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The Psychology of Tennis

The hard-hitting, erratic, net-rushing tennis-player is a creature of impulse. There is no real strategy to his/her attack, no comprehension of your game. He will make brilliant coups at the drop of a hat, largely by instinct; but there is no, mental power of consistent thinking. It is an fascinating type of character.

The most unnerving player is the one who mixes his/her style from back to fore court at the direction 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 sticks to it, bitterly, fiercely fighting to the end, with no thought of changing.

This is the player whose psychology is rather easy to work out, but whose mental standpoint is difficult to derail, for he never permits himself to think of anything except the business at hand. 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 processes, and then work out your game along the lines most 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 standpoint. Luck, so-called, is often seizing the psychological advantage of a break 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 psychology 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 explain. 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 put off his stride, realizing that your shot might just as well have gone in as out. He will expect you to try it again and he will not risk it next time. He will try to play the ball, and may fall into error. You have thus taken some of your opponent’s confidence, and increased his/her chance of error: all this by a miss.

If you had merely tapped back that ball, and it had been killed, your opponent would have felt increasingly confident of your inability to put the ball out of his/her reach, while you would merely have been winded for no reason.

Let’s suppose that you had made that shot down the sideline. It was a seemingly impossible achievement. First it amounts to TWO points, because it took 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, as he thinks that he has thrown away a big chance.

The psychology of a tennis match is very interesting, but easily understandable. Both men start with equal chances. Once one player establishes a real lead, his/her confidence goes up, while his/her opponent worries, and his/her mental standpoint becomes poor. The sole aim of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thus holding his/her confidence.

If the second player pulls even or pulls ahead, the inevitable reaction is an even more drastic contrast in psychology. There is the natural confidence of the leader, but coupled with the great stimulus of having turned a seemingly sure-fire defeat into a probable victory. The situation of the other player is the reverse. He is likely to lose confidence and play worse. The collapse of his game plan will be the result.

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