The General Psychology of Tennis (Part 1)

Tennis psychology is only understanding the workings of your opponent’s mind, and assessing the effect of your own game on his/her head and also understanding the psychological effects resulting from the various external causes on your own mind.

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 happening under different circumstances. This is because you react differently in different moods and under different conditions.

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 efficiency? If so, go for it, but never give it to your opponent. Does it deprive you of concentration? If so, either remove the reason, or if that is not possible, strive to ignore it.

Once you have accurately judged your own reaction to conditions, study your opponents in order to determine their temperaments. Like temperaments react similarly, and you may judge men of your own kind by yourself. Other characters you must seek to compare with people whose reactions you know.

Someone who can regulate his/her own mental processes has an excellent chance of reading those of another for the minds works along definite lines of thought and can be examined. One can only control one’s own mental processes after studying them very carefully .

A steady, phlegmatic baseline player is rarely a keen thinker. If he was he would not adhere to the baseline. The physical appearance of a player is usually a fairly clear indication of his/her kind of mind. The stolid, easy-going player, who usually advocates the baseline game, does so because he hates to stir up his/her slow mind to think out a safe strategy of reaching the net.

Then there is the other kind of baseline player, who would rather stay at the back of the court while directing an attack intended to disrupt up your game. He is a much more dangerous player and a deep, quick thinking opponent. He obtains his/her results by changing his/her length and direction and worrying you with the variety of his/her game. This player is a good psychologist.

The first type of tennis player mentioned above just hits the ball without much thought about what he is really up to, while the latter always has a solid, thought-out strategy and sticks to it.

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The General Psychology of Tennis (Part 2)

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-plan. He will make brilliant rallies on the spur of the moment, largely by instinct; but there is no, no consistent thinking. It is an fascinating type of character.

The most unnerving player is the one who mixes his/her style from back to fore court under the command of an ever-active 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 problem you present him in your game. He is the most subtle antagonist in the world of tennis. He is of the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of dogged determination that sets his/her mind on one plan and adheres to it, bitterly, fiercely battling to the end, with never a thought of changing.

He is the player whose psychology is rather simple to understand, but whose mental standpoint is hard to derail, because he never allows himself to think about anything but the business at hand. 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 kind from your own mental processes, 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 match is the mental standpoint. Luck, as it is called, is often no more than seizing the psychological value of a break in the game, and turning it to your own advantage. People talk a great deal about the “shots we have made.” But few people understand the importance of the “shots we have 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 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 smash 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 take the risk 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, just because of a miss.

However, if you had just popped 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 only have been winded to no avail.

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 worries your opponent, because he thinks that he has thrown away a big chance.

The psychology involved in a game of tennis is very interesting, but readily understandable. Both player start with equal chances. However, once one player has gained a real advantage, his/her confidence goes up, while his/her opponent stresses, and his/her mental standpoint becomes weaker. The only objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thereby maintaining his/her confidence.

If the second player pulls even or pulls ahead, the inevitable reaction is an even more drastic contrast in psychology. There is the natural confidence of the leader, but boosted by the great stimulus of having turned a seemingly sure-fire defeat into a probable victory. The situation of the other player is the reverse. He is apt to lose confidence and play worse. The collapse of his game plan soon follows.

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Appropriate Retirement Gifts For Golfers

There is a commonly-held belief that golf is a pastime and sport of entrepreneurs and businessmen. It also has the reputation of being exclusive and elite and not being accessible to ordinary blue collared workers. However, this is not really true, since modernization and commercialization have brought this so-called elite sport into the realm of normal people.

This is because you don’t need to acquire sophisticated equipment to play. Unlike big game fishing and polo which require a lot of resources – a boat or a horse respectively, golfers just need a set of golf clubs, which are affordable these days. With this in mind, retirement gifts for golfers and aspiring ones are more easily thought of.

Personally made retirement gifts to personalize golfing equipment is quite simple as you could easily make it personal by embroidering such items as golf club pouches or caddy covers. These can be knitted, if you are into knitting or by any similar craft which may use other materials.

A good idea is to think about the fashions of golfing which means to focus on the things worn by golfers. You may even be able to set a new trend in golfing apparel by using your lively imagination and an interesting design for your retiree.

Common gifts. The most common way of acquiring a retirement gift for golfers is to go to the closest sports shop and get your retiree something sold there. It may sound a bit impersonal to give the retiree a commercially available gift, but then this may actually prove really useful, if the retiree is still a novice golfer – you might want to get him a set of golf clubs since it is the basic requirement to be able to play golf.

Furthermore, you may find some other accessories that your retiree golfer may still need but then perhaps you could also use your imagination on what things can be made to enhance the golfing equipment he may already have.

Commercially made golfing equipment is also a good idea, if you want to make your retiree feel good by giving him a famous set of clubs, making him look like a pro.

Gags and Jokes The fun part of choosing to give a gag gift instead is the humour such items can create. It also adds to the lighter side of the golf-playing retiree’s party and his friends will be able to join in with smiles, laughs and jokey comments too.

The gag gift should be bought very carefully as the gag present may represent a sensitive matter for the retiree, especially if he is still a beginner. Gag gift for golfers may be misunderstood and hinder their golfing progress if they are disturbed by the idea represented by the gag present you have given to them.

However, for veteran players who already know the game well, the gift of a good gag present on their retirement day would be quite amusing because they would see golfing not only as a way to relieve stress but to actually just have some fun as well.

People ought to view retirement presents for golfers as just a simple method of encouraging your golfing friend to appreciate the funny side of life after his career has ended.

Enjoy yourself if you are going to or planning a Golfer’s Retirement Party, but if you want to get a better understanding of retirement, please go to our web site Retirement Planning. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.

Tennis Fundamentals

I expect that this, my initial literary work will be found useful by both novices and experts alike in the tennis world. I am trying to arouse interest in the student of the game of tennis by a somewhat lengthy discussion of match play, which I hope will shed a new light on the sport of tennis.

I will turn to the novice in my opening article and speak of certain things which are second nature to the skilled player. The best tennis equipment is not much good for the novice even if he really wants to succeed. However, one has to buy good quality; it is a saving in the end, as good quality material far outlasts poor quality equipment.

It is important to always dress in tennis clothes when engaging in tennis. The question of choosing 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 selected your racquet, make a firm resolve to use only quality tennis balls, as a regular 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 watch all the good tennis you can. Study the play of the leading players and try to copy their strokes. Read all the tennis instruction books you can get your hands on. They are a great assistance.

It is surprising to many people that more tennis can be picked up 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 you can, but strive when playing to put into practice the theories you have read about or the strokes you have watched.

Never let yourself become discouraged by slow progress. The method of playing some stroke you have worked on for 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 city.

The fellowship of tennis is universal, for none but an athletic sportsman can succeed in the game for any lengthy period of time. Tennis offers relaxation, excitement, exercise, and pure enjoyment to the player who is tied fast to his business until late afternoon.

The following is the order of development that produces the quickest and most lasting results: i. Concentration on the game. ii. Keep the eye on the ball. iii. Foot-work and weight-control. iv. Strokes. v. Court position. vi. Court generalship or match play. vii. Tennis psychology.

Concentration. Tennis is played first with the mind. The most perfect racquet technique in the world will not suffice if the directing mind is erring. There are many causes of a distracted mind in a tennis match. The main one is loss of interest in the game. No one should play tennis with any expectation of real success unless he cares enough about the game to be willing to do the practice 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 an erring mind, and the sooner the lesson is learned the quicker the improvement of the player.

The surest 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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