How do you beat the best player in your zip code?
Every once in a while you’ll come up against a player with a big reputation. This opponent might be the champ at your club or in your league, or a Division I college player home from school. While the player doesn’t compare to Roger Federer, he might as well be No. 1 in the world as far as you’re concerned. What should you do? Be respectful and take your licking, or try to take your game up a notch and hit harder and closer to the lines?
The answer is neither. Both responses are apt to get you beaten.
It’s important to remember that tennis is a game of percentages. There are no guarantees, only probabilities. Your task is to give yourself the best odds you can. That’s not going to happen if you’re preoccupied with your opponent’s intimidating reputation. Instead, concentrate on your game plan and assume that your normal shots are good enough. It’s OK to make small adjustments to your tactics and style as necessary, but keep them within your capabilities. Pushing your game to unsustainable limits will lead to disaster.
At the same time, playing only for a respectable score and worrying about what the opponent or spectators are thinking will be equally damaging. I learned this lesson in 1963 on my first trip to Wimbledon, where I played doubles with Arthur Ashe, who was also a first-timer at the All England Club. We faced the top team from the Soviet Union and, because our countries were in the throes of the Cold War, the match was put on Centre Court. The stadium looked huge to me. It was filled with a standing-room-only crowd and encircled by television cameras. We faced a very good Soviet team, and Arthur and I walked on court intimidated, as much by the situation as our opponents. Winning or losing became beside the point; we just wanted to have a good showing. Unfortunately, this attitude ensured we wouldn’t. The tennis was so appalling that the spectators who had been fighting to get into the stadium started fighting to get out.
The bottom line is that you must play your game and believe that it will be good enough. If you can get past your early jitters and keep the match close, you’ll have a chance. At that stage, don’t worry that your normally superior opponent is bound to do something special to beat you. If you think your opponent has a secret weapon, you’ll likely try shots you shouldn’t and make fatal errors. More than anything else, this is why higher-ranked players usually win crucial tiebreakers. It’s not because they do something amazing, but rather because the lower-ranked players try to step up their games in the fear that their opponents will either hit winners or never miss. Don’t give the match away or allow your opponent to bluff you out of it. If the score is close, the better player is, on this day at least, no better than you.
Former Wimbledon quarterfinalist Allen Fox, Ph.D., wrote The Winner's Mind: A Competitor's Guide to Sports and Business Success.
Originally published in the March 2010 issue of TENNIS.