Tennis - Tennis Psychology

Everyone who ever played the game of tennis has experienced psychological problems.  Even just practicing or learning to play involves certain mental challenges. Understanding the workings of your opponent's mind is what tennis psychology is all about. Determining the effect of your own straregy on your opponents mental viewpoint, and understanding the psychological effects resulting from the various external causes on your own mind.

You cannot be a successful at analyzing others without first understanding your own mental processes. Studying the effect on yourself from different sets of circumstances could possibly give you an advantage. Individuals react differently to the same sets of circumstances and conditions. You must understand the effect on your game to the possible pleasurable and or irritable situations that might arise. Your reaction could be that of pleasure, happiness, confusion, dissapointment or even anger.or whatever form your reaction takes. Understanding your reactions and the resulting affect on the efficiency of your game could give you an advantage over your opponent.

Does a certain type situation deprive you of concentration? If so, you must either learn to turn it into a positive motivation or ignore it completely. Once you have determined your own reaction to different sets of conditions it is time to begin to study your opponents rections to similar sitautions. Like temperaments most often react similarly to the same situation or set of circumstances. It is possible to judge opponents of similar temperment to yourself by your own reactions. Opponents with differing temperaments from yourself might require that you seek comments and insight from common foes as to how that person reacts to certain situation. A person who can control his or her own thought processes stands an excellent chance of reading those of someone else. Having this knowledge before a match can be an advantage if used properly.

The physical appearance of an opponent can be a posible indicator to his type of mind. The layed back easy going type, who usually advocates the baseline game might do so because he is not comfortable always thinking about a safe method of reaching the net. There is the other type of baseline player who prefers to remain on the back of the court while directing an attack intended to break up your game. This is a much more dangerous type player and most likely a quick thinking antagonist. He achieves his results by mixing up his length and direction and keeping you on the defensive with the variety of his game. The first type of player mentioned merely hits the ball with little idea of what he is doing, while the latter always has a definite plan and sticks with it. The hard-hitting, erratic, net-rushing player is a creature of impulsive action and reaction. There is no real system to his attack or good understanding of your game. He will make brilliant instinctive plays on the spur of the moment but there is no real consistency to the thinking process.

The dangerous player is the type that mixes his style from back to fore court always changing tactics. This player is the type you should study and try to learn from because he seems to have an answer to every situation you throw at him during the match. Second only to him is the player of dogged determination that sets his mind on one plan of action and stays with it all match long it. He bitterly and fiercely fights to the end without ever considering a change of strategy. This is a player whose tennis psychology should be relatively easy to identify but whose overall demeanor is hard to upset because he never allows himself to think of anything except the business at hand.

When two opponents are basically in the same class physically and skill wise the determining factor most often becomes the battle of the minds. The advantage is often seized by grasping the psychological value of a break in the game, and turning it in your favor.

There is a lot said about the "shots we have made." Few realize the importance of the "shots we have missed." The science of missing shots is 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.

An example might be if a player drives you far off thecourt with an angle-shot. You run hard to reach the ball and drive it hard and fast down the side-line missing it by an inch. Your opponent is most likely surprised and shaken realizing that your shot could just have easliy gone in as out. He will expect you to try it again and might not take the risk next time. You have now taken away some of your opponent's confidence and increased his chance of error all because of a miss. If you had merely popped back that return and it had been killed, your opponent would have felt increasingly confident of your inability to get to shots placed in that area of the court.

Let us suppose you made the shot down the sideline that seemingly looked impossible to get. It amounts to a two point swing in that it took one away from your opponent that should have been his and gave you one you ought never to have had. You also gain a psychological advantage your oponent feels he has thrown away a big chance.

The psychology of a tennis match is very interesting, but easily understandable. Once a player establishes a real lead it is natural for his confidence to go up His opponent on the other hand begins to be concerned and his psychological state becomes poor. The sole object of the player in the lead is to hold his advantage while maintaining his confidence. If the second player pulls even or draws ahead the inevitable reaction occurs with even a greater contrast in tennis psychology.

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