The primary object in match tennis is to break up the other man's game.The first lesson to learn is to hold your nerve under all circumstances.If you can break a player's nerve by pounding at a weakness, do it.I remember winning a 5-set doubles match many years ago, against a team far over the class of my partner and myself, by lobbing continually to one man until he cracked under the strain and threw the match away.He became so afraid of a lob that he would not approach the net, and his whole game broke up on account of his lack of confidence.Our psychology was good, for we had the confidence to continue our plan of attack even while losing two of the first three sets.His was bad, for he lost his nerve, and let us know it.
Sensational and unexpected shots at crucial moments have won many a match.If your opponent makes a marvellous recovery and wins by it, give him full credit for it, and then forget it, for by worrying over it you not only lose that point but several others as, well, while your mind is still wandering.Never lose your temper over your opponent's good shots.It is bad enough to lose it at your own bad ones.Remember that usually the loser of a match plays just as well as the winner allows him.Never lose your temper at a bad decision.It never pays, and has cost many a match.
I remember a famous match in Philadelphia, between Wallace F.Johnson, the fifth ranking player in America, and Stanley W.Pearson, a local star, in the Interclub tennis league of that city.Johnson, who had enjoyed a commanding lead of a set and 4-1, had slumped, and Pearson had pulled even at a set-all, and was leading at 5-1 and 40-15, point set match.He pulled Johnson far out to the forehand and came to the net.Johnson chopped viciously down the side-line, but Pearson volleyed to Johnson's deep backhand corner.Johnson had started RUNNING in that direction as he hit his return, and arrived almost as Pearson's volley bounced.Unfortunately Johnson slipped and went down on both knees, but held his racquet.He reached the ball and chopped it down the side-line for an earned point before Pearson realized he had even offered at it.
Pearson was so surprised and angered that he double-faulted for deuce,and Johnson won the game.Johnson pulled even at 5-all, before Pearson recovered his equilibrium, and finally won the set at 17-15.Truly Pearson's lapse at Johnson's marvellous get was a costly mental break.
Tennis psychology is far more than the effect of certain shots, made or missed, on the player.One can sum up such things by saying that every kill gives confidence, every error tends to destroy it.These things are obvious.The branch of psychology that is interesting is the reaction on the various players of different courts, different crowds, and other players.
There is a peculiar atmosphere about the centre court at Wimbledon that is unique in my knowledge of the game.Certain players revel in it.The majority do not feel it, and since they do not sense it, they find only the material disadvantages of rather bad light, and much noise from the stand, and dislike the centre court.Personally, I enjoy playing on the centre court at Wimbledon more than any court I have ever stepped upon.
