The Duel Of The Rackets

Competition is a noticeable factor inside the game of tennis, becoming a leading character trait on the court.

Adil Siraj

Lucy Lee (Front) and Natalie Yoho (Back) on the Tennis Court Preparing to play versus one another.

Adil Siraj, Sports Writer
October 31, 2019

How does competition affect you?

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Inside the expanding world of tennis, competitiveness is a developing common trait amongst players. It is often seen left and right from wherever you look at a match. It influences a player’s behavior during the game, often inspiring what moves they perform and how they play against their opponents. Being competitive can change a player’s behavior in the right way; helping them play better, understand a player’s strategy, or form their game plan more easily. Although sometimes it can change you into the wrong light. You could begin to have a winner-takes-all mentality, always wanting to do the most when it is not required. The pressure could affect you immensely, causing you to possibly break down. People could start resenting you for your actions. When you push a friendly activity too far, you could lead to a downward spiral of relationships ending with others, but sports players actively use this correctly to benefit them in the long run.

Mr. Wintersteen is a coach for the girls’ tennis team and has seen tennis players use their competitiveness in games across multiple seasons. Mr. Wintersteen says “that the competition is something that’s more of a team versus an individual aspect.” Tennis players should and are able to play alongside their partners while being competitive and using team work together, but sometimes you require a responsible figure to help guide you and make sure that you play correctly.

Lucy Lee is a freshman tennis player and is new to the sport. She believes that being competitive can help push you to play better, but she also thinks that you could get too into the sport and emotional. Being emotional isn’t common but still could occur, though tennis is a sport that pushes through and manages to play past any obstacle that comes in the way of them. Alongside, being competitive can help you, it is often seen in pro athletes in various sports, all using the trait to push ahead and beat their opponents.

Natalie Hernandez is a varsity tennis player and has played through the pressure and heat from various tennis games, she has used competitiveness to play harder and benefit in the classroom, earning top grades while still playing on the court. Along with helping her tiptoe around tiny mistakes, helping her notice what things can be simply avoided and improved onto, but being competitive has turned easy and family activities into competitions for her. Natalie has played sports as long as she can remember and has coped with the pressure that comes from activities that she has played. 

Being competitive is a trait that is often used in tennis and other sports to receive better results. More often than not, you can usually see knowledgeable and professional players using it to their advantage and winning their matches.