GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY OF TENNIS
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY OF TENNIS
Tennis psychology is nothing more than understanding the
workings of your opponent's mind, assessing the impact of your play on his
mental outlook and understanding the mental effects of various causes different
external causes to your own mind. You cannot be a good psychologist for others
without first understanding your own mental process, you must study the effects
of the same on yourself in different situations. You react differently
depending on your mood and in
different conditions. You must recognize the
impact of play as causing discomfort, pleasure, confusion, or any other form of
your reaction. Does this increase your efficiency? If so, strive for it, but
never give it to your opponents.
Does this distract you? If that's the case,
eliminate the cause or if that's not possible, try to ignore it.
Once you have accurately assessed your own
response to the conditions, study your opponents to determine their
temperament. Similar temperaments will react in the same way, and you can judge
for yourself the men of your type. Opposite temperaments that you must find a
way to compare with people whose reactions you know.
A person who can control his own thought
processes has an excellent opportunity to read the thought processes of others,
because the human mind operates along definite and definite lines of thought.
can be researched. One can control one's mental processes only after studying
them carefully.
A fundamentally sound player is rarely a sharp
thinker. If so then he will not reach baseline.
A man's physical appearance is often a fairly
clear indication of his spiritual type. The calm, relaxed man, in the habit of
favoring the basic game, does so because he hates having to stir up his dull
mind to devise a safe method of getting into the net. There is another type of
baseline player who likes to stand on the baseline while directing an attack to
disrupt your play. He is a very dangerous player and a deep and vivid villain.
He achieves results by mixing up his length and direction as well as by
annoying you with the variety of his play. He is a good psychologist. The first
type of player mentioned simply hits the ball without even knowing what he is
doing, while the second type of player always has a specific plan and sticks to
it. The hard-hitting, erratic, net-rushing player is an impulsive creature.
There is no real attack system nor understanding of your game. He would make
excellent shots on the impulse of the moment, largely by instinct; but do not
have the mental strength to think clearly. He is an interesting and attractive
guy.
A dangerous person is a player who coordinates play from
defender to field under the guidance of an alert mind. He is the man to study
and learn from. He is a player with a specific goal. One player has the answer
to every question you ask in your game. He is the most sophisticated villain in
the world. He comes from Brookes School. Behind him is a man with high
determination, setting a plan and sticking to it, fighting hard to the end,
never thinking about changing. He is a man whose psychology is easy to understand
but whose mental outlook is difficult to reverse, because he never allows
himself to think about anything other than the problem at hand. This man is
your Johnston or Wilding. I respect Brookes' mental ability more but I admire
Johnston's tenacity. Choose your style from your own mental process, then build
your game in the direction that works best for you.
When two men are in the same class, in terms of
fighting equipment, the decisive factor in any fight is the mental attitude. It
is said that luck often consists of grasping the psychological value of
disruption in the game and turning it to one's advantage.
We hear a lot about “the photos we took”. Few
people realize the importance of “the shots we missed. ” The science of missing
shots is as important as making them, and sometimes a missed shot by an inch is
more valuable than a return knocked down by your opponent.
Let me explain. One The player is chasing you
off the field with an angled shot. You run hard towards him, and approach him,
pushing him hard and fast along the touchline, within an inch of him. Your
opponent surprised and shaken, realizing that your shot could easily go in or
out. He will expect you to try again and won't take any chances next time. He
will try to play football and may make mistakes. Thus, you take away some of
your opponent's confidence and increase his chances of making mistakes, all in
defeat.
If you simply return this ball and it is killed,
your opponents will feel increasingly confident that you cannot put the ball
out of their reach, while you will simply is useless.
Suppose you drag the button. It was something
that seemed impossible. First, it has TWO points, where it takes away a point
that should have gone to your opponent and gives you a point that you should
never have had. This also makes your opponent’s nervous because they feel like
they wasted a big opportunity.
