Tonight was the first time I've ever called someone on a center line foot fault.
This is a progressive doubles league. Twice in a row my opponent went over the center line trying to hit right down the line against my partner returning serve. I had never seen this guy, against whom I've now played about ten or twelve times, serve from that spot on the court. It's an odd spot for doubles service when your partner is not poaching at all. This league doesn't have players who switch sides after the serve or who serve and volley.
His first serve, he steps smack dab on the center line while serving. His serve was long, but I let him know he went over. On his second serve, he does the exact same thing, so I call a foot fault. I'm not returning the serve, so I see it very clearly. My partner doesn't question it because he saw it too.
My opponent gets mad that I called a foot fault, claiming he would never step across the center line. He claimed that what I initially told him, "you went over the line", meant to him that he went over the baseline and he wouldn't think I was saying he was going over the center line.
Was I wrong to call a foot fault on a doubles service where having those extra inches is an advantage to the person doing it? What should I have said differently to ensure he understood I meant he went over the center line?
I'm the kind of player who hates calling close lines calls out, so I felt a little bad afterward, but I also think you gotta play within the rules, especially when you've already been told about it not but a minute earlier.