The hard-hitting, erratic, net-rushing tennis-player is a person of impulse. There is no real strategy to his/her game, no understanding of your game-plan. He will make brilliant coups at the drop of a hat, largely by instinct; but there is no, no consistent thinking. It is an fascinating 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-active mind. This/her is the player to study. 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 bitter end, with never a thought of changing his gameplan.
This is the player whose psychology is rather easy to work out, but whose mental standpoint is hard to derail, 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 tenacity of purpose of Johnston.
Pick out your kind from your own mental processes, and then work out your game along the lines best suited to you. When two men are on the same level as regards stroke, strength and equipment, the determining factor in any game is the mental standpoint. Luck, so-called, is usually just seizing the psychological value of a break in the game, and turning it to your own account. We hear a lot about the "shots he has made." Few realize the importance of the "shots he has 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 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 put off his stride, knowing that your shot could 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 try 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, all because of a miss.
If you had just popped 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 for no reason.
Let's just say that you had made that shot down the sideline. It was an apparently impossible achievement. 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 game of tennis is very interesting, but easily understandable. Both player start with equal opportunities. However, once one player has gained a real lead, his/her confidence rises, while his/her opponent stresses, and his/her mental standpoint becomes poor. The only objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thus maintaining 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 inevitable defeat into a probable victory. The situation of the other player is the reverse. He is apt 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 under the direction of an ever-active mind. This/her is the player to study. 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 bitter end, with never a thought of changing his gameplan.
This is the player whose psychology is rather easy to work out, but whose mental standpoint is hard to derail, 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 tenacity of purpose of Johnston.
Pick out your kind from your own mental processes, and then work out your game along the lines best suited to you. When two men are on the same level as regards stroke, strength and equipment, the determining factor in any game is the mental standpoint. Luck, so-called, is usually just seizing the psychological value of a break in the game, and turning it to your own account. We hear a lot about the "shots he has made." Few realize the importance of the "shots he has 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 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 put off his stride, knowing that your shot could 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 try 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, all because of a miss.
If you had just popped 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 for no reason.
Let's just say that you had made that shot down the sideline. It was an apparently impossible achievement. 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 game of tennis is very interesting, but easily understandable. Both player start with equal opportunities. However, once one player has gained a real lead, his/her confidence rises, while his/her opponent stresses, and his/her mental standpoint becomes poor. The only objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thus maintaining 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 inevitable defeat into a probable victory. The situation of the other player is the reverse. He is apt to lose confidence and play worse. The breakdown of his game plan will be the result.
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