It's easy to talk about someone else's mistakes when you are sitting on the sidelines watching the match, and the person who's mistakes you are talking about is under the gun playing for a decent sum. Whenever I am sweating a match, I usually keep my mouth shut, because I've come to understand that when the pressure is on, sometimes many people, including myself, don't think clearly and make stupid mistakes. I'm not saying I won't comment about a certain shot, such as discussing it with a friend and pointing out other options, just to chit chat basically.
Sometimes I hear other people talking about me when I'm playing. Every once in a while I hear comments like "man he dogged it bad" after I miss a shot, or today it was "That's just poor judgement, he could have played safe". These guys who are sweating the match probably don't think that I can hear them, but usually I can. After I overheard that last comment, I told the guy that I shot it for two reasons: I have been practicing almost that exact same shot very often for the past few days and I believe I am a favorite to make it. And the other reason is that if I make the ball, I win the game because the shape is natural and the layout is easy. I ended up winning that set, and after my opponent quit, the guy asked me what I meant by being a "favorite" to make the shot that I had missed. It told him that I "let up" on my stroke before I hit the shot and that's why I missed. He said that if I was a favorite, then I would make it every time. I told him that he was wrong, and that I would make it most of the time. That time I just happened to miss. He set the shot up and told me if I made it 5 times in a row he would buy me a drink. Sure enough I got up and cinch stroked it in 5 times in a row. Afterwards I mentioned to him that I had overheard that he said he would have played safe. He demonstrated where he would have played the safe. I told him that I saw that safety before I took the shot, but I took my percentages and went for the shot. The safety was a medium-difficulty safety, and the shot was a difficult shot, but for me it was much more easy than the safety for me since I had practiced it so often. I discussed with him that I follow a principle that if the safety is just as difficult or more difficult than the shot, go for the shot. Although in reality the safety was easier than the shot, but for ME, the shot was easier than the safety. Lesson learned here for me. If you use that principle, make sure that it only applies to shots that YOU YOURSELF are high percentage/low percentage to make.
Sometimes I hear other people talking about me when I'm playing. Every once in a while I hear comments like "man he dogged it bad" after I miss a shot, or today it was "That's just poor judgement, he could have played safe". These guys who are sweating the match probably don't think that I can hear them, but usually I can. After I overheard that last comment, I told the guy that I shot it for two reasons: I have been practicing almost that exact same shot very often for the past few days and I believe I am a favorite to make it. And the other reason is that if I make the ball, I win the game because the shape is natural and the layout is easy. I ended up winning that set, and after my opponent quit, the guy asked me what I meant by being a "favorite" to make the shot that I had missed. It told him that I "let up" on my stroke before I hit the shot and that's why I missed. He said that if I was a favorite, then I would make it every time. I told him that he was wrong, and that I would make it most of the time. That time I just happened to miss. He set the shot up and told me if I made it 5 times in a row he would buy me a drink. Sure enough I got up and cinch stroked it in 5 times in a row. Afterwards I mentioned to him that I had overheard that he said he would have played safe. He demonstrated where he would have played the safe. I told him that I saw that safety before I took the shot, but I took my percentages and went for the shot. The safety was a medium-difficulty safety, and the shot was a difficult shot, but for me it was much more easy than the safety for me since I had practiced it so often. I discussed with him that I follow a principle that if the safety is just as difficult or more difficult than the shot, go for the shot. Although in reality the safety was easier than the shot, but for ME, the shot was easier than the safety. Lesson learned here for me. If you use that principle, make sure that it only applies to shots that YOU YOURSELF are high percentage/low percentage to make.
