TTT #10: Using Emotions to Your Advantage
Contributed by Johnny Kauffman
Athletes in all sports must acknowledge the involvement of emotion to be successful. Normally this emotion is carried out through physicality in relationship to ones opponent. In football, emotional players are successful if they can harness their anger to hit their opponents harder. In basketball, players are able to harness their emotions to help them push their opponent out of the post to gain an opening to the basket. However in tennis, players do not have an opponent to push with their emotionally guided body. Every swing of the racket needs to be patiently controlled in order to be executed correctly. A player who swings as hard as possible, usually either hits the ball out, or whiffs it completely. This is why tennis requires a unique emotional balance.
Balancing your emotions is a complex process that I still have not mastered, that is why I split up this tip into three categories that players emotions relate to during a tennis match.
Fans: Tennis fans, like fans in any sport, can have both a positive and negative influence on the emotional aspect of the match. The number of tennis fans (usually small) and location (usually close to the court) means that it is usually easy to hear the comments that individual fans are making. Comments heard from individual fans, both positive and negative, will move your focus away from the match. When negative comments are heard from opposing fans the best things to do is immediately forget what you heard. Comments from fans often bring about negative emotion that is hard to control. Players tend to start over hitting when they are angry, and often it is easier to get angry about something you heard in the stands then something that your opponent did. On the positive side of things cheering from the crowd can be inspiring and motivating, especially when things are not going particularly well. Individual encouragement heard from teammates can be very helpful and supportive, both from the stands and on the court.
Opponents: Like fans it is important to not get to emotionally involved with your opponent. Yelling should never be directed at your opponent. Don't let anger over disagreements on calls change the way you play your game. Don't let your opponent get in your head by yelling at you, hitting at you, or taunting you. By letting your opponent into your head you have lost the emotional battle of the match. The best way to win this battle, and get in your opponents head is to stay positive. Any time you show negativity, or a lack of focus your opponent gains energy. This is probably the simplest of the aspects relating to the emotional side of tennis, but it is by far the hardest to master. There are players like John Macenroe who use negativity and a lack of focus to get in their opponent's head, but the majority of the great tennis players have amazingly positive attitudes. Rafeal Nadal's attitude helps him chase down the ball, point after point after point. Roger Federer's attitude helps him remain calm, confident, and dedicated to an effective game plan.
Self: Emotional balance must be found from within, and each player will discover how they deal with emotion in different ways, however confidence is something that is important to everyone in maintaining emotional balance. Going into a match confident, means that a player knows they can win the match without over swinging. A player may show negativity for mental mistakes, but if a player is confident in their shots, they know that even though they miss some shots, they will eventually start to go in. Generally confident players know how to play their game, and use emotions to take their game to the next level. Think about Joel King, he played well most of the time, consistently competing at the number one position. In his matches against Concord where his emotions fueled him to defeat his home school, he played even better then his best.
Looking back at what I have written I am surprised I didn't write more about yelling. I'm not exactly sure why this aspect of emotional tennis did not come out more, but I know I could probably write another Tuesday Tennis Tip on this subject. For me, yelling is a way to contribute balance to my emotional game and to mark points that I executed well. I tend to get more pumped up over a serve, volley, overhead sequence, then a crazy point that is won with a lucky winner. This illustrates the point that we all deal with emotions differently both in tennis and in life. Being honest, open, and communicating with those you love is the best way to deal with these emotions. We were able to do this well on the team last year and I think that was a large part of our success.
