The General Psychology of Tennis (Part 1)
Tennis psychology is only understanding the make-up of your opponent's mind and gauging the effect of your own strategy on his/her mental viewpoint and also understanding the psychological effects resulting from the different external causes on your own head.
However, it is also true that you no one can be a successful psychologist of others without first understanding his own psychology. Therefore, you must study the effect on yourself of the same thing occurring under different circumstances. This is because people react differently in different moods and under different circumstances.
You must realize the effect on your game of the resulting irritation, pleasure, confusion, or whatever other form your reaction is. Does it increase your prowess? If so, go for it, but never offer it to your opponent. Does it deprive you of concentration? If so, either remove the reason, or if that is not possible, try to ignore it.
Once you have correctly measured your own reaction to conditions, study your opponents in order to determine their characters. Like characters react similarly, and you may judge men of your own kind by yourself. Different temperaments you must seek to compare with people whose reactions you already know.
Someone who can control his/her own mental processes has an excellent chance of reading those of another for the minds works along certain lines of thought and can be examined. One may only control one's own thought processes after studying them meticulously.
The regular, unemotional baseline player is seldom a keen thinker. If he was, he would not stay on the baseline. The physical appearance of a player is often a fairly clear indicator of his/her kind of mind. The impassive, easy-going player, who usually displays the baseline strategy, does so because he hates to stir up his/her slow mind to work out a safe method of getting to the net.
However, then there is the other type of baseline player, who would rather stay on the rear of the court while supervising an attack intending to disrupt up your game. He is a very dangerous player and a deep, quick thinking antagonist. He gets his/her results by changing his/her length and direction and worrying you with the variety of his/her game. This player is a very good psychologist.
The first kind 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 adheres to it.
However, it is also true that you no one can be a successful psychologist of others without first understanding his own psychology. Therefore, you must study the effect on yourself of the same thing occurring under different circumstances. This is because people react differently in different moods and under different circumstances.
You must realize the effect on your game of the resulting irritation, pleasure, confusion, or whatever other form your reaction is. Does it increase your prowess? If so, go for it, but never offer it to your opponent. Does it deprive you of concentration? If so, either remove the reason, or if that is not possible, try to ignore it.
Once you have correctly measured your own reaction to conditions, study your opponents in order to determine their characters. Like characters react similarly, and you may judge men of your own kind by yourself. Different temperaments you must seek to compare with people whose reactions you already know.
Someone who can control his/her own mental processes has an excellent chance of reading those of another for the minds works along certain lines of thought and can be examined. One may only control one's own thought processes after studying them meticulously.
The regular, unemotional baseline player is seldom a keen thinker. If he was, he would not stay on the baseline. The physical appearance of a player is often a fairly clear indicator of his/her kind of mind. The impassive, easy-going player, who usually displays the baseline strategy, does so because he hates to stir up his/her slow mind to work out a safe method of getting to the net.
However, then there is the other type of baseline player, who would rather stay on the rear of the court while supervising an attack intending to disrupt up your game. He is a very dangerous player and a deep, quick thinking antagonist. He gets his/her results by changing his/her length and direction and worrying you with the variety of his/her game. This player is a very good psychologist.
The first kind 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 adheres to it.
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