Is Tennis a Team Sport?

This has long been a debated question in the world of sports. No one would deny that basketball, football, or even underwater hockey is a team sport. In these "team sports", teammates come together with a common goal, and they have to physically work together to achieve that goal. According to wikipedia, "teams normally have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each member to maximize his or her strengths and minimize his or her weaknesses." Obviously in doubles, tennis meets the requirement of two teammates working together. However, in singles, it is often ambiguous as to whether tennis should be considered a team sport. My contention is that tennis is a team sport for a number of reasons.

Vicarious Learning

Ask yourself a question... In what way have I learned my strokes? Has it been that an instructor or coach has told me the correct way to hit a forehand, and ba-da-bing, I have a perfect looking forehand? No. In fact, I would say that this is rarely the case. Taking verbal cues and translating them to action is a very difficult task for most. A teammate can be one of the best ways to improve your game so you're ready for a match.

Energy

Ask yourself another question... Where does your motivation and drive come from during a match? Would a match feel differently if you did not have the energy of a team behind you, rooting for you? Why is it that the home team is more likely to win? It is because the energy of the fans, and of the teammates are all combining to empower you and the team. That energy is there for your use in a match, and it is the job of the individual playing the match to harness that energy in a positive way. Some might say that individuals can harness their own internal energy in order to succeed. True, but ultimately this results in the distructive path of living and dying by the accomplishments of the ego. I would wager that this kind of victory is far more hollow than the alternative. It is not Federer himself that gets the job done; there are millions of people on team Federer willing him to succeed. So he does succeed, and so do us fans.

The best teams in the world are exceptional at both vicarious learning and creating postive group energy. So really, tennis is only a team sport if you allow it to be. If little to no vicarious learning and energy exchanges are taking place, then I guess it would be true that that there is no team in tennis. It would just be a bunch of lonely individuals out on the court, feeding their ego, and trying to take on the complicated game of tennis the hard way. How depressing!

If you find ways to maximize each others' strengths and reduce each others' weakness, all the while energizing each other, then I would bet you would not only be better tennis players, but you would have a much better experience overall!

The 3 Selves

In tennis, there is the external game, internal game, and the third party game. External is the physical game of which your body is using its physical capacities to achieve specific goals (typically set by your inner/ conscious self). The inner game is usually dominated by your conscious mind- “I hit my damn serve in the net again because I dropped my head!” Then there is the 3^rd party game. It is the game in which external conditions, situations, and expectations take control. In a way there are 3 players on the court, when there should only be one.

That one should not be controlled by nagging critical corrections, nor should that one be controlled by the thoughts and expectations of those on the outside. The one should embrace competition as an opportunity to develop oneself, not to beat someone else down. That one should have such a strong transcendent internal belief in oneself, so much so, that she does not require validation from others or negative criticism from oneself to be better.

Understand that a human’s natural direction is to become better, wiser, and more capable than it was previous. Tennis is continually a work in progress. External and internal conditions and events can impede this natural process if the self’s belief is not strong enough in the body’s remarkable capacities. What does it take to facilitate such a strong belief in oneself? Discover your raw humanity on the tennis court…