The fast, 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 sort of character.

The most dangerous player is the one who mixes his/her style from back to fore court under the direction of an ever-active mind. This/her is the player to study. 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 opponent in the world of tennis. He is from the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of slavish determination that fixes his/her mind on one strategy and sticks to it, bitterly, fiercely fighting to the bitter end, with never a thought of changing his gameplan.

This is the player whose psychology is fairly easy to work out, but whose mental standpoint is difficult to derail, because he never permits himself to think about anything but his game. This/her player is your Johnston or your Wilding. I respect the intelligence of Brookes more, but I admire the determination of Johnston.

Pick out your type from your own mental processes, and then work out your game along the lines best 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, 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 great deal about the “shots he has made.” Few understand the importance of the “shots he has 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. Allow me to tell you why. A player drives you far out of court with an angle-shot. You run hard for it, and having reached it, you drive it hard and fast down the side-line, missing it by an inch. Your opponent is surprised and shaken, knowing that your shot could just as well have gone in as out. He will expect you to attempt it again and he will not risk it next time. He will strive 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 because of a miss.

If you had merely tapped back that ball, and it had been killed, your opponent would have felt increasingly confident of your inability to put the ball out of his/her reach, while you would merely have been winded for no reason.

Let’s just say that you had made that shot down the sideline. It was a seemingly 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 that you ought never to have had. Second it also worries your opponent, because he feels that he has lost a big opportunity.

The psychology of a tennis match is fascinating, but readily understood. Both men start 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 draws 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.