Learning how to play in unfavourable/imperfect conditions has been one of the most important lessons in my short career. Playing different types of tournaments in different types of clubs in different types of cities and countries provides invaluable experience in the art of adapting to your surroundings and making the best of the situation. Very, very rarely have I felt perfectly prepared for a match. There are usually a few variables that I fail to or cannot control, even before matches I have been thinking about for months beforehand. There is always some sort of inconvenience or other circumstance that prevents ideal preparation. Part of being a good player though means doing your best to minimize the variables that you can control.
One of the most common experiences I’ve had is playing on unusual courts. Courts that were over 35°C, slippery as ice, had pieces missing, tins too high, etc. This has always bothered me, and instead of playing to the conditions, I’ve historically let these idiosyncrasies bother me. Lately though, I’ve been learning to accept the conditions and use them to my advantage. Ultimately, both players are on the same court. If the ball takes a weird bounce in the back left corner, keep hitting it there! Whining about the shadows or missing floorboard will only distract you and create excuses for a loss.
Another common scenario is not having the ideal equipment on hand (string, grip, shoes, etc). For a variety of reasons- especially on extended tours- equipment fails or breaks and cannot be replaced before the next match. Again, this may make a minor difference to your play...but it will not be as detrimental as worrying that your grip or strings will make the difference between winning and losing. Forget about it, do your best with the tools you have, and sort out the situation afterwards. I always find it strange when people blame a loss squarely on their racquet- without considering the tinned reverse boast they tried ten times!
There are many other possible glitches that can come up before or during a match. Not eating properly, not giving yourself time to warm up, stress from work and the like. The list is indeed much longer for amateurs who don’t have all day to prepare for matches! But the moral of this story is to forget about what you can’t control (a bad grip, a bad ref, extreme temperatures), analyze the factors directly affecting the match (court conditions) and decide how to use them to your advantage. You’ll almost never play a match where everything falls into place, but you can still turn these perceived annoyances in your favour.
