The hard-hitting, unpredictable, net-rushing tennis-player is a person of impulse. There is no real system to his/her game, no understanding of your game-plan. He will make brilliant rallies on the spur of the moment, largely by instinct; but there is no, no 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 command of an ever-active 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 problem you present him in your game. He is the most subtle antagonist in the world of tennis. He is from the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of dogged determination that fixes his/her mind on one strategy and adheres to it, bitterly, fiercely fighting to the end, with no thought of changing.
He is the player whose psychology is fairly easy to understand, but whose mental viewpoint is hard to upset, for he never permits himself to think about 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 determination of Johnston.
Pick out your kind from your own mental pattern, and then plan your game along the lines best suited to you. When two men are on the same level concerning stroke, strength and equipment, the deciding factor in any match is the mental viewpoint. Luck, so-called, is usually just grasping the psychological value of a change of flow in the game, and turning it to your own advantage. We hear a lot about the "shots he has made." Few realize 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 tell you why. A player forces 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 surprised and shaken, knowing that your shot might 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 fall into 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 tapped back that ball, and it had been killed, your opponent would have felt increasingly confident of your inability to get the ball out of his/her reach, while you would merely have been winded for no reason.
Let's suppose that you had succeeded with 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 chance.
The psychology of a tennis match is fascinating, but easily understood. 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 pulls 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.
The most unnerving player is the one who mixes his/her style from back to fore court at the command of an ever-active 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 problem you present him in your game. He is the most subtle antagonist in the world of tennis. He is from the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of dogged determination that fixes his/her mind on one strategy and adheres to it, bitterly, fiercely fighting to the end, with no thought of changing.
He is the player whose psychology is fairly easy to understand, but whose mental viewpoint is hard to upset, for he never permits himself to think about 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 determination of Johnston.
Pick out your kind from your own mental pattern, and then plan your game along the lines best suited to you. When two men are on the same level concerning stroke, strength and equipment, the deciding factor in any match is the mental viewpoint. Luck, so-called, is usually just grasping the psychological value of a change of flow in the game, and turning it to your own advantage. We hear a lot about the "shots he has made." Few realize 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 tell you why. A player forces 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 surprised and shaken, knowing that your shot might 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 fall into 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 tapped back that ball, and it had been killed, your opponent would have felt increasingly confident of your inability to get the ball out of his/her reach, while you would merely have been winded for no reason.
Let's suppose that you had succeeded with 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 chance.
The psychology of a tennis match is fascinating, but easily understood. 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 pulls 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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