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Tightness vs. Tentativeness

I read more than few times that a player needs to recognize their state of mind, state of looseness and deficiencies at a given moment to be able to correct the problem during a match. Although I have never disagreed with this approach, I don't think I quite understood it, that is until recently.

For example, often I hear the phrase "s/he is very tight," or similar references about a player's game. I thought this means that the player is not playing with confidence and feels nervous. I experience the lack of confidence quite frequently, I just accept the fact that as a relatively new player that is normal and someday I will learn to manage my confidence better, particularly as my shot consistency increases.

Few days ago I played two singles matches in which I could feel I was tight and I was missing some of the easiest forehands and even my feet were not moving around much. For some reason, all of my tennis playing principals were out of the window, such as playing to play vs. winning. I was out to win those times around, and that objective just made me so tight, my muscles were stff and my movements lacked fluidity, I was sure to lose the matches. The tightness was easy to recognize when I paid attention; my arm would lock into a relatively specific position and would not swing, and instead I would rotate my upper body to hit the ball. You can imagine how pitiful my shots were. As I recognized this tightness, gradually I loosened up and started making my shots, meaning making less unforced errors, and eventually I still won the first of those matches.

This tightness happens to me, apparently - now that I know how to recognize it - when I am close to winning a match, even if I wasn't tight until that moment. It is certainly easier to solve the problem once we know how to recognize it.

Today I played with a good 3.5/4.0 level 15 years younger player with energy to spare. The match started very well for me, I broke his serve and was up 3-1 first set, little that I knew those would be all of the games I would earn throughout two sets. I did not experience tightness, but something else was holding me back, and I could not recognize the feeling and could not correct in time.

Afterwards as I kept rewinding the match in my mind, I think what I experienced was tentativeness. I experienced this before but did not quite notice it or confused it with tightness. In this tentative state, I was making my shots, both from the baseline and volley, but I was not quite putting the pace on the shots as I know how to do. I don't think I noticed this sensation previously, because no player previously quite put me to test the way this person was able to do. Most players I play with are solid NTRP 3.5 and 4.0 level players, who are between the ages of 40 and 60. Given my opponent's athleticism, my usual loose shots did not contain enough pace to earn me enough points. Another aspect of my opponents game that exaggerated my tentativeness was the fact that he was so consistent, making so few errors. I could not afford to make many unforced errors, so I thought I needed to play with high percentage shots. Although this maybe valid, the problem was that I could not transition from high % shots to hitting absolute winners when should have. This was due to my tentativeness even when I wasn't feeling nervous. Tentativeness I felt was more about the fear of playing overly aggressive and making too many unforced errors, which I have been working on taming/reducing. I guess I have been doing such a good job that I now have to learn how to switch on my aggressive side again. What an irony.

I think tentativeness and tightness are closely related and one is the result of the other, but I think it is important to understand the differences as well. Solving the problem of tentativeness is easier I think (or at least I hope) and can help avoid tightness. Persistent tentativeness leads to tightness I believe, and once in a tight state, loosening up to play at higher levels is tremendously challenging.




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