Tennis psychology is only understanding the make-up of your opponent’s mind and gauging the effect of your own game on his/her head and also understanding the mental effects resulting from the different external causes on your own head.
However, it is also true that you no one can be a successful psychologist of others without first understanding his own mental processes. Therefore, you must study the effect on yourself of the same thing occurring under various circumstances. This is because you react differently in different moods and under different conditions.
You must understand the effect on your game of the ensuing annoyance, joy, confusion, or whatever other form your reaction takes. Does it increase your prowess? If so, go for it, but never offer it to your opponent. Does it deprive you of concentration? If so, either remove the reason, or if that is not possible, try to ignore it.
Once you have correctly judged your own reaction to conditions, observe your opponents in order to determine their temperaments. Like temperaments react similarly, and you may judge men of your own kind by yourself. Different temperaments you must seek to liken with those whose reactions you already know.
A person who can control his/her own psychology has an great chance of determining those of someone else for the minds works along definite lines of thought and can be studied. One may only control one’s own mental processes after examining them meticulously.
The regular, unemotional baseline player is seldom a quick thinker. If he were, he would not adhere to the baseline. The physical appearance of a player is often a fairly clear indication of his/her kind of mind. The impassive, easy-going player, who usually advocates the baseline strategy, does so because he hates to stir up his/her slow mind to think out a safe method of reaching the net.
However, then there is the other sort of baseline player, who would rather stay at the rear of the court while supervising an attack intending to disrupt up your game. He is a much more dangerous player and a deep, quick thinking antagonist. He gets his/her results by changing his/her length and direction and worrying you with the variety of his/her game. This player is a very good psychologist.
The first type of tennis player mentioned above merely hits the ball without much idea of what he is actually up to, while the latter always has a solid, thought-out strategy and adheres to it.
