Tennis: Self-Defeating Mind Games

I enjoyed this guest piece at Tennis Diary by Sean Bugg: A Tennis Boor Defined.

I don’t believe trash talking, a**hole behavior belongs on the court. Competitiveness, yes. Loud cursing? You fucking bet. I don’t think I could make it through a match without at some point saying, “You stupid son of a bitch.” But I’m always saying that to myself —

I agree. It ain't the words, it's whom your saying them to that makes all the difference in the world.

Come on, it's absurd to act as though your tennis opponent is a mortal enemy. That stupid posturing to intimidate your opponent with the body language and tone of hatred is too high a price to pay for victory: it forces you to make a stupid jackass of yourself to win.

Normal people value themselves more than they value a match win. But of course, there are others who don't think much of themselves and don't know true value. Their dreams are too small. Winning tennis matches is all they aspire to.

It's pretty obvious what Andy Roddick was getting from Jimmy Connors.

A little age on the character of a Connors or a McEnroe is like Teflon. Oh, let's let the bad boys show us how to win. But take a second look at those careers, and see the brick wall they slammed into.

It's foolish. And I'm a big proponent of the importance of the psychological battle. But when you cross the line into gamesmanship, you've got to think what you're doing. You are telling yourself that this will give you the edge, that this is what will enable you to win.

It's your mojo, in other words. And you are telling yourself that you're inferior and can't win without this magic.

Not smart.

So, what happens when the other players get used to it? What happens when you run into just as big a jerk as you are and it doesn't work? Gone is your mojo.

Everybody's fist-pumping in tennis rage at their opponents. So, where's your edge?

Woops, and there goes your confidence, because the stupid mind games are what you emotionally rely on to win. You don't think you can win without them. That's magical thinking.

Which is for children.

You end up with your perfomance on any given day being determined by the alignment of your stars.

And look what you're doing to your character. Doesn't that matter to you? Where's your self-respect? It's kinda like selling your soul.

So, my advice is to just play the game. The way it's supposed to be played. Want to win with all your heart and soul, but don't be an idiot who betrays himself by how he goes about it.

Not that the fans will mind, but they have no taste and don't have to face that guy in your mirror every morning, either.

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Tennis Confidence - A Kind of Magic - Not

All tennis players know that confidence is everything. When you play with confidence, you play well, and most of your shots go in. The opposite of confidence is diffidence. When you play with diffidence, you play poorly, and most of your shots go out – simply because you fear that they will.

It is no wonder then that players get superstitious about confidence. They view it as a kind of magic.

Success builds confidence, and failure erodes it. So, how do you gain confidence when playing badly?

In other words, how do you make yourself believe in yourself when reality seems to contradict that belief? Stating the question in these terms shows how akin belief in yourself is to a religious belief, which often likewise seems contradicted by observable reality.

The problem then becomes a question of how to maintain this belief in the face of facts that constantly challenge it.

Many people resort to manufacturing an artificial confidence, convincing themselves that they have this mysterious magical power despite all evidence to the contrary. It's a kind of self-delusion, a psyche job. Though it negates reality, they call it "positive thinking," which it ain't.

Since tennis is head-to-head competition, they forget that this "magic" is simple confidence and view it instead as some kind of inherent superiority to their opponents.

Delusions are powerful. They can work. As Bill Tilden said, you can impress belief of your inherent superiority on your opponent = make him or her feel inferior and psychologically dominated.

But the problem with delusions is that they are constantly assailed by reality. Therefore, it's a struggle to maintain them. You must keep brainwashing yourself and repressing self-doubt as it threatens to surface to consciousness and break the spell.

Sooner or later, it will. Then it's like you lost your mojo, and your game falls apart.

Venus and Serena Williams are not the only pro players afflicted with this superstitiousness. So are Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin. In fact, many players are. It can make you a flash in the pan, but it will desert you someday so that you don't build a career like Pete Sampras did or Roger Federer is doing.

What's more, when your mojo is gone, your opponents come out from under the spell of inferiority, as Brad Gilbert did when John McEnroe tried to make sure he got the message in their 1984 match: "Gilbert, you are the worst! The f***** worst! You don't belong on the same court with me!" Gilbert smelled blood and went on to win. McEnroe immediately took a sabbatical from tennis and never won another major tournament after he returned to the tour.

Unbelievable. John McEnroe, the guy who gets mad at himself for every error. Never won another major tournament. That is gross underachievement for a player of his caliber. It happened because he became dependent on his mojo and didn't think he could win without it = that he couldn't beat an opponent who thought he could win. Baloney.

So, you see this artificial confidence is no substitute for the real thing – a realistic level of true confidence in your ability, true confidence that isn't undermined by every error or sent skyrocketing by every great shot. A stable, tranquil self-confidence that nothing can shake. One based on an accurate perception of the facts. One that disregards whatever your ego is yakking at you.

During the early part of the decade Venus and Serena dominated women's tennis, largely through psychological warfare that upset the other women, most of which was waged off court – in the locker room, on the practice courts, and on the tournament grounds.

Over time though, the other women caught on. They recognized the contemptuous haughtiness as a mind game and stopped letting it get to them. Venus and Serena have not dominated since.

I bet they never will again. But that is no reason to think that they aren't good enough players to still win their share of tournaments. Serena, especially, just needs to lose the superstitiousness and replace it with Andre-Agassi style modesty and hard work.

In the midst of all the gobbledygook and conflicting messages she sent during her presser yesterday, Venus said this in answer to the shark who asked "If people start talking about the Williams era being over, what would you have to say to them?":

I've been a champion. I have full expectations and aspirations to continue to play high-quality tennis and to continue to be a champion.

And she should have. Her track record proves that to be a realistic appraisal of her ability. She needs no self psyche job to achieve it.

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