Five Things You Cannot Control on the Tennis Court

Tennis is a game that is as mental as it is physical. While there are aspects of the game within your control, there are a number of things you cannot control on the tennis court. You may need to take a philosophical approach towards rationalizing your situation on the tennis court and addressing the plight you are in.

When things don’t go your way, it is easy to get down on yourself. In an individual sport such as tennis, talent alone won’t cut it. Without a team behind you, you need nerves of steel, determination, and focus to beat someone with equal or superior skill.

By identifying the things you cannot control on the tennis court, you can focus on the things you can control.

So here are five things you cannot control on the tennis court.

You don’t get to choose your opponent

Have you been guilty of underestimating your opponent’s skills or giving him or her too much respect? In a match, you can strategize based on who your opponent is, but the person across the net should not influence your attitude or how you play your game. Top-ranked players losing to qualifiers in high-profile tournaments is not uncommon.

Your goal should be to do your best irrespective of your opponent, be it friend or foe.

You win some, you lose some

You cannot predict the outcome of a well-contested match. Success is a relative term. However, you can maximize your potential by believing in your abilities and maintaining a positive attitude to do the best you possibly can.

If your efforts pay dividends, you move up to the next step. If you don’t achieve the desired result, you correct what is necessary and work towards moving up to the next step.

Giving up in the face of adversity will not get you anywhere. Even a little action is better than not doing anything. We often see professional tennis players displaying the never-say-die attitude on the court and go after balls that look impossible to retrieve. Making your opponent play one more shot is better than giving up on a point.

You cannot control the result of your action

You can only control what “you” do. You do not have control over the result of your action.

In tennis, a person who serves has total control. What the opponent does with the return of serve is beyond the server’s control. Similarly, you can choose to abuse your racquet or argue with the umpire on a line call; whether you get penalized or not is beyond your control.

Focusing on the proper action will bode you well than focusing on the result of your action.

Your talent is measured in relative terms

You may not be good enough, yet. “Yet,” is the keyword here.

It takes time and practice to get good at anything. Tennis and squash are no different. A quick look at the active ATP Top 25 Under 25 will show you that none of them have won a Grand Slam title at the time of writing this post. They are good but not good enough to win a Grand Slam yet. For some of them, it’s only a matter of time.

If you feel that you do not see a lot of success on the courts, it could simply mean that you are not good enough yet.

There cannot be two winners, don’t fret over the inevitable

There are no tied matches in tennis and squash. There can only be one winner. That is inevitable. If you win, great. If you don’t win, you move on and try again. Fretting over the inevitable will not get you anywhere.

It is hard not to celebrate a win or mourn a loss. However, wins and losses are transitory and beyond your control. Maintaining a positive frame of mind during bad patches and learning to tone down your exuberance when things go well may be the key to continuing to enjoy what you do on the court.

There you have it. Applying philosophy on the tennis court may or may not be for you. A philosophical approach to enjoying the game seems to work for me.