Using anger to motivate?

[Nikeman0092]

This weekend I played in a tournament and in the semis found a hard match. I had just lost the first set 6-2 and in the first game of the second set lost control. After watching yet another of his drop shots dribble over the net on the third bounce I launched it over the fence. The next point I hit a return winner and some how used the anger from the point before and relesed it on my shot. I ended up winning the set 6-1 and winning the match in three. Is using built up anger in a positive way a good way of playing or is it risky?

[GrahamIsSuper]

Too risky. If you win a couple of points, good for you. It'd be too easy for him to get back in it. If you lost just 1 point while you're mad, you're going to lose more...lots more.

1 lost point could put that anger over the top and out of control. Stay positive. Intensity and Anger are closely related, but intensity is controlled aggression.

[Bungalo Bill]

Yeah I would agree with Graham. Having anger is risky and could backfire and deflate you if you dont have immediate success.

Intensity is different from anger. Intensity is more positive to your game. It also does not consume as much energy. It take a lot of energy to stay angry.

[Nikeman0092]

It wasn't just that one point. Pretty much the whole first set I hit a couple of returns in the net.

[GrahamIsSuper]

Regardless of that, if he had hit some winners off you, I can almost guarantee you're going to strart throwing things. You have to stay positive and relaxed almost all the time. Watch the Pro's play. They use intensity in their matches, but you almost never see them start yelling. Anger is too easy to take advantage of.

[speedofpain88]

I'd have to disagree. I play best when I'm mad (however that doesn't mean my attitude is negative, the intensity level just skyrockets). This is not only for tennis. For me it also applies for basketball and soccer. At state quarter-finals for basketball this year I got fouled really hard across the face, no foul was called, the guy that did it made a comment that ****ed me off even more.

I ended the game with 47 points ... and the guy that had originally fouled me ended up fouling out with 10 minutes to go. The idea should be to not be blinded by your anger but use it to fuel your intensity. It can be risky if it's uncontrolled rage though.

As far as the pros, remember when Pete was crying at the Aussie Open over his dying coach and Courier made a remark that he said was meant to loosen Pete up ... well Pete thought he was mocking him and the anger just turned on inside Pete and he dominated the match from that point on. He was down 2 sets and he used the anger to get him out of the hole.

[Tim Tiger Henman]

Horses for courses.
It depends on the personality of the player. Look at Mac. Anger was like Oxygen to him. It was like he couldn't even get out of bed in the morning if he didn't get mad at someone first!

But people like him and Conners are the excpetion to the rule. Look at the game nowadays. Most players spend their time controlling and down-playing their arousal levels. Tennis has just gotten too professional. Getting mad won't cut it nowadays. Every match already has so much riding on it that you don't need even more pressure.

What you need is a combination of desire/motivation to win (ganas) and ability to relax and perform at your peak under pressure. Its a delicate balancing act, which you as an athlete are constantly fine-tuning. Too much arousal and you will tank. Too little and you won't be pumped up to play.

I'm a high arousal kind of guy. That means that most of the time I spend in a match I try to get as relaxed as possible. But others are low-arousal and need to pump themselves up, either by getting mad at themselves or others.

Just do a search for arousal theory and you'll get some interesting reference up.

[Tim Tennis]

So Nikeman, how did you do in the finals? I am not too sure that I can go along with hitting the ball over the fense. I think you have to be careful as to how you direct your anger. If you are mad at yourself for missing easy shots, double faulting, or not getting to the ball, fine, but if you are directing this anger towards your opponent in terms of language, comments, body language, that is another matter. You have to make sure that it does not take the form of poor sportsmanship.

I guess I have been on both sides of the coin. Mad at myself for missing easy shots, just being lazy on some shots or just not competing well. Angry / Mad at my opponent for what I perceive as a number of obvious bad line calls and sometimes just their attitude can **** you off. I guess in both cases the anger has worked for and against me. It all just depends on how well I am able to direct and control all of that energy.

You got to love the game.

[Power Game]

Sure anger can motivate. Just ask Safin. He smashes racquets then you see him play unbelievable tennis. Of course it dosn't work all the time

[kevhen]

Sometimes players will try to initimidate their opponent with their anger. Sometimes the other player will start playing with fear and will play worse then and lose to the angry madman.

If my opponent launched a ball over the fence, I would stop playing until he had calmed himself back down. He would need to go get the ball first. I would probably take a water break and try to stay in control of the situation rather than feel like he is in control now trying to change the momentum of the match. If my opponent said we still had two balls and he wasn't going to get the third, I would take my sweet time and go get it myself and make him wait.

Anger can be good and bad. Stay within the rules of the game though and don't hit the ball over the fence.

[Nikeman0092]

I lost the finals in three sets but wasn't very mad. Thats why I was wondering maybe I wasn't into the match enough.

[kevhen]

You are tapping into to your adrenaline to give yourself more energy and more focus by becoming angry. Too much anger and you will start to lose that focus again though. It's better just to verbally pump yourself up (get mad at yourself a little) without resorting to spiking balls and throwing racquets around, although you can intimidate opponents that way but it's not very respectful and you won't gain any friends acting that way.

[Bungalo Bill]

Originally Posted by speedofpain88

I'd have to disagree. I play best when I'm mad (however that doesn't mean my attitude is negative, the intensity level just skyrockets). This is not only for tennis. For me it also applies for basketball and soccer. At state quarter-finals for basketball this year I got fouled really hard across the face, no foul was called, the guy that did it made a comment that ****ed me off even more.

I ended the game with 47 points ... and the guy that had originally fouled me ended up fouling out with 10 minutes to go. The idea should be to not be blinded by your anger but use it to fuel your intensity. It can be risky if it's uncontrolled rage though.

As far as the pros, remember when Pete was crying at the Aussie Open over his dying coach and Courier made a remark that he said was meant to loosen Pete up ... well Pete thought he was mocking him and the anger just turned on inside Pete and he dominated the match from that point on. He was down 2 sets and he used the anger to get him out of the hole.

I think this is a bunch of BS. Anger in tennis is a doubled edge sword. I dont give a darn what happened at the Aussie Open with Pete. Pete''s career of controlled focus was paramount to your feeble example.

You look at the top players and when is it that they fall apart? when they get angry at a call, cant let it go, then they drop points.

Anger is not a good thing for tennis players even if Mac used it. The overwhelming majority of tennis players do not use anger to motivate them. If it takes someone to hit you in the face to get you going, or you flub an easy shot, or have someone rifle a ball at your chest, you have a concentration problem.

Anger from frustration or failure can have a negative effect on performance. For example, a soccer player who has been held by an opponent might become angry and attempt to retaliate by taking a swing at the opponent. Retaliation causes an automatic shift of attentional focus from the game to the opponent. As a result of the increased arousal and the break in concentration, performance suffers (Husman & Silva, 1980).

Another scenario is a basketball player who is fouled, but receives no call from the officials. If the fouled player thinks of retaliating, concentration breaks and performance drops. Athletes, in general, should learn one or more concentration strategies to either prevent a break in concentration or help them refocus when concentration breaks.

Players play best when they are relaxed and focused on the point and the ball - period. Anger is very difficult to maintain the entire match. It is an energy drainer.

[Camilio Pascual]

Anger is a tricky thing to use at best. Mac sometimes played better, but often played worse after his outbursts. During the latter part of Becker's career, he lost his temper very often. I don't believe I ever saw him get angry and end up winning the match. He played much worse after his outbursts.
Better to get the other guy angry. I call my best anger inducing schtick, "Jerry Lewis Does Wimbledon." Haven't done it for years, but that's a whole other story.

[kevhen]

Often if an opponent gets angry, if you can just keep the pressure up and win a few more points and a game more or two, they will resign themselves to losing. I am the same way when I get too upset in a match so I try to not to get too upset when I am losing since it usually only gets worse, but sometimes you do need to wake yourself up and start playing with focus to your potential but I think playing with intensity is better than playing (or driving) angry as most of the others have said. My old doubles partner used to get get mad when things weren't going exactly as planned and his game would go to crap and I would have to calm him back down so we didn't get too far behind before we turned things around.

[TennsDog]

I love using anger and frustration on my serve. Sometimes it works and I can hit an ace on the next shot, or I can double fault the rest of the game. No doubt, it is very risky. It is probably not a good thing to do, but I think it can be beneficial to at least let it rip the next point even if you lose. It feels good to blast it be it a serve or return. The more of a power game you have to start with the better it will work for you. It may also help, too, because when you are mad you are not thinking about your shots, you are just hitting which is one key to playing great.

[speedofpain88]

Say whatever you want, but it works for me. I didn't say that I needed anger to play my best, but I have never noticed it hurting my game.

People are different, so please don't tell me that it's BS, I was saying that it works for me and I gave an example of when it worked for someone else. I didn't say it would work for everyone else all the time.

As for basketball, Michael Jordan had some of his best games when he was angry. Against Detroit in'90 Pippen got hit hard and no foul was called, Mike took it personally and torched the Pistons for 50 points. I can give so many more examples from basketball. AI, Kobe, Shaq, Tracy.

[kevhen]

Yep, I try to tap into my adrenaline usually when serving and try to say to my opponent that he cannot handle what I have got and then bring the 105-110 mph heater right at him. I am sure the adrenaline gives the serve a 5-10 mph boost and even helps with focus and getting a higher percentage in. I don't really think of it as anger as just going out and proving that I am bigger and better than my opponent and that their serve doesn't match up to mine which can be a little bit intimidating. Roddick does the same thing at the pro level as do all the other big servers. They try to intimidate and overwhelm and get a little juiced doing so.

[kevhen]

Jordan also played big when he was sick since then he probably focused even more and maybe took more shots to keep his focus on the game and not his sickness. I think anger can be good at times if it's kept under some control and not used too often. Like I am saying it's about that adrenaline boost that allows you to do things that you don't ordinarily do.

Not sure why people are told they are full of BS when their opinions don't agree. I agree that anger is mostly a bad thing on the tennis court but I have seen instances where it helped me or where my opponent played better after he got angry but I would say 80-90% of the time it's self-destructive to a tennis player.

[Bungalo Bill]

Originally Posted by speedofpain88

Say whatever you want, but it works for me. I didn't say that I needed anger to play my best, but I have never noticed it hurting my game.

People are different, so please don't tell me that it's BS, I was saying that it works for me and I gave an example of when it worked for someone else. I didn't say it would work for everyone else all the time.

As for basketball, Michael Jordan had some of his best games when he was angry. Against Detroit in'90 Pippen got hit hard and no foul was called, Mike took it personally and torched the Pistons for 50 points. I can give so many more examples from basketball. AI, Kobe, Shaq, Tracy.

Actually, you disagreed in your first post which is saying we are not right and anger works.

I will still say it is BS. There is plenty of research and experts to discredit your hypothesis. It does not work on a consistant basis know matter how well you think it really works for you!

If you were honest, it probably happened on an isolated incident and you were lucky at best that it worked for you during that time. Otherwise, you are not human.

The brains response to anger sends a "fight or flight" message to the body. This means that adrenaline is pumped into the blood stream.

These are just some of the physical changes in response to anger that your body has to manage when you say that "anger" works on the court:

1. Increased sweating
2. Rapid Breathing
3. Faster heart beat
4. Tense Muscles

These are the performance issues that you teeter totter on when you say anger is your motivation to perform better:

1. It interferes with clear judgement and makes it difficult to take the time to make good decisions.

2. Where you need good physical skills it gets in the way of fine motor control. Bigtime need for tennis player as the fine motor skills are what stabilizes the racquet and stroke.

3. It can seriously reduce your enjoyment of your play which will promote relaxation and focus.

4. It damages the positive frame of mind you need for high quality output by:

a. Narrowing attention

b. Damaging self-confidence (I cant perform unless something makes me mad)

c. Promoting negative thinking,

d. Disrupting focus and concentration and making it difficult to cope with distractions.

e. It consumes mental energy in distraction, anxiety, frustration and temper. This is energy that should be devoted to the work in hand.

When someone tells me that it takes anger to get them focused or that anger works, they have a concentration problem. Case in point, Roger Federer. Well known for his anger and fits on the court when something didnt go his way during his early years. Until he got that in control he was waddling around the pro ranks. Once he determined to use postive focus and suside his anger, the rest is history.

Clearly, positive intensity outperforms negative intensity by far and is what a tennis player needs.