Making Progress—Playing the Mental Game when It’s Just Practice

Inside The Lines – My Tennis Journey

Making Progress—Playing the Mental Game when It’s Just Practice

December 8, 2009

Volume 2: issue 1

The days of chasing trophies and playing high stakes tennis never existed for me. I started too late. I don’t play for money and I play tournaments as a means to benchmark my progress. I play to win, but I am not competitive to the point of sacrificing my integrity or compromising a relationship. I like to keep my tennis in the “Stress Free Zone” where improving my game overall is more important than winning any single game or match.

Some of my practice partners do not share the same philosophy and I now know that with certainty.

Today I played a couple of practice sets. I played well. I was consistent in my ground strokes. My first serve percentage was high. I think I only had one double fault and although my serve did not have the pace I normally generate, I was pleased with the placement. It allowed me to take control of the point in most cases. The only thing I can complain about from today’s session was my inability to control my slice backhand. Many of them floated out, although they appeared to not miss by much. However, in retrospect, I wonder if some of those balls landed in actually. I’ll explain.

When I won the first set 6-1, lost the second set 1-6, and split the beginning of a third set 1-1 but my “practice” partner insisted the score was 0-2, I began to wonder if this was just practice. It was for me. At 40-5, my serve in the previous game, I hit a cross court shot that appeared to me to be a winner. I walked off the court for the changeover. My practice partner walked over also and did not say anything. I assumed the set score was 1-0. Sam (not his real name) called the score 5-40. He asked, “Isn’t the score 5-40?” I said, “Yes, it was 5-40. That was the game.” I later found out, Sam thought I was giving him the game AND that the ball I thought was a winner was out. It did not make sense. I would not have walked off the court at 40-30. I was certain I had hit a winner. But, you know what happened next.

The next game started. I lost a long deuce game. It was the second game of the third set, we were playing on extended court time meaning additional court fees would be due, and Sam had been struggling mentally (by his own admission) most of the session. I called the score 1-1. Sam thought the score was 0-2 in his favor. Then it hit me.

Sam was just like one of my other practice partners, John. Both men admit to being competitive, but it really appears to be more of a veneer of false superiority. In other words, I believe if you asked either one of them, they would tell you that they are “much” better players than I. The results don’t indicate this. This probably explains why each one will go to great lengths to win, even in practice. One of my other practice partners (whom I’ll call Huey), who I also consider a friend, observed this on one occasion with John and tipped me off to it.

I wish Huey could have been at courtside tonight.

As for my practice partner Sam (not his real name), I think he was trying to regain some semblance of false superiority of his ability, at least over me. Why would I say this? My practice partner talked about going back into teaching tennis. At the risk of initiating the start of World War III, I decided not to ask Sam what qualified him to teach.

Today was clearly not a normal day of practice. I made it very clear at the beginning of the session that I have three goals (in order of priority) in mind when I practice.

1) Get a good workout. I like to make sure I invest the proper level of energy and make the most of my session, as it is my primary form of exercise. I have replaced basketball with tennis, so I like to make the best of the time.

2) Work on specific strokes, strategies, and patterns of play. Anything I have learned new since my last lesson, weak areas I have identified in my last actual match, or something that I am weak in executing becomes a candidate for something I work on in practice.

3) Get a positive result when or if the score is kept. If the practice session concludes with playing a tiebreaker, set, or practice match, I like to incorporate what I have practiced. If I get a win, I consider that “icing on the cake” for the session. However, winning is the third priority when I practice. The point is that I don’t want to slip into a pattern of play that will give me the best opportunity to win if I am not executing the right strokes.

I don’t think mentioning this to Sam made any difference. Sam appeared intent on winning even if it meant making questionable line calls, consistently “forgetting” the score, and complaining throughout the session that his mind was just not into it and he could not maintain focus. I could totally understand this given Sam’s recent traumatic experience, but it was Sam who wanted to “practice” in the first place. For future reference I have to interpret a request “to hit” as a request “to play a match”. I guess that is “my bad.”

I wanted to be accommodating and I needed the practice, so I agreed. I did not want to make this session a bone of contention for the future. After we decided mutually to end the session a series of questions entered my mind.

If I had won both sets, would my opponent have given me any credit or would he have pointed to his inability to focus as the cause of his defeat?

If this was practice, why did Sam “insist” on playing after a brief warm up period? By the way, I obliged, but on this day I would have been content with hitting.

If this was practice, why did Sam become so adamant about line calls I questioned? One might suggest that I should not have questioned any calls since this was practice, but in the spirit of tennis sportsmanship, if I saw the ball was close I noticed Sam would consistently call the ball out even when it may have been in play. In other words, I did not get any close calls that I saw. I expect that in a tournament. I don’t expect that in practice.

I was even told at one point that we were playing “Street Tennis” and tournament rules did not really apply. What? I could not believe that. My introduction to “Street Tennis” followed my playing a ball that my opponent DID NOT call out on the first serve because he thought it was “obvious” that the ball was out AND that I saw it. This was another one of the close calls I did not get. In tournament play when your opponent does not call the ball out and plays it, you are obligated to play the ball. Otherwise, you will lose the point. The Code, which is the rule book of matches that are not officiated, states it like this:

“Any “out” or “let” call must be made instantaneously (i.e., made before either an opponent has hit the return or the return has gone out of play); otherwise, the ball continues in play.”

Sam did not appear to understand this. His response was, “we are not playing a tournament match. This is Street Tennis.”

That was basically the tone of my “practice” session.

I really believe that had the score been 6-0, 6-0, Sam would have made every excuse and not conceded that I played better on this day. You know the player. My level of play would not have been in the equation of winning. It would have been all about them and their game.

I think this is called the “Serena Williams Syndrome” (SWS).

Today I realized I made some progress. I won a set against Sam, whom I had not beaten previously. I feel my game is starting to develop some more consistency. Sam complained that he did not like playing against guys like me. I don’t hit real hard, which makes it difficult for Sam to generate pace on his shots. I place the ball and I try to use my speed. I guess he meant my playing style is not conventional. Sam’s ground strokes are not exactly “Federeresque”, but he may think they are. This is what I know.

As I continue in my tennis journey, I will be looking for folks with SWS. When I encounter it, I will know how to respond. I will have to keep telling myself, “It’s just practice.”

Tennis and Life coupled like man and wife.

A commitment to excellence takes hard work and may cause pain.

Some days will be sunny. Other days may bring rain.

And when the story is told by others and it is time to reflect,

Life will teach how to forgive. Tennis allows you to play a “let”.

Copyright © 2009 Milton A. Brown