06/06/2019
Games people play on the court
That something else besides tennis is being player on the tennis court is obvious to the most casual observer.
Regardless of whether he is watching the game at a country club, a public park or a private court, he will see players suffering everything from minor frustration to mayor exasperation.
He will see the stomping of feet, shaking of fists, war dances, rituals, pleas, oaths and prayers; rackets are thrown against fences in anger, into the air for joy, or pounded against the concrete in disgust.
Balls that are in will be called out and vice versa. Linesmen are threatened, ball boys scolded and the integrity of friends questioned.
On the faces of players you may observe, in quick succession, shame, pride, ecstasy and despair. Smug complacency gives way to high anxiety, cockiness to hangdog disappointment.
Anger and aggression of varying intensity are expressed both openly and in disguised forms.
If an observer was watching the game for the first time, it would be hard for him to believe that all this drama could be contained on a mere tennis court, between love-all and game, set and match.
This was an excerpt from The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey one of the best books on tennis I’ve ever read.
Have you read any good tennis book? If so, share it with me in the comments 🙂📚🎾