gambling or actual playing involved. If the character had to actually play, the game would be up immediately! No. The deception is simpler. Just blending in with sports players at a convention.

Actually, I'm working on something else right now and have put this one on a back burner. But thanks for the input. It might get used someday.


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## Pluralized (Oct 22, 2017)

Some tennis players, pros even, sometimes have a flurry of matches and then fade into oblivion, likely never realizing their folly as relates to the volley. I wager this occurs mainly in tennis players whose biological gender doesn’t align with their categorical gender of play. 

Luckily, with the relative obscurity of tennis as a sport, there’s no need to decide which. 

Infinite Jest might supply more than a couple of clues to that whole travesty, by the way.


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## VonBradstein (Oct 22, 2017)

Jack of all trades said:


> There's no gambling or actual playing involved. If the character had to actually play, the game would be up immediately! No. The deception is simpler. Just blending in with sports players at a convention.
> 
> Actually, I'm working on something else right now and have put this one on a back burner. But thanks for the input. It might get used someday.



Ah, okay. 

See my idea with it was that the faker would actually be a very decent tennis player but whether by hard luck or circumstance was never able to fulfill his dream of making it and had never played a competitive game (perhaps he’s disadvantaged? Tennis is extremely expensive due to the traveling and training) so he decides to concoct a plan to have a famous player murdered (definite antihero) and then appropriate his identity due to happening to have a startling resemblance, and it works out.


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## Jack of all trades (Oct 23, 2017)

VonBradstein said:


> Ah, okay.
> 
> See my idea with it was that the faker would actually be a very decent tennis player but whether by hard luck or circumstance was never able to fulfill his dream of making it and had never played a competitive game (perhaps he’s disadvantaged? Tennis is extremely expensive due to the traveling and training) so he decides to concoct a plan to have a famous player murdered (definite antihero) and then appropriate his identity due to happening to have a startling resemblance, and it works out.
> 
> ...




I'll let you use it, then. It wouldn't work with the rest of my plot.


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