Repression Syndrome

What do you do when an obnoxious, sub-B player hooks you out of three points with obviously bad line calls, then on your first close call demands "Are you really sure that was out?" and when you assure them that it was out by at least 2 inches they persist with "It looked really in to me!":

1. Get angry, remind them that it is your call and internally change your line calling protocol from "If it isn't definitely out it is in" to "If it isn't definitely in it is out", then turn your fury into Energy and use it to wipe the court with them.
2. Stay calm, reiterate that you saw the ball well and that it was out and chalk it up your opponent's behavior to the stresses of the moment.
3. Apologize profusely and give them the point. After all it is only a game.

Please attempt to answer now.

You will note that I predicted a match result for choice #1 but not for the next two choices. That is because the outcome in both of those choices is the same and it is certain. Inglorious defeat, wretched play, and humiliation. And the result will be the same every time you play this type of person. Every time. The success of this style is why they behave that way (or any other way that drives their opponents to distraction and defeat). The psych-out is one of the most powerful weapons in any dirty player's arsenal, and it is one step above severe head trauma in the list of reasons why some people would rather eat glass than play head-to-head competitive sport.

I will not transcribe a litany of ways and means of getting under your opponent's skin. If you are looking for that, then stop reading right now. You have already found a substitute for talent that is way easier to learn and perform and more powerful than anything I have discovered. Of course, if you don't have talent and you behave like a jerk you will not have many games. The talented jerks I have met do get games, but it is for their ability to hit the ball and in spite of their jerkiness that people play with them and I have always believed they would get more and better games if they just hit good balls and behaved themselves. No, my concern is how you, dear reader, respond when confronted with situations on court that get you angry. How you handle anger internally and externally can make the difference between excellent play and severe, debilitating Walkabout.

The Nature of Repression

When you get mad you have three options; Express it, reason with it or pretend it isn't there. Pretending it isn't there is absurd. It is there, it is real, and it is going to express itself in some way, shape or form. What it wants is to hurt somebody, and that somebody may very well be you. You may feel that the virtuous thing to do is take the hit; after all, it is your anger even if someone else's bad behavior causes it. So you get tight, start missing the ball in ugly ways and chastise yourself with foul oaths. This response is, of course, no way to win a tennis match, but your opponent will appreciate... Well, no, your opponent will judge you to be weak and foolish and take even more advantage of you. So in the end, if you "stuff" your feelings you accomplish nothing and will have no chance to win. Repression is the solution that many most B-players choose, and it represents the root psychopathology of the Repression Syndrome.

Reasoning with your anger is an attractive choice - very new age and mature. The problem is that anger is not a reasonable creature. It is a creature of the id, born of deep survival instincts and it commands the attention, if not the respect, of the mind through hundreds of milligrams of adrenaline and other hormones and neurotransmitters at its disposal. You might as well try reasoning with a charging Grizzly. Ultimately this choice inevitably results in "failure to communicate with the id," and one has to revert to repression.

The only productive choice when one is angry in tennis is to express it, preferably to the source of your frustration. Yes, you might sometimes seem unreasonable. Yes, you might alienate thin-skinned peoples (though if they have such thin skins, they should probably be more careful about pissing people off.) Yes, you are a nice person and don't like to make other people feel bad. Nonsense! Your existence in this world makes other people feel bad. Certainly, your presence on the other side of the court is (hopefully) already a deep source of frustration and anxiety for your opponent. So get over it! You need to respond; firmly (but politely), pointedly and immediately. You may also need to respond non-verbally or even passive aggressively (see line calling protocol change described above), but you need to know why you are doing it. Responding doesn't make the anger disappear, but it prevents you from turning it inward or taking it out on yourself. Anger can be a powerful source of positive energy in tennis, and most champions see anger directed towards their opponent as a great opportunity, never a threat.