The psychology of a tennis match is very interesting, but easily understandable.Both men start with equal chances.Once one man establishes a real lead, his confidence goes up, while his opponent worries, and his mental viewpoint becomes poor.The sole object of the first man is to hold his lead, thus holding his confidence.If the second player pulls even or draws ahead, the inevitable reaction occurs with even a greater contrast in psychology.There is the natural confidence of the leader now with the second man as well as that great stimulus of having turned seeming defeat into probable victory.The reverse in the case of the first player is apt to hopelessly destroy his game, and collapse follows.
It is this twist in tennis psychology that makes it possible to win so many matches after they are seemingly lost.This is also the reason that a man who has lost a substantial lead seldom turns in the ultimate victory.He cannot rise above the depression caused by his temporary slump.The value of an early lead cannot be overestimated.It is the ability to control your mental processes, and not worry unduly over early reverses, thatmakes a great match player.
Playing to the score is the first requisite of a thinking match player.The two crucial points in any game are the third and fourth.If the first two points are divided for 15-all, the third means an advantage gained.If won by you, you should strive to consolidate it by taking the next for 40-15 and two chances for game, while if lost, you must draw even at 30-all to have an even chance for game.
In order to do this, be sure to always put the ball in play safely, and do not take unnecessary chances, at 15-all or 30-15.Always make the server work to hold his delivery.It worries him to serve long games, and increases the nervous strain of the match.
In the game score the sixth, seventh, and eighth games are the crux of every close set.These games may mean 4-2 or 3-all, 5-2 or 4-3, the most vital advantage in the match, or 5-3 or 4-all, a matter of extreme moment to a tiring player.If ahead, you should strive to hold and increase your lead.If behind, your one hope of victory rests in cutting down the advantage of the other man BEFORE one slip means defeat.5-2 is usually too late to start a rally, but 4-3 is a real chance.
Never throw away a set because a player has a lead of 4-1, or even 5-1, unless you already have two sets in a 5-set match, and do not wish to risk tiring by trying to pull it out, and possibly failing at 6-4.The great advantage Of 3-1 on your own service is a stumbling-block for many players, for they unconsciously let up at the fifth game, thinking they have a 2-game lead.However, by dropping that game, the score will go 2-3 and 3-all if your opponent holds service, instead of 1-4 and 4-2, thus retaining a distinct advantage and discouraging your opponent in that set.
The first set is vital in a 2 out of 3 match.Play for all of it.The second and third sets are the turning-point in a best of 5-set match.Take the first where possible, but play to the limit for the next two.Never allow a 3 out of 5-set match to go to, the fifth set if it is possible to win in less; but never give up a match until the last point is played, even if you are two sets and five games down.Some occurrence may turn the tide in your favour.
A notable example of such a match occurred at Newport, in 1916.
Wallace F.Johnson and Joseph J.Armstrong were playing Ichija Kumagae, the famous Japanese star, and Harold A.Throckmorton, then junior Champion of America, in the second round of the doubles.
It was Kumagae's first year in America, and he did not understand Americans and their customs well.Kumagae and Throckmorton were leading one set at 6-0, 5-1, and 40-15, Kumagae serving.Throckmorton turned and spoke to him, and the Japanese star did not understand what he said.He served without knowing, and Armstrong passed him down the centre.Johnson duplicated the feat in the next court, and Kumagae grew flustered.Throckmorton, not understanding, tried to steady him without result, as Kumagae double-faulted to Armstrong, and he, too, grew worried.Both men began missing, and Johnson and Armstrong pulled out the set and won the match in a runaway in the last stanza.Johnson and Armstrong met W.M.Johnston and C.J.Griffin, the National Champions, in the final and defeated them in five sets, inflicting the only reverse the title-holders suffered during their two-year reign as champions.
Another much more regrettable incident occurred in the famous match between R.L.Murray of California and George M.Church of New York in the fourth round of the American National Championship in 1916.George Church, then at the crest of his wonderful game, had won the first two sets and was leading Murray in the third, when the famous Californian started a sensational rally.Murray, with his terrific speed, merry smile, and genial personality, has always been a popular figure with the public, and when he began his seemingly hopeless fight, the crowd cheered him wildly.He broke through Church's service and drew even amid a terrific din.Church, always a very high-strung, nervous player, showed that the crowd's partiality was getting on his nerves.The gallery noticed it, and became more partisan than ever.The spirit of mob rule took hold, and for once they lost all sense of sportsmanship.They clapped errors as they rained from Church's racquet; the great game collapsed under the terrific strain, and Church's last chance was gone.Murray won largely as he wanted, in the last two sets.No one regretted the incident more than Murray himself, for no finer sportsman steps upon the court than this player, yet there was nothing that could be done.It was a case of externalconditions influencing the psychology of one man so greatly that it cost him a victory that was his in justice.
