The hard-hitting, unpredictable, net-rushing tennis-player is a person of impulse. There is no real system to his/her attack, no comprehension of your game. He will make brilliant coups at the drop of a hat, mostly by instinct; but there is no, mental power of consistent thinking. It is an interesting type of character.
The really dangerous player is the one who mixes his/her strategy from back to fore court under the direction of an ever-alert mind. This/her is the player to 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 of the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of slavish determination that sets his/her mind on one strategy and sticks to it, bitterly, fiercely battling to the bitter end, with no thought of changing his gameplan.
He is the player whose psychology is fairly easy to understand, but whose mental viewpoint is difficult to derail, because he never allows himself to think of anything but his game. This/her player is your Johnston or your Wilding. I respect the intelligence of Brookes more, but I admire the tenacity of purpose of Johnston.
Choose your kind from your own mental pattern, 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 viewpoint. Luck, so-called, is often grasping the psychological advantage 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 realize the importance of the “shots players have missed.”
The science of missing shots is just as important 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 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 put off his stride, knowing that your shot might just as well have gone in as out. He will expect you to attempt it again and he will not risk it next time. He will attempt to play the ball, and may make an error. You have thus stolen some of your opponent’s confidence, and increased his/her chance of error, just because of a miss.
However, if you had merely 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 winded for no reason.
Let’s just say that you had succeeded with that 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 that you should never have had. Second it also worries your opponent, because he feels that he has lost a big opportunity.
The psychology involved in a tennis match is very interesting, but easily understood. Both men start 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 poor. The only objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thereby maintaining his/her confidence.
If the second player pulls even or draws ahead, the inevitable reaction occurs with 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 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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