Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis--Lessons from a Master

by Brad Gilbert

Messing With Their Mind If you can diminish the effectiveness of your opponent’s best serve you’ve really given yourself a big boost toward winning the match. If it’s a Lefty with a good can-opener serve, cheat to the alley and force them to try to beat you up the middle. If you’re playing a righty who can pound it down the middle on the deuce court move to your left and give them just a sliver of the pie to hit to on your backhand side. And mix it up. If someone’s beating you consistently with their serve, you’ve got to work on their mind. Move to your new position when they can see you (but before they settle into their pre-serve motion). Then later move after they toss and can’t see you. Exaggerate the move so that you force them away from their preferred shot. It’s poor sportsmanship to be hopping back and forth simply to distract your opponent. It’s legitimate to move with the purpose of taking a new position.