serious juniors never pick up balls by hand
Serious juniors never pick up tennis balls with their hands. Males tend to bend down and dribble the balls up with the face of their stick [...] bending way down and picking balls up manually, which, like wearing a visor, is regarded as the true sign of the novice or hack.
Context
The body's trained habits go all the way down to how it retrieves a ball. "Serious juniors never pick up tennis balls with their hands"; males "dribble the balls up with the face of their stick," and to bend and pick one up "manually" is "the true sign of the novice or hack." The regimen inscribes itself in the smallest reflexes — the racquet becomes an extension of the hand even for the menial task of gathering balls, and the un-drilled body gives itself away the instant it stoops. Class marked by micro-technique. (Male/female substyles noted; the gendering of the trap-and-flick is texture.)