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The fast, unpredictable, net-rushing tennis-player is a person of impulse. There is no real system to his/her attack, no understanding of your game. He will make brilliant coups at the drop of a hat, largely by instinct; but there is no, mental power of consistent thinking. It is an interesting type of character.

The really unnerving player is the one who mixes his/her strategy from back to fore court at the direction of an ever-alert mind. This/her is the player to learn from. He is a player with a definite purpose. 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 from the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of slavish determination that fixes his/her mind on one plan and adheres to it, bitterly, fiercely battling to the bitter end, with no thought of changing his gameplan.

He is the player whose psychology is rather easy to work out, but whose mental standpoint is difficult to derail, because he never allows himself to think of 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 determination of Johnston.

Pick out your sort from your own mental pattern, and then plan your game along the lines most suited to you. When two men are in the same class as regards stroke and equipment, the determining factor in any given match is the mental viewpoint. Luck, so-called, is often seizing the psychological value of a change of flow in the game, and turning it to your own account. We hear a lot about the “shots players have made.” Few understand the importance of the “shots players have missed.”

The science 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. Let me explain. A player forces you far out of court with an angle-shot. You run hard to it, and getting there, drive it hard and fast down the side-line, missing it by an inch. Your opponent is shocked and put off his stride, understanding that your shot might 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 try to play the ball, and may fall into error. You have thus taken some of your opponent’s confidence, and increased his/her chance of error: all this by a miss.

If you had merely popped back that ball, and it had been killed, your opponent would have felt even more confident of your inability to put the ball out of his/her reach, while you would merely have been winded without result.

Let’s suppose that you had succeeded with that shot down the sideline. It was an apparently impossible achievement. First it amounts to TWO points, because it took one away from your opponent that should have been his/her and gave you one that you should never have had. Second it also upsets your opponent, as he feels that he has lost a big opportunity.

The psychology of a tennis match is fascinating, but readily understandable. Both men begin 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 weaker. The sole aim 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 is an even greater 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 likely to lose confidence and play worse. The collapse of his game plan will be the result.