The game within the game refers to the things done to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Here is are two scenarios, one I observed at a recent tournament and the other to me personally. In this recent tournament my doubles team is up 9-4 breaker and the kid from the other team skips a forehand. That made the match 10-4 us or match point or possibly 7 match points actually–but wait–the ref missed the skip. Of course the opposing team knows it was a skip but gladly takes the double bounce! That team goes in to serve down 4-9 rather than my team serving at 10-4. I had a bad feeling of what was to come. Why? The emphasis my team put on that one call. They let it get to them and went on and on about it. This may sound strange but I think competitors understand–I understand the call because the ref could not see it. I understand what happened but my team would not let it go. My team felt well, “cheated” because they were cheated! They never got the serve back and lost 11-9. That hurt! I hate losing those types of matches–not because of the call but because of the mental meltdown. While my team went on about it, what would they have done if they were down 4-9 and got the serve back with a bad call?
So to me that call had nothing to do with my team losing and everything to do with us losing. We lost because we were missing shots from 4 serving-9 to 11 serving 9- they scored 7 points in a row. To the other team’s credit, they made the shots and won the game within the game.
Here is another example–the old “Yeah, in your face” primal scream in a close game or tie-breaker. While designed to break an opponent’s will, be careful with the timing because it could strengthen their resolve. Always wait until 10 and you are serving before using that scream! Even then it is risky. I remember serving at 10-10 and telling my opponent, “Here I come”! I hit a drive serve and he rolled it.
I then yelled, “There I go!”
So be careful when playing that mental game because if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Often the best psych players are the most susceptible to the trash talk!