Let's Talk Tennis

Hello pplz. I just want to stress one thing before I talk about my post. I hate it when people use internet/text talk in real life >:( Well I suppose it tells people what your life is dominated by.

As many people know, I play tennis. Some of you think it's just a sport where you hit the ball, chase it, and hit the ball again. That's not entirely true. So here are some things you need to know in order to have a better understanding of what goes on during the match... And what I have to work on.

For the top players, tennis has a mental aspect to the game. It's like a physical chess. You have to hit the ball, move your feet, watch where you're going to aim, and get it in while trying to find your opponent's weakness. Now of course the other opponent will try to hide his or her weakness which (in my opinion) makes it more challenging. Sometimes their weakness isn't a stroke or how fast/slow they run. For example:
Opponent: This will be an easy game.
Me: Yeah. For me anyway.
If you're thinking that I'm a cocky, arrogant, little Asian kid then it's working. Making your opponent mad or getting them out of their comfort zone will make them play worse which in turn will up your game. Now that doesn't mean you should go up to them saying,"You're going to lose you !@#$ because your !@#$ mom is a *@#*^ little !@#$ and a !@#$." That's where sportsmanship comes in.

Your mood also affects your game. If you are an angry white kid (not talking to anyone in particular), then you will focus more on how much you are angry rather than the ball that is flying towards your face. You should have one of these two emotions when playing a serious tennis match:
1. Well, it's not really an emotion but you should have no emotion =D. It should be something like this: "Hit the ball, concentrate, dang I missed. What did I do wrong? Okay yeah let's try that. Next point." Compared to: "Hit the ball, concentrate, WHAT?!?!?! I MISSED! I TOTALLY SUCK! DANG I SUCK I SUCK I SUCK I SUCK I SU-.... Did the ball just fly pass me?"
2. Nothing but optimism. I try to do this when I play a match but I do let my frustration slip sometimes. When you're optimistic, you have a feeling as if you are never going to lose and that you are going to win every set. "Hit the ball, concentrate, I missed. Hah, he needed that point anyway. I was being nice. I'm such a good person. What did I do wrong there? Okay now let's not be nice to him on this point."
Tennis can bring out a person's true colors too. I've seen a bunch of nice looking people come up to me in tournaments and say:
Opponent: Hey, my name is ____. What's yours?
Me: Hey, I'm June. Are you ready to win?
Opponent: Naw man. You're probably going to beat me.
Me: Nah, you're going to win.
Opponent: Well anyway, let's have a good match.
When we step on the court, the person turns into a totally different person =O. He starts screaming at the top of his lungs, cursing, slamming his racket down, and he's totally mad. Tennis can be scary.

Last thing about tennis mentality: it's a game people. Games are invented so people can have fun. Professionals have a different kind of fun but they have fun nonetheless. So for those of you who play tennis (or any sport for that matter) think it's a chore, you should loosen up some. Without a sort of....passion I guess, you will never improve to the level you want to be.

Well that's all I can type today because have to go play tennis right now ^_^. So join us tomorrow for another spectacular post from Caroline, the blue power blogger!

-June