If I play happy I see points just wizzing by and games and sets. If I get angry they wiz by slower and games are won sometimes. Why is that?
And while I have some good reservoirs of anger I find that it takes soooo much energy to sustain. So its a short term solution. Any ideas on how to win happy or to sustain the intensity when angry?
I can never explain things right but I think my game needs a certain amount of aggression that anger helps with.
It's not about being happy or angry.
When you are feeling happy, you are not focussing on your task. When you are angry, you are focussing on a particular thing but with a lot of tension - shallow breathing, muscle tightness etc. Neither good nor sustainable.
(Being happy is thinking about something good in the past or future, anger is thinking about something bad in the past or future - essentially you are not focused on what's important now when you are happy or angry).
What's needed then? Relaxed state of mind with a focus on one or two things that needs to be right now.
It's about learning to focus. We find it mentally draining to focus for a long time.
It can be learnt through practice and repetitions. How do we get started - decide on what you want to do and then ensure you are physically relaxed - deep or normal breathing, tension free muscles from head to toe. You will be on your way to a normal existence on the tennis court.
Example,
When returning, plan how you will hit and recover if the ball is to your bh and when it's to your fh.
When serving, plan what to hit and where to anticipate return. And now start normal breathing and ensure your muscles are not tight.
You will move better, hit shots well and so on. Repeat the same thing for each and every shot. Plan how to hit and where to recover. You have only two things to plan for, where do I return fh or bh.
Now, how do you or hard do you hit? Simple formula - the best shot you can no matter what the game situation is. You want to play your game and not dictated by what the opponent does or the score is. Always hit the best shot available to you based on where the ball is. Should we feel bad if we miss? While it's natural to feel disappointed, but we should expect to miss often, so dont feel about it. Plan how the next best shot should be. More spin, more elevation etc. Quickly change "how did I miss it" to "hit with more spin, get under the ball more, move the feet, stay low".
