'Going for shots' is a mental attitude. It's the freedom to
not worry about failing when you're hitting; it is not caring
when you are in the process of hitting your shots. In other
words, you're relaxed. A good example of this attitude would
be when your opponent's serve is long and you yell "out" as
you hit one of the best returns of the match. Since the ball
was served long, you did not care one whit if you made it or
not. As a result, you automatically melted into the ideal
mental performance state. You were relaxed and simply went
for the shot.
Do not confuse the mental attitude of going for your shots
with physically hitting every ball with power. That is not
what I mean by going for your shots. It is a relaxed mental
attitude that takes confidence and months of practice.
Pounding the ball into oblivion is NOT going for your shots.
You can be hitting a slow, medium, or hard shot and be going
for your shots. It is a mental attitude, not any particular
way of hitting.
If you have the ability to hit hard and keep a high percentage
of balls in play, by all means go for it. Notice I said high
percentage. Do NOT go for your shots if you are selecting low
percentage shots that you can only make a small percentage of
the time. To keep trying the same low percentage shot over and
over and over again and calling it 'going for your shots' is
incorrect. You must continue to play within the boundaries of
the game you possess. Going for your shots does not mean to
play with reckless abandonment. It's playing with
controlled abandonment.
The control part is playing within your boundaries and the
abandonment part is adapting a relaxed, carefree mental
attitude when hitting. Sometimes slow, sometimes medium pace,
and sometimes hitting hard but always with a relaxed, automatic
mental attitude that is the signature of a champion.
