The Psychology of Tennis (Part 2)
Posted on July 23, 2009
Filed Under Tennis
The fast, erratic, net-rushing tennis-player is a person of impulse. There is no real system to his/her game, no comprehension of your game. He will make brilliant coups on the spur of the moment, largely by instinct; but there is no, mental power of consistent thinking. It is an interesting sort of character.
The really 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 query you present him in your game. He is the most subtle antagonist in the world of tennis. He is of 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.
He is the player whose psychology is fairly easy to work out, but whose mental viewpoint is hard to upset, for he never allows himself to think of anything except the business at hand. This/her player is your Johnston or your Wilding. I respect the mental capacity of Brookes more, but I admire the tenacity of purpose of Johnston.
Pick out your kind from your own mental processes, and then plan your game along the lines best suited to you. When two men are in the same class concerning stroke, strength and equipment, the determining factor in any match is the mental standpoint. Luck, as it is called, is often no more than seizing the psychological advantage of a change of flow in the game, and turning it to your own advantage. People talk a great deal about the “shots we have made.” But few people realize the importance of the “shots we 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. Allow me to tell you why. A player drives you far out of court with an angle-shot. You run hard to it, and having reached it, you smash 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 could just as well have gone in as out. He will expect you to try it again and he will not take the risk next time. He will attempt to play the ball, and may make an error. You have thus taken some of your opponent’s confidence, and increased his/her chance of error, all because of a miss.
However, 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 only have been out of breath for no reason.
Let’s suppose that you made the shot down the sideline. It was a seemingly impossible get. First it amounts to TWO points in that it took one away from your opponent that should have been his/her and gave you one you ought never to 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 fascinating, but readily 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 objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thus holding his/her confidence.
If the second player pulls even or draws ahead, the inevitable reaction is an even greater contrast in psychology of the players. First, there is the natural confidence of the leader of the game, but it is 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 breakdown of his game plan soon follows.
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