 
|
Chapter 3: Match Play Tactics and Tennis Psychology
Navigation
 CourageOver the entrance to the great centre court at Wimbledon, England, and also over the marquee steps to the stadium at the West Side Tennis Club, Long Island, are identical signs. They carry two lines from Rudyard KipIing's "If":
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same. . .
In those two lines, KipIing gave the perfect picture of what a great tennis player must have, and both tennis associations, British and American, recognized it. It is a long but effective way of saying one word-Courage! Continue Reading
Exploiting Your Opponent's WeaknessesTennis matches are won by the man who hits the ball to the right place at the right time most of ten. That right place may be determined by the possibility of making a clean winner, but more of ten it's a place from which an opponent will make an error on his return shot. Nothing is so disconcerting or upsetting to a player as to miss. A magnificent shot, which beats him completely, doesn't cause him much mental anguish because, if he is a sportsman, he will admire it and then not worry about it any more. On the other hand, each time he sees an important shot of his own sail out of court or into the net, a player becomes more nervous and less likely to win a match. Continue Reading
General Tactics and StrategyThe first-class court general and tactician is the man who not only knows all the technical answers but is also trying to exploit the psychological element to the detriment of his opponent. Such a man is always consciously aware of the logical reply to the shot his opponent plays, and also which sequence of shots of his own will pay off most frequently. He knows that he must wait out all spin shots until they have crossed the top of the bound.
A slice or chop (or even, to a lesser degree, a heavily topped drive) carries all the "devil" with which it has been hit through the air, right on through its bounce to the top of the bound. Until that point, it is almost certain to twist off the racquet face and slide away as an error unless your return stroke is perfectly timed. However, at the top of the bound the spin dies, and as the ball falls it can be hit as easily and surely as if it were the bounce off a flat shot. If you do try to take a spin shot before it reaches the top of the bound, hit it flat and firmly to kill the effect of the spin. Do not chop a chop. Continue Reading
Outside ConditionsThere are a number of extraneous factors, beyond the control of a player or his opponent, which can upset a star performer considerably, and can wreak havoc with the game of an ordinary player. A man who really understands how to take full advantage of unusual conditions has a big edge over one who doesn't. Nevertheless, it's the rare player who ever takes the trouble to study out what to do when up against such conditions as a strong wind or a bad court surface. Most players are so busy cursing the things that are bothering them, or crying in self-pity, that they forget to play tennis. One thing that few people realize is that bad conditions are great levellers of form.
Most people think that bad conditions aid the better tennis player, if anything. Actually, the reverse is true, because the better player plays to a narrower margin of safety, normally. So it takes fewer and less severe unexpected difficulties to make him miss than it does the poorer player, who is not trying to do much more than merely hit the hall hack over the net. However, the acute player who takes full cognizance of bad conditions, and then consciously plays to offset them or even to take advantage of them, can turn wind, slippery courts, or a torn-up court surface into assets rather than liabilities. Continue Reading
Maintaining Pressure on Your OpponentThe habit of establishing and holding pressure on a tennis adversary will pay big dividends. So many players bear down only in fits and starts. An early lead will give many a player a sense of false security, and cause him to let up, when actually he has nothing more than a slight advantage due to his opponent's starting slowly. The match actually has not begun. The let up may be fatal, because once a man has relaxed his pressure and let his opponent get started, he often finds it impossible to lift his game again and stop him. The place where most players are likely to throw away matches is about the middle of the second set, in a two-out-of-three-set match. A man has taken the first set, leads at perhaps 3-1 or 4-2, and decides that the match is as good as over. He stops concentrating, plays carelessly for a few moments, and before he realizes it he has lost his service. His opponent holds his service and the game score is tied, but now the man who led a few short minutes ago senses his danger and starts thinking how foolish he was to let up on the pressure. Continue Reading
Doubles and Mixed DoublesEverything that I have said up to now about strokes, tactics, and so forth has had to do with playing singles. The singles game is the acme of tennis skill because it allows the widest range of attack and defence, strokes, tactics, and psychology, but the doubles and mixed doubles games have their own charm and fascination. Many people enjoy doubles more than singles, probably because they have to do less work, have a partner to blame for defeat and someone to listen to their gripes as they play.
It fills their social need far better than singles. The mixed doubles game, while a completely unbalanced and, in many ways, uninteresting game, still brings sex and beauty on the court-that is, if you're lucky enough to have Gertrude Moran or someone like her, if there are any, as your partner. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
|
RSS Feed XML Sitemap HTML Sitemap Privacy Policy
