You Think You're Tough? by Reagan Rech

I’ve seen just about everyone on the varsity tennis team cry (because of tennis). Just like any sport it really stinks to lose, but tennis is different. It’s not a whole team of 10 people, it’s just you or you and someone else. You win by yourself, but you also lose by yourself. Your performance in the match is a direct reflection of your skill and how well you’ve been practicing. You’re not losing because of some subpar pitcher or quarterback. You’re making yourself lose. If you don’t have the mental toughness that this sport requires, then you’ll never beat Pope John and forget about taking the HWS title because it’s never going to happen. These are the close matches that aren’t played, they are fought.

Sometimes you have to resist the urge to slam you’re racquet on the ground. Unless you’re Serena Williams, then I guess it’s ok. Sometimes you have to be your only supporter because not a lot of people care about tennis. You have to tell yourself that you’ll come back even when it’s game point and you can’t afford to lose. You have to stay tough even when your coach yells at you and says, “stop screwing this up” which only makes the internal struggle 10 times worse. I guess he only cares about winning. You also have to keep it together when your opponent makes bad call after bad call. Don’t slam your racquet on the ground and please don’t burst into tears.

Playing tennis last year was a lot easier because I played doubles. Doubles isn’t as much of a mental game because you can always blame your partner. However, transitioning from doubles to singles is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. I wasn’t really expecting to be playing singles this year because I’m not that good. I constantly told myself that I would be a terrible singles player because I don’t have the mental toughness. I suppose I was wrong though because I was pretty successful this season as a singles player. This season I also came to the conclusion that there are two different types of tennis players; angry and sad. I’m a little bit of both, I’m usually angry when I play (occasionally upset) and sad after a close match. When I play, I slam my racquet on my heel to channel my rage and I've wanted to cry several times in the middle of a game. I’d love to say that I’ve never cried after a match (or during), but that’s not true. I wish I had more mental toughness and the ability to leave it all on the court, but I just can't.