The hard-hitting, erratic, net-rushing 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 fascinating type of character.

The really dangerous player is the one who mixes his/her strategy from back to fore court at the command of an ever-alert 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 antagonist in the world of tennis. He is from the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of dogged determination that sets his/her mind on one plan and sticks to it, bitterly, fiercely fighting to the end, with never a thought of change.

This is the player whose psychology is rather easy to understand, but whose mental standpoint is hard to derail, for he never allows himself to think about anything except his game. This/her player is your Johnston or your Wilding. I respect the mental capacity of Brookes more, but I admire the tenacity of purpose of Johnston.

Choose your sort from your own mental pattern, and then work out your game along the lines most suited to you. When two men are on the same level as regards stroke, strength and equipment, the determining factor in any game is the mental viewpoint. Luck, so-called, is often just seizing the psychological value of a change of flow in the game, and turning it to your own advantage. We hear a lot about the “shots he has made.” Few understand the importance of the “shots he has 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. Let me explain. 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, realizing 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 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: all this by a miss.

However, 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 only have been winded for no reason.

Let’s just say that you made the shot down the sideline. It was an apparently impossible get. First it amounts to TWO points in that it took one away from your opponent that should have been his/her and gave you one you ought never to have had. Second it also upsets your opponent, because he feels that he has thrown away a big chance.

The psychology involved in a game of tennis is very interesting, but easily understood. Both player start with equal chances. However, once one player has gained a real lead, his/her confidence rises, while his/her opponent stresses, and his/her mental viewpoint becomes poor. 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 occurs with an even greater contrast in psychology. There is the natural confidence of the leader, but coupled with the great stimulus of having turned a seemingly inevitable defeat into a probable victory. The reverse is the case of the other player, who is apt to lose confidence and play worse. The collapse of his game plan soon follows.

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I trust that this, my initial dissertation on the fundamentals of tennis, 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 trust will shed a new light on the game of tennis.

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

It is important to always dress in tennis clothing when engaging in tennis. The question of selecting a tennis racquet is a much more serious matter. I do not advocate forcing a certain racquet upon any player. All the standard makes are excellent. It is on the weight, balance, and size of handle that the real value of a racquet frame depends, while good stringing is essential to obtain the best results.

After you have bought your racquet, make a firm resolve to use only quality tennis balls, as a consistent bounce is a great aid to advancement, while a “dead” ball is no use at all. If you really want to succeed at the game and advance rapidly, I strongly urge you to see all the good tennis you can. Study the play of the leading players and strive to copy their strokes. Read all the tennis instruction books you can get your hands on. They are a great help.

It is surprising to many people that more tennis can be learned off the tennis court in the study of theory and in watching the top players in action, than can ever be learned in one’s own actual play. I do not advise that you should miss opportunities to play tennis, far from it. Play tennis whenever possible, but strive when playing to put into practice the theories you have read about or the strokes you have seen.

Never let yourself become discouraged by lack of progress. The way of playing some stroke you have worked on over weeks unsuccessfully, will suddenly come to you when least expected. Good tennis players are the product of very 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 the game is universal, since none but a fit sportsman can succeed in the game for any long period of time. Tennis offers relaxation, excitement, exercise, and pure enjoyment to the player who is tied hard to his job until late afternoon.

The following order of development produces the quickest and most lasting results: 1. Concentration on the game. 2. Keep the eye on the ball. 3. Foot-work and weight-control. 4. Strokes. 5. Court position. 6. Court generalship or match play. 7. Tennis psychology.

Concentration. Tennis is played primarily with the mind. The most perfect racquet technique in the world will not suffice if the playing mind is wandering. There are many reasons for a distracted mind in a tennis match. The chief one is lack 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 correctly.

Give it up at once unless you are willing to work hard. Conditions of play or the noises in the gallery often confuse and bewilder experienced match-players playing in new surroundings. Complete concentration on the matter in hand is the only remedy for a wandering mind, and the sooner the lesson is learned the more rapid the improvement of the player.

The best way to keep a match 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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Tennis psychology is only understanding the make-up of your opponent’s mind and assessing the effect of your own strategy on his/her mental viewpoint and also understanding the psychological effects resulting from the various external causes on your own mind.

Nevertheless, it is also true that you no one can be a successful psychologist of others without first understanding his own psychology. So, you have to study the effect on yourself of the same thing occurring under different conditions. This is because you react differently in different moods and under different conditions.

You must understand the effect on your game of the resulting annoyance, pleasure, bewilderment, or whatever other form your reaction takes. Does it improve your prowess? If so, go for it, but never give it to your opponent. Does it rob you of concentration? If so, either remove the cause, or if that is not possible, try to ignore it.

After you have properly assessed your own reaction to conditions, observe your opponents to determine their characters. Similar characters react in a like manner, and you may judge people of your own type by yourself. Opposite characters you must seek to liken with those people, whose reactions you are already familiar with.

A person who can regulate his/her own psychology runs an excellent chance of determining those of someone else for the minds works along certain lines of thought and can be examined. One can only control one’s own thought processes after examining them very carefully .

The regular, unemotional baseline player is rarely a quick thinker. If he were, he would not stay on the baseline. The physical appearance of a player is often a pretty clear indicator of his/her sort of mind. The stolid, easy-going player, who usually advocates the baseline game, does so because he hates to activate up his/her torpid mind to work out a safe method of reaching the net.

However, then there is the other type of baseline player, who would prefer to stay at the rear of the court while supervising an attack intending to disrupt up your game. He is a much more dangerous player and a deep, quick thinking antagonist. He obtains his/her results by changing his/her length and direction and worrying you with the variance of his/her game. This player is a very good psychologist.

The first sort of tennis player mentioned above simply strikes the ball without much idea of what he is really doing, while the latter always has a definite strategy and sticks to it.

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