Is Your TENNIS Hard Drive Faulty?

I was in a round-robin tennis league a few years ago where you played everybody once, and if you wanted to play them more, you could count the score only if the outcome was different from the first time around. In other words, you couldn’t just keep playing the same (weaker) player to build up your standings.

Anyhow, the first time I played “Malcolm” I played an all-court game and attacked the net fairly often. In the second set I was at the net and he couldn’t pass me so he hit the ball right at me – but not in a mean—trying to kill me way. I had less time to get out of my own way and I missed the volley. Four or five points later there I was at the net again and hey, here comes the ball, again, right at me. I lost the point. And just to confirm what we both already knew I lost one more point at the net in the same way. I played the rest of the match at the baseline unless it was an easy put-away. For the first 15 games we played I volleyed like a champ. I volleyed well on my forehand and backhand. Malcolm late into our 2nd set learned something about me – a weakness of mine and then used it when I was at the net.

Fast forward 3 weeks later and I am playing Malcolm again. I remember the lesson I learned from three weeks earlier but the funny thing was Malcolm apparently had forgotten. I nervously approached the net in this second match and found fairly easy volleys to handle everywhere but right into my body. It wasn’t just once or twice, it was all day. Did he not notice the first time we played a weakness I had? I sure remembered but apparently his hard drive (okay brain) didn’t think it was important to recall that advantage.

When I am playing a new opponent my brain is looking for weaknesses from the very first warm-up ball struck.

‘Hum, dumped my slice into the net, let’s try another and see what happens.’

‘He looked awkward on that high ball to his forehand, hum, wonder if he will do that in our match.’

And so on.

A favorite tennis statistic is something like 40-70% of the time it takes to play a tennis match is the time between points. We all have a lot of time to think about and process what is taking place during the points. So next time you play, pop some Omega 3 capsules and fire up that gray matter so you can pay attention. Being a keen observer of your opponent may make the difference on a few key points and in a close match, that’s all it takes. Pay attention on the court and in life – it won’t just help your tennis score, it might save your life.