The hard-hitting, erratic, net-rushing tennis-player is a creature of impulse. There is no real system to his/her game, 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 fascinating type of character.

The most dangerous player is the one who mixes his/her strategy from back to fore court under the direction of an ever-alert mind. This/her is the player to study. 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 opponent in the world of tennis. He is of the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of dogged determination that fixes his/her mind on one plan and adheres to it, bitterly, fiercely fighting to the bitter end, with no thought of changing his gameplan.

He is the player whose psychology is fairly easy to work out, but whose mental viewpoint is hard to upset, for he never allows himself to think about anything except the business at hand. This/her player is your Johnston or your Wilding. I respect the mental capacity of Brookes more, but I admire the determination of Johnston.

Choose your sort from your own mental processes, and then work out your game along the lines most suited to you. When two men are in the same class concerning stroke, strength and equipment, the determining factor in any match is the mental viewpoint. Luck, as it is called, is often no more than grasping the psychological value of a change of flow 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 psychology 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 tell you why. A player forces you far out of court with an angle-shot. You run hard to it, and getting there, drive it hard and fast down the side-line, missing it by an inch. Your opponent is surprised and shaken, understanding that your shot might 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 try to play the ball, and may make an error. You have thus taken some of your opponent’s confidence, and increased his/her chance of error: all this by a miss.

However, if you had just tapped back that ball, and it had been killed, your opponent would have felt even more confident of your inability to put the ball out of his/her reach, while you would only have been out of breath to no avail.

Let’s just say that you had made that shot down the sideline. It was an apparently 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 thinks that he has thrown away a big opportunity.

The psychology of a tennis match is fascinating, but easily understandable. 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 standpoint becomes poor. The sole objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thus maintaining his/her confidence.

If the second player pulls even or draws ahead, the inevitable reaction is an even greater 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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