The General Psychology of Tennis (Part 2)

The hard-hitting, erratic, net-rushing tennis-player is a creature of impulse. There is no real strategy to his/her game, no understanding of your game-plan. He will make brilliant coups on the spur of the moment, largely by instinct; but there is no, no consistent thinking. It is an fascinating type of character.

The really unnerving player is the one who mixes his/her style from back to fore court at the command of an ever-alert mind. This/her is the player to study and learn from. He is a player with a definite intention. A player who has an answer to every problem you present him in your game. He is the most subtle opponent in the world of tennis. He is from the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of dogged determination that sets his/her mind on one plan and adheres to it, bitterly, fiercely battling to the end, with never a thought of change.

This is the player whose psychology is rather easy to work out, but whose mental standpoint is difficult to derail, because he never permits himself to think about anything but his game. This/her player is your Johnston or your Wilding. I respect the intelligence of Brookes more, but I admire the determination of Johnston.

Pick out your kind from your own mental pattern, and then work out your game along the lines best suited to you. When two men are in the same class as regards stroke and equipment, the determining factor in any given match is the mental viewpoint. Luck, so-called, is often grasping the psychological value of a change of flow in the game, and turning it to your own advantage. We hear a lot about the “shots players have made.” Few understand the importance of the “shots players have missed.”

The science of missing shots is just as vital as that of making them, and at times a miss by an inch is of more value than a return that is killed by your opponent. Let me tell you why. A player forces you far out of court with an angle-shot. You run hard to it, and getting there, drive it hard and fast down the side-line, missing it by an inch. Your opponent is shocked and shaken, understanding that your shot could just as well have gone in as out. He will expect you to attempt it again and he will not take the risk next time. He will try to play the ball, and may fall into error. You have thus stolen some of your opponent’s confidence, and increased his/her chance of error: all this by a miss.

If you had just tapped back that ball, and it had been killed, your opponent would have felt even more confident of your inability to put the ball out of his/her reach, while you would merely have been winded without result.

Let’s just say that you had made that shot down the sideline. It was a seemingly impossible get. First it amounts to TWO points, in that it stole one away from your opponent that should have been his/her and gave you one that you should never have had. Second it also upsets your opponent, because he feels that he has lost a big chance.

The psychology involved in a tennis match is fascinating, but readily understandable. Both men begin with equal chances. Once one player establishes a real advantage, his/her confidence rises, while his/her opponent worries, and his/her mental viewpoint becomes weaker. The only objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thereby maintaining his/her confidence.

If the second player draws even or pulls ahead, the inevitable reaction occurs with an even greater contrast in psychology. There is the natural confidence of the leader, but coupled with the great stimulus of having turned a seemingly inevitable defeat into a probable victory. The reverse is the case of the other player, who is apt to lose confidence and play worse. The collapse of his game plan soon follows.

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