Dominating Your Opponent
Serena Williams knows how to intimidate
opponents.
How you carry yourself can bolster your chances of winning.
By Allen Fox
Photo by Getty Images
A closely fought tennis match is not just a physical battle. It’s a struggle of will, mental strength, and character. One powerful element in winning matches is establishing dominance.
What do I mean by dominance? It has to do with the feeling that inferior players get when they face better opposition. High-ranking or successful players have a way of making their opponents feel ineffectual. Take Roger Federer. His simple presence across the net is intimidating. And as a consequence, opponents miss shots against him that they routinely make against other players. They’re also more likely to become nervous against him or get discouraged when they’re behind. This psychological weaponry makes Federer’s job easier. It can also help you in competitive matches.
To establish this dominance, start by recognizing that all of your actions, not just your forehands and backhands, have an effect on your opponent’s mental state. Since human beings are social, we instinctively react emotionally to the way other people treat us. If you show your opponents that you fear them, they’ll feel strong; if you dismiss their efforts, they’ll feel weak. We com-municate this, in part, through gestures and body language. Much of Federer’s psychological dominance comes from the way he carries himself on court—erect, confident, and unresponsive to his opponent’s winners or his own er-rors. The same is true, in a different way, for Serena Williams. She dares her opponents to match her intensity; usually they can’t and that gives her an im-mediate psychological advantage.
You can do the same as these champions. If your opponent hits a great shot, make it appear that you don’t notice. Walk back into position with your head up, your stride steady, looking as if you are confident and know exactly what you’re doing. If you make an error, no matter how egregious, act as if nothing happened. Displays of frustration or discouragement are signs of weakness that serve only to strengthen your op-ponent’s resolve. They’re submissive gestures, not actions of a dominant competitor, so lose them.
Another method of establishing dominance is to control the pace of the match. Even if you’re behind, you can still dominate the tempo of play. Between points, walk into position at your own pace. If it’s slower than your opponent wishes, make him wait; if it’s faster, let him feel rushed. Don’t break the rules or try to be irritating. Just be determined to play at your own pace.
Finally, you can dominate with your match strategy. Clear game plans can be intimidating. They indicate that you think you have found a weakness and intend to exploit it. Thoughtful, purposeful people frighten those who are uncertain (which most of us are). Also, don’t allow your opponent to think that you fear any part of his game. For example, if you serve to your opponent’s forehand and he hits a great return, indicate that it didn’t impress you by serving there again. If you play a long baseline point and he outlasts you, don’t immediately begin to hit harder or rush the net. Go right back at him and force him to do it again. After you win one of these long points you can decide to adjust your approach, but you don’t want him to feel that you have conceded this part of the game to him. Dominant players change their strategies because they choose to, not because their opponents make them.
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