Above All Be Stingy

First of all, let me start off by saying that I don't advocate gambling. I believe that, in many ways, gambling can be compared to hitting drop shots: if it works out, you want to come back for more; if it doesn't, you come back for more thinking that you'll do better next time (i.e., discounting the percentages and attributing your loss to fluke or bad luck). However, one lesson that CAN be learned from gambling, is how to be stingy. 

Often times, when I play against a developing youngster, it seems that they aim to make the highlight real of some sports channel. I must confess, that many times, I too am impressed with certain shots that they choose to hit. What is important to remember, however, is that in tennis you don't get graded by looks, but by matches won/lost. Furthermore, these matches are really comprised of individual points. So while the player gets the euphoria that comes from hitting a clean, flat-out winner that paints the lines (for example), someone with more experience grinds out point after point after point and, pretty soon, these points turn into games, games into sets and sets into matches. So, like Texas Hold 'Em, the player can win a medium-sized pot once in a while while the other player wins hand after hand of smaller pots which, in the end, push the opponents to "gamble" rather than play percentages. 

To be a better player, it helps to be more stingy; to ratchet back the level of testosterone that you inject in the game and focus more on winning more big points rather than winning fewer points in a big way. A point is a point; this is not figure-skating. The same value is attributed to an ace as to an unforced errors. Therefore, let you're opponents have the highlight real; you can go ahead and focus on taking home the paycheck.