The General Psychology of Tennis (Part 2)
The hard-hitting, erratic, net-rushing player is a creature of impulse. There is no real strategy 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 fascinating sort of character.
The really dangerous player is the one who mixes his/her strategy 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 purpose. 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 fighting 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 intelligence of Brookes more, but I admire the determination of Johnston.
Pick out your sort from your own mental processes, and then work out your game along the lines best suited to you. When two men are in the same class as regards stroke, strength and equipment, the determining factor in any game is the mental viewpoint. Luck, so-called, is often just grasping the psychological value of a change of flow in the game, and turning it to your own advantage. We hear a great deal about the "shots he has made." Few understand the importance of the "shots he has 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. Allow me to explain. A player drives you far out of court with an angle-shot. You run hard to it, and having reached it, you drive it hard and fast down the side-line, missing it by an inch. Your opponent is surprised and shaken, 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 attempt 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 because of a miss.
If you had just popped 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 without result.
Let's just say that you had made that shot down the sideline. It was an apparently 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 worries your opponent, as he thinks that he has lost a big opportunity.
The psychology of a tennis match is fascinating, but easily understood. Both men begin 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 weaker. 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 pulls 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 boosted by the great stimulus of having turned a seemingly inevitable defeat into a probable victory. The case of the other player is the reverse. He is likely to lose confidence and play worse. The breakdown of his game plan will be the result.
The really dangerous player is the one who mixes his/her strategy 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 purpose. 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 fighting 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 intelligence of Brookes more, but I admire the determination of Johnston.
Pick out your sort from your own mental processes, and then work out your game along the lines best suited to you. When two men are in the same class as regards stroke, strength and equipment, the determining factor in any game is the mental viewpoint. Luck, so-called, is often just grasping the psychological value of a change of flow in the game, and turning it to your own advantage. We hear a great deal about the "shots he has made." Few understand the importance of the "shots he has 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. Allow me to explain. A player drives you far out of court with an angle-shot. You run hard to it, and having reached it, you drive it hard and fast down the side-line, missing it by an inch. Your opponent is surprised and shaken, 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 attempt 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 because of a miss.
If you had just popped 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 without result.
Let's just say that you had made that shot down the sideline. It was an apparently 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 worries your opponent, as he thinks that he has lost a big opportunity.
The psychology of a tennis match is fascinating, but easily understood. Both men begin 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 weaker. 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 pulls 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 boosted by the great stimulus of having turned a seemingly inevitable defeat into a probable victory. The case of the other player is the reverse. He is likely to lose confidence and play worse. The breakdown of his game plan will be the result.
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