The hard-hitting, unpredictable, net-rushing tennis-player is a person of impulse. There is no real strategy to his/her attack, no comprehension of your game. He will make brilliant coups at the drop of a hat, largely 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 at 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 antagonist in the world of tennis. He is of the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of slavish determination that fixes his/her mind on one strategy and adheres to it, bitterly, fiercely fighting to the bitter end, with never a thought of changing his gameplan.
He is the player whose psychology is rather easy to understand, but whose mental viewpoint is hard to upset, 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 pattern, and then plan your game along the lines most suited to you. When two men are on the same level concerning stroke, strength and equipment, the deciding factor in any game is the mental viewpoint. Luck, as it is called, is usually no more than grasping the psychological value of a change of flow in the game, and turning it to your own advantage. People talk a great deal about the “shots we have made.” But few people understand the importance of the “shots we have 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 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 put off his stride, knowing that your shot could just as well have gone in as out. He will expect you to try it again and he will not risk it next time. He will attempt to play the ball, and may fall into error. You have thus taken 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 without result.
Let’s suppose that you had made that shot down the sideline. It was a seemingly impossible achievement. First it amounts to TWO points, in that it stole one away from your opponent that should have been his/her and gave you one that you ought never to have had. Second it also upsets your opponent, as he feels that he has thrown away a big chance.
The psychology of a tennis match is very interesting, but easily understood. Both men begin with equal chances. Once one player establishes a real lead, his/her confidence goes up, while his/her opponent worries, and his/her mental viewpoint becomes poor. The sole aim of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thus holding his/her confidence.
If the second player pulls even or draws ahead, the inevitable reaction is an even more drastic contrast in psychology. There is the natural confidence of the leader, but boosted by the great stimulus of having turned a seemingly sure-fire 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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