Assaulted by doubles partner - would you take further?

Why is patting on the back or head absolutely fine but patting on the bum something that should involve the police?

I would genuinely prefer to be patted on the bum than the other two places (I hate having my head touched by other people and anything can trigger a bad back for me).

Don't you need to have some contact with team mates in team sport to show camaraderie?

Report him. Hopefully whatever follows will help him learn not to ‘forget himself’ again.

This doesn’t make it ok.

Op was made to feel uncomfortable.

100% report him to the club!! Verbally and in writing.

State that this is wholly unacceptable, and you expect this member to be spoken to immediately. Any further unwanted touch of this kind may merit police involvement.

Make it clear this man is a pest.

Report it to the club.
Someone (a friend) did this to me some 25 yrs ago and I couldn't speak to them for a month. I get it.

I’d have a word with the club and I’d refuse to partner him.

It's VERY common in men's sports.

Watch any World Cup game. EVERY player does it.

I don't think it is overkill. If he thinks this is OK, what else does he think is OK? It could be that he just a stupid man, it could be that this is indicative of a wider pattern of behaviour. If the latter, having this incident on record might be useful one day.

Report it if you want.
The butt slap in sport is a universal gesture of comeraderie. Watch the world cup. He will definitely be doing this to male partners too, unless you actively think he is a pervert.

@Katiew29
Another one here to say and official report to the club is absolutely necessary because under UK law he did commit an offence and he may babe done this to other women. It takes a village of women sometimes to deal appropriately with behaviour like this as we have all seen in recent cases. Think about the young women and girls who maybe more vulnerable. this man doesn’t just play tennis he lives in a community outside of the tennis club.

No excuses for not knowing laws of the country and Unless this man is 100 years old and lives under a rock he must know we have come a long way for him to find excuses for his behaviour. But even the fact that you are here questioning what you should do makes me think perhaps we have not come far enough as women to take action. It is all well and good that some strong women and men campaign for laws to protect us and many of us wonder if breaking those laws are reportable.

She said he slaps men's bottoms all the time?

I wouldn’t do anything except ask him not to do it again. I think there’s a lot of over reacting going on here. Sorry OP but I think it’s important to get a balance of answers not the MN hysteria

They do at football when they get subbed on or off

Absolutely report him, to the club and the police!
These disgusting men, who think they have a right to do that, then laugh it off, need to be bought to account.
We put up with it in the 80s, thankfully times have moved on, it’s no longer acceptable behaviour.

At the very least they can monitor his behaviour in future

How many chances should he get, do you think, at non consensually touching people before anyone does anything about it?

……and he does it all the time, but usually to male partners

BULLSHIT. He is not slapping men’s bottoms on a regular basis.
Report the prick to the police.
Ask them if you should report it to the club - they may say leave it to them.

Not sure what I’d do here but I did comment to OH this week when watching the football that literally every time a player is substituted someone or several people slap them on the bum as they’re leaving the pitch or going over to the dugout bit. It seems really weird and creepy but I assume is such a ‘standard’ sport thing to happen no one comments?

this is NOT an excuse for what this guy did and I’d be furious too - but it is possible he isn’t a total lech in this instance (which doesn’t make it any better really but would make me feel a bit differently about it I guess).

I would have just exploded at him when it happened and told him that if he did it again I would report him to the club. Seems like overkill to take it further.

Yes, I’d report it, both to the club and the police. If it’s a proper club, not just some mates who play sport together, they should have a safeguarding policy and procedures to follow for this sort of thing. I’d ask to see it. Realistically, the police may not take it beyond having a word, but I know if I was his wife I’d sure like to know why the police were at my door I truly can’t think of any normal sensible men I know who would just accidentally get carried away 🙄 and touch a woman’s bum. Sorry, that doesn’t happen.

In that case I wouldn’t report him to the police. I might report him to the club or depending on my relationship with him I might speak to him directly and tell him you were seriously considering reporting him because you were so upset my his behaviour etc etc.

I bet he doesn’t slap men’s bottoms. I don’t think I would go to the police but I would definitely inform the club - and I would refuse to partner with him again. Sorry this happened to you - it’s not your fault. (I’m sure you know that but just wanted to say it anyway - people who behave like this don’t do it in reaction to anything you did.) You did really well to tell him off in the moment rather than freezing.

Op needs an ‘official’ world’ …. Why the hell should she down play this man’s behavior.

WTF?!? You think a woman isn't capable of sorting out a problem so she needs to get a man involved? Wow.