Tennis psychology  consists of understanding the workings of your opponent’s mind, your own mind  and imposing your game onto his/her psyche. In order to successfully analyze others, you must first understand  your own mental processes.  You react differently to a given set of circumstances depending on your mood and other factors before, during and after a match.  You must study how these factors affect your game.  If  you come to the court in a bad mood or having a bad day, do you tend to be more aggressive with your shots or more defensive?  If you hit a great shot, does that resulting pleasure make you play the next points without error and does the opposite happen when you make a mistake?  Whatever pleasure, confusion, irritation, anger, joy, etc. you feel after each shot, game or match must be analyzed  by you and it’s result taken to heart and incorporated into your tennis strategy.

The psychology of a tennis match is very interesting and  understandable. Both players start on a level psychological playing field.  Some players, when they establish a lead, feel very confident and finish the match with a win.  Others get nervous when they have a lead and end up losing a match no matter how far ahead they were.  This can be especially psychologically damaging and one of the most challenging obstacles to overcome.  If you can stay ahead in a match, or come back from behind, stay focused and get a victory, you are at a great psychological advantage.

You could spend many hours studying tennis psychology and those hours of study would be well spent, since mastering your mental game will lead you to many more victories on the tennis court.

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