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Tennis psychology is nothing more than understanding the workings of your opponent’s mind, and assessing the effect of your own game on his/her mental viewpoint and also understanding the mental effects resulting from the different external causes on your own mind.

However, it is also true that you no one can be a successful psychologist of others without first understanding his own mental processes. Therefore, you must study the effect on yourself of the same thing occurring under various circumstances. This is because you react differently in different moods and under different conditions.

You must understand the effect on your game of the resulting irritation, pleasure, confusion, or whatever other form your reaction is. Does it increase your efficiency? If so, go for it, but never give it to your opponent. Does it deprive you of concentration? If so, either remove the cause, or if that is not possible, strive to ignore it.

Once you have correctly assessed your own reaction to circumstances, observe your opponents in order to determine their temperaments. Similar characters react similarly, and you may judge men of your own sort by yourself. Other temperaments you must try to compare with those whose reactions you already know.

A person who can control his/her own mental processes stands an excellent chance of reading those of another for the mind works along certain lines of thought and can be examined. One can only control one’s own mental processes after carefully examining them.

A steady, phlegmatic baseline player is seldom a keen thinker. If he were he would not stay on the baseline. The physical appearance of a player is usually a pretty clear indicator of his/her kind of mind. The stolid, easy-going player, who usually advocates the baseline game, does so because he hates to stir up his/her torpid mind to work out a safe method of getting to the net.

Then there is the other type of baseline player, who would rather remain on the back of the court while directing an attack intended to break up your game. He is a much more dangerous player, and a deep, keen thinking antagonist. He achieves his/her results by mixing up his/her length and direction and worrying you with the variety of his/her game. He is a good psychologist.

The first type of player mentioned above just hits the ball with little thought about what he is actually doing, while the latter always has a definite strategy and adheres to it.

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The fast, erratic, net-rushing tennis-player is a creature of impulse. There is no real strategy to his/her attack, no comprehension of your game. He will make brilliant coups on the spur of the moment, largely by instinct; but there is no, mental power of consistent thinking. It is an interesting type of character.

The most unnerving player is the one who mixes his/her strategy from back to fore court at the direction of an ever-active mind. This/her is the player to study and learn from. 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 slavish determination that sets his/her mind on one strategy and adheres to it, bitterly, fiercely battling to the end, with no thought of changing.

He is the player whose psychology is rather simple to understand, but whose mental viewpoint is difficult to upset, because he never permits 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 determination of Johnston.

Choose your kind from your own mental pattern, and then plan your game along the lines most suited to you. When two men are in the same class as regards stroke, strength and equipment, the deciding factor in any match is the mental standpoint. Luck, as it is called, is often no more than grasping the psychological value of a break in the game, and turning it to your own account. People talk a great deal about the “shots we have made.” But few people realize the importance of the “shots we have missed.”

The science 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 explain. A player drives 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 could 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 fall into error. You have thus stolen some of your opponent’s confidence, and increased his/her chance of error, just because of a miss.

However, if you had merely 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 only have been out of breath for no reason.

Let’s suppose that you had made that shot down the sideline. It was a seemingly impossible get. 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 should never have had. Second it also upsets your opponent, as he feels that he has lost a big opportunity.

The psychology involved in a game of tennis is very interesting, but easily understandable. Both player start with equal opportunities. However, once one player has gained a real advantage, his/her confidence rises, while his/her opponent worries, and his/her mental viewpoint becomes weaker. The only objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thereby 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 coupled with 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 collapse of his game plan will be the result.

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I trust that this, my first literary work will be found useful by both novices and experts alike in the tennis world. I am striving to arouse interest in the student of the game of tennis by a somewhat prolonged discussion of match play, which I hope will shed a new light on the sport of tennis.

I will turn to the novice in my opening and speak of certain matters which are second nature to the skilled player. The best tennis equipment is not a lot of good for the beginner even if he really is trying to succeed. However, one has to buy good quality; it is a saving in the end, as good quality material far outlasts poor quality gear.

It is vital always to wear tennis apparel when playing tennis. The question of selecting a tennis racquet is a much more serious decision. I do not like to force a certain brand of racquet upon any player, since all the famous makes are of excellent quality. However, the weight, balance, and size of the handle are the really important considerations when choosing a racquet frame, while good stringing is essential to get optimum results.

After having acquired your racquet, make a firm decision to buy only quality tennis balls, as a regular bounce is a great aid to advancement, while a “dead” ball is of no use at all. If you really want to succeed at tennis and progress rapidly, I strongly advise you to watch all the good tennis you can. Observe the play of the best players and try to copy their strokes. Read all the tennis instruction manuals you can get your hands on. They are a great help.

More tennis can be picked up off the court, in the study of theory, and in watching the best players in action, than can ever be learned in actual play. I do not mean miss opportunities to play tennis. Far from it. Play whenever possible, but try when playing to put in practice the theories you have read or the strokes you have watched.

Do not allow yourself to become discouraged by lack of progress. The method of playing some stroke you have worked on for weeks in vain, will suddenly come to you when least expected. Good tennis players are the result of hard work. Very few players are born geniuses at the game. Tennis is a game that pays you dividends all your life. A tennis racquet is a letter of introduction in any town.

The fellowship of tennis is universal, since none but an athletic sportsman can succeed in the game for any lengthy period of time. Tennis provides relaxation, excitement, exercise, and pure enjoyment to the person who is tied hard to his business until late afternoon.

The order of development that produces the quickest and most lasting results is: a. Concentration on the game. b. Keep the eye on the ball. c. Foot-work and weight-control. d. Strokes. e. Court position. f. Court generalship or match play. g. Tennis psychology.

Concentration. Tennis is played first with the mind. The most perfect racquet technique invented will not suffice if the directing mind is wandering. There are many causes of a wandering mind in a tennis match. The chief one is loss of interest in the game. No one should play tennis with any hope of real success unless he cares sufficiently about the game to be willing to do the drudgery necessary to learn the game properly.

Jack it in right now if you are not willing to work very hard. The weather, conditions of play or the murmurs in the gallery often bewilder even very experienced match-players playing in new surroundings. Complete and utter concentration on the game is the only cure for an erring mind, and the sooner that lesson is learned the more rapid the improvement of the player.

The best way to keep a game in mind is to play for every set, every game in the set, every point in the game and, finally, every shot in the point. A set is merely a collection of made and missed shots, and the man who misses the least is the ultimate victor.

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