The hard-hitting, erratic, net-rushing tennis-player is a person of impulse. There is no real system to his/her game, no comprehension 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 sort 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 opponent in the world of tennis. He is from the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of dogged determination that sets his/her mind on one strategy 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 simple to understand, but whose mental viewpoint is hard to upset, 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.
Pick out your sort 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 as regards stroke and equipment, the determining factor in any given match is the mental standpoint. Luck, so-called, is often seizing 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 players have made." Few realize the importance of the "shots players have missed."
The psychology 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 getting there, drive it hard and fast down the side-line, missing it by an inch. Your opponent is shocked 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 take the risk next time. He will try 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 this by 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 without result.
Let's just say that you had succeeded with that shot down the sideline. It was a seemingly impossible achievement. First it amounts to TWO points, because 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 thrown away a big chance.
The psychology involved in a tennis match is very interesting, but readily understandable. 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 standpoint becomes weaker. The sole objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thereby maintaining his/her confidence.
If the second player pulls even or pulls ahead, the inevitable reaction is an even greater 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 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 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 opponent in the world of tennis. He is from the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of dogged determination that sets his/her mind on one strategy 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 simple to understand, but whose mental viewpoint is hard to upset, 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.
Pick out your sort 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 as regards stroke and equipment, the determining factor in any given match is the mental standpoint. Luck, so-called, is often seizing 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 players have made." Few realize the importance of the "shots players have missed."
The psychology 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 getting there, drive it hard and fast down the side-line, missing it by an inch. Your opponent is shocked 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 take the risk next time. He will try 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 this by 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 without result.
Let's just say that you had succeeded with that shot down the sideline. It was a seemingly impossible achievement. First it amounts to TWO points, because 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 thrown away a big chance.
The psychology involved in a tennis match is very interesting, but readily understandable. 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 standpoint becomes weaker. The sole objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thereby maintaining his/her confidence.
If the second player pulls even or pulls ahead, the inevitable reaction is an even greater 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 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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