I've found often in badminton as with other racquet sports sometimes players say thank you if they get a free point from a fault serve. I'm sure many of the players who do this are just being playful, and I don't have an issue with this being done in and of itself. I choose not to say this, as I'm concerned that players who don't know me really well would at least wonder if I'm doing this as mind games, to get under their skin. I do think some players are doing this to try and get under the opponents' skin though. What do you think?
If it was at a club night and I knew everyone who was playing (and they were friendly nice people) then I do similar IF they do it first. If it's vs strangers or a league match environment then I would not say thank you if they served into the net
I’m with you on that. In an environment where you’re playing l with strangers or just acquaintances it would probably come across as being sarcastic if not rude. Courtesy should still be practiced in the court won’t you say?
Just like a lot of things, if you know someone well, you make jokes between yourselves that you don’t do with people that you first meet or don’t know well.
You could also get into the issue of people who yell out in celebration when their opponent fault serves. I don't do that, though I would make an exception if it happened on match point, since the match is over.
Sort of half half on this depending on the situation. If I know they have hit out or into the net because of the psychological pressure I have placed on them in previous rallies, then I might yell out (not really loudly). However, near the beginning of the the game and it’s obviously an unforced error, I wouldn’t say anything.
