I experienced a first in TT tonight after about 40 years of playing the game. It wasn't a pleasant experience either.
I'm playing a regular Thursday night match against a lady in her 60's who is also an old hand at the game. I'd never played her before, but found her awkward as she took the ball directly off the bounce most the time and hit deep to the corners quickly with normal rubbers both sides. She was an unusual player and would get more angle than you'd often expect. I was beating her, but the games were very tight. In fact the first 4 sets went 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10. She has gotten more than her fair share of nets but its part of the game and I'd gotten a couple. I'm not phased by this as I consider it part of the game. In the 5th set she got 3 or 4 balls hit the net on her FH drives and then hit the back corner on my FH. As the score went to something like 8-7 her way from one of these I commented how a lot of people hit the net and go long, but hers hit the end of the table....it was friendly banter, no malice, and we'd had other instances of it in the game...like when I got a net, she said "your turn now". Anyway, before I finished what I was saying while I fetched the ball a spectator yells in a very angry voice "Stop complaining and play the game ya bloody girl". I was taken aback. I looked and saw an old guy in his 70's was the culprit. He immediately got my dander and I yelled back at him to shut up as you are not part of this game. The entire hall stopped wondering what was going on. t settled down immediately and people went on with their games.
His outburst had put me in an angry mood, and I was damned if I would let it affect me winning the game. In fact it had the reverse effect and I beat her 12-10 in this last set. I apologised to the lady for my fire back at him and asked if he was a friend of hers. She said he was her partner under her breath (and looked very sheepish about it). I actually had to ask her to repeat what she said as I couldn't make it out the first time
This old guy has never played at our club and the lady is new to the club the last 2 seasons, although I think she may have played there before my time (last 10 years). I went to the old bloke calmly and said to him I'd played him many years ago at a Vets tournament (and beat him lol) and thought he was alright, but before I could get anything on an even keel with him he abused me further saying he was an International Umpire and I don't play within the rules as "I talk during the rallies", which could not be further from the truth. I love friendly banter between points, but I do not speak in a rally, ever (unless there's an involuntary sound for a ball I think I've hit long and it lands). But this guy just wanted to be an a$$hole. I could have said things like "well an International Umpire should know better than to abuse a player as a spectator". Instead I just walked away from him as I could see he was an unreasonable person.
Many people asked me what the shouting was about later on and when I told them the story they all said they'd have responded the same way to him. I can't say I enjoyed the experience or ever desire to have someone carry on that way at me again.
I still don't know why he decided to have this outburst, except that his partner has won most her games and I was beating her (she was just 2 matches behind me as leading player before tonight, but my partner beat her too
) But if he was trying to put me off, he went about it all wrong! 
), and was told, in a manner of speaking, to be aggressive and actually smash. Do you think I paid any notice?