The Warrior Sport

Every match is a small hunt.

Tennis is a Warrior sport. I believe that all of us have had other lives where there were no games, just hunting animals or your neighbor. Every match/point is a small hunt. It's in the DNA of all people. It's kill, raid, destroy, eat, or be eaten.

The Warrior mentality is the opposite of The Disruptor mentality, well described in Joel Drucker's recent article. (Click Here.) There is a place for the Disruptor in the game and he can be is a challenging opponent for those who are unprepared.

This is because the goal of the disruptor is to create doubt. He succeeds by making the opponent think something that is not actually true.

The Disruptor enrages and frustrates the opponent, affecting the outcome with trickery rather than superior play. His use of variation leads players to make uncharacteristic errors and imagine flaws in their games.

The Disruptor creates the impression he is not predictable. He will serve and volley on serves that no one should come in on. He will unexpectedly hit second serves to the forehand. He will come in on short balls, then not come in, then hit a drop shot. He stops at the service line daring you to pass when you know you should lob.

The Warrior goes into battle to kill the Disruptor--or anyone in his way. He is better prepared. He is better trained. More disciplined. He knows that he is going to win. He has won many other battles against weak and strong enemies. He has history on his side.

His weapons allow the Warrior to do whatever he has to do.

His weapons are better than the enemies' weapons. He has practiced and sharpened and honed his tactics to a confident edge. He spends hours perfecting his strings and frames and grips.

He can be vicious. He can be calm. He can be angry. He can be above all of those.

His will is strong. His memory is short. Whatever he has to do, he does.

The warrior has done his homework and scouted his enemy. He feels the ball before he strikes it. He feels the trigger pulling itself.

He knows what is going to happen in the battle and has chosen how it will end.

He visualizes the shots he will take.

Everyone has a killer in the back ground, and we have all been killed. This is why warriors feel badly when they lose, even after playing well and losing to their betters.

Warriors feel good even when beating weaker opponents. Even when playing badly. Winning is living and joyful, and losing is death and painful.

Sometimes there are injuries going into, or during matches. It can hurt to finish. But it hurts the mind more to lose than any physical pain hurts the body. A pulled muscle heals. A loss does not as quickly heal.

The Warrior does not listen to the quiet fears. This is why he does not choke. The Warrior knows he will hit his targets.

He steps up to the line to kill. There is no thought, just a picture in his mind's eye.

The Warrior has kick, twist, slice, top slice. The kick is going to move. The twist will jerk sideways. The slice will slide out wide. The flat ball is going to skid low and kick out as well.

The Warrior knows that his serve can kill.

He feels the exact, small spot on the ball he plans to hit. There's a sniper scope trained on it. It's a small spot, but he feels it is huge. He has no doubt about the right frame path.

There is the soft rocking motion before the toss goes up. The start of the rhythm. The coiling of the body, like putting a finger on a trigger.

The Warrior rotates his arm with great speed but with great relaxation, from the trophy to the drop to the contact in a quarter of a second.

In practice, with no one firing back, many players can hit targets all day. In a match, there is someone shooting back. If you cannot hit your targets in a match, you may as well not play.

The Warrior knows he can serve and volley, first serve or second serve. He knows he can stay back. He knows his serve can kill. He knows his forehand will clean up any remaining resistance.

This is how he will be judged: how good he is under pressure with his second serve.

He will run around his backhand and treats the blocked return and with the disrespect it deserves. He knows he can win when his opponent holds break point.

Every sniper misses on occasion. But it never affects his attitude or demeanor. The kill is eventual. The kill feels good.

He sees the enemy step up to serve. He reads the toss. He is ready to attack any slow or weak serve. He knows when a careful serve is coming. He senses when the ball will be sliced and popped up. His stutter step forward is powerful, launching his chest and his body weight into the return.

If he has to back up he will. If he has to shorten his stroke he will. He will run around the backhand on any serve he can to use his best weapon to great effect. He will go into the net with speed when he's hurt his enemy.

The Warrior return: disrespect for careful serves.

The server is not his friend. He sees psyche tactics coming. They wash off like cool water on his skin.

The Warrior knows where to hit his returns before the serve is struck. He knows his returns will cause the enemy to lock up with fear and miss his spots under pressure. He knows they will also lead to double faults.

He knows how to adjust his contact point to the speed and height of the serve and to create depth and angle.

He feels the spot on the ball to go down the line or cross court, or right at the enemy's feet if the enemy is serving and volleying. He can use a two or three shot tactic to pass. A backhand pass down the line feels like a perfect sniper shot—to the head.

The Warrior's approach to the Disruptor is this. Make the Disruptor see that he has no answer for the Warrior's skills, tactics, mentality, and will.

Play the Disruptor from inside the baseline.

When the Disruptor slows the ball down, the Warrior moves two feet inside the base line. He will come into net on most or all of the Disruptor's serves. He will come in on most opr all of his serves, first and second. He will make the Disruptor lob when he sees he cannot pass or cause errors with short soft angles.

Then he will crush the overheads. When the Disruptor tries to lob over is backhand side, he will demoralize him with powerful backhand overheads. (Click Here for my article on that.) All the tricks are variations are met with aggression.

This unrelenting pressure will eventually turn the match into a route and, after the victory, the Warrior will give the opponent a fist bump—or even a handshake--calm, satisfied, happy.

The Warrior Sport

Geoff Williams