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I have been playing tennis for 13 years now. Player competetively as the captain of my school team in HS, as well as some competetive tennis at college.
I find that Starcraft is very similar to tennis, especially in the proscene.
Both of these games have many similarties in how mechanics and mental strength integrate.
I believe SC/SC2 especially in the pro scene is very similar to tennis. It is not very hard to learn proper technique for all the tennis strokes. Just like its not very hard to learn builds and simple fundamentals. It's being able to apply that technique consistently in high pressure situations, and not crumble when you see something out of the ordinary.
For example we have all seen the players on the Proleague teams. Players who have extremely high win percentages in practice, but time and time again fail to deliver when they are actually put in the booth.
I was in this similar situation when I first started palying tournaments in tennis. In practice, I would crush most people I played with, but as soon as I stepped onto the court in a tourney situation, I would crumble, play badly and often lose in the 1st round of the tournament. It was not untill later on, when I got a bit older and improved my mental strength did I begin to win.
Furthermore, what I believe sets players like Boxer, Flash and Jaedong apart is how they train and handle themselves in matches.
For example I watched Boxer's RO64 match in this GSL and I watched his marine positioning. His marines were positioned where he was scouting all the approaches into his base, as well as spotting for drops and denying scouting. Its a small detail that many other participants in the GSL neglect.
Similar things are seen in tennis: Federer disguising his toss on his serve to not give away information to his opponent and the way Nadal takes his time between points. Could they still be great players without doing these things? Sure, probably, but the fact that they can keep up with the little things under such pressure just makes them that much better.
Now theres also the mental strength aspect of it. When you go into that booth its very similar to walking out to a tennis court. Once you are there, it is just you and the opponent. There is no coach to help you during the game.
You not only have to be confident and calm before going in, but you have to maintain that, even if you lose the first 2 games of a BO5, just like going down 2 sets in tennis.
I would go into it more, but I feel like I am being sidetracked and beginning to ramble at this point.
There is one thing I would like like to say and put up for discussion:
When watching top players, I don't think most people pay enough attention to the little things these players do. How they make sure that all the workers are mining optimally, their building/army positioning.
They just look at what the player overall has and what he is trying to get. They dont look at the little details, and its the details that set people like Boxer and Bisu apart from just another Terran and Protoss player.
 
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And there's the similarity of the Nadal Federer rivalry to the Jaedong Flash rivalry
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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
I think you mean Nadal Federer to Bisu Savior 
IIRC, they both toppled the king pretty close in time to each other. Only difference is that Bisu ultimately did not stay #1 whereas Nadal still is.
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Yeah, what's differs great players from good players are the little things and details. I guess it's like that with most things.
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I don't know if you could compare the intricacies of high-level tennis with high-level starcraft, but I think trying to improve your own play in tennis is a similar process to improving in starcraft. There's a lot of focus on the prominent action being performed, like the groundstroke you're trying to do, instead of the fundamentals that actually get you the advantage in the match, like footwork. It's pointless to have a better forehand than the other guy when he can hit 3 good shots before you get into position to hit one of yours, because he understands how to use his feet and court positioning. Kinda like how new players claim to have good micro, it's the same with lower-level tennis players. Plenty of players (myself included) can hit decent shots but never think about how to use them in a real match, until eventually come match time they just get run around on the court and lose because they don't have a plan.
You could say that about a lot of sports, now that I think about it. I guess tennis is more similar to starcraft because being good means being able to do complex tasks through muscle memory and making decisions very quickly. Actually that applies to a lot of sports too.
I don't think the tour and league systems are that similar to starcraft either. I guess davis cup is sort of like a starcraft team league...
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On October 21 2010 04:55 formthehead wrote:
I don't know if you could compare the intricacies of high-level tennis with high-level starcraft, but I think trying to improve your own play in tennis is a similar process to improving in starcraft. There's a lot of focus on the prominent action being performed, like the groundstroke you're trying to do, instead of the fundamentals that actually get you the advantage in the match, like footwork. It's pointless to have a better forehand than the other guy when he can hit 3 good shots before you get into position to hit one of yours, because he understands how to use his feet and court positioning. Kinda like how new players claim to have good micro, it's the same with lower-level tennis players. Plenty of players (myself included) can hit decent shots but never think about how to use them in a real match, until eventually come match time they just get run around on the court and lose because they don't have a plan.
You could say that about a lot of sports, now that I think about it. I guess tennis is more similar to starcraft because being good means being able to do complex tasks through muscle memory and making decisions very quickly. Actually that applies to a lot of sports too.
I don't think the tour and league systems are that similar to starcraft either. I guess davis cup is sort of like a starcraft team league...
Yeah, this is actually what I was trying to get at. As I find my current improvements in SC are mirroring how I remember improving at tennis.
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Sadly, this blog reminds me of my abilities in tennis and SC/SC2.
Weak mental game in tennis: Always had trouble getting the last game or last point of a match, losing the mental edge when I'm ahead, and always crumbling in tiebreakers. There have been a lot of 6-7's :[
Weak mental game in SC/SC2: The main thing here is I am scared to lose. This makes me not ladder as much and quitting while I'm ahead (on a winning streak). Recently I was on an 11 game winning streak in SC2 and since then I've been something like 5-16 or something :[...
The mental game is my weakness in any type of competition. It takes me a long time to build it up but it can easily be undone by anything. It makes me really frustrated.
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On October 21 2010 06:11 NoUShutUp wrote:
Sadly, this blog reminds me of my abilities in tennis and SC/SC2.
Weak mental game in tennis: Always had trouble getting the last game or last point of a match, losing the mental edge when I'm ahead, and always crumbling in tiebreakers. There have been a lot of 6-7's :[
Weak mental game in SC/SC2: The main thing here is I am scared to lose. This makes me not ladder as much and quitting while I'm ahead (on a winning streak). Recently I was on an 11 game winning streak in SC2 and since then I've been something like 5-16 or something :[...
The mental game is my weakness in any type of competition. It takes me a long time to build it up but it can easily be undone by anything. It makes me really frustrated.
Yeaaaap, I know how you feel haha. It took me a long time to get over that hill in tennis. I am still getting over that hill in SC2.
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On October 21 2010 06:11 NoUShutUp wrote:
Sadly, this blog reminds me of my abilities in tennis and SC/SC2.
Weak mental game in tennis: Always had trouble getting the last game or last point of a match, losing the mental edge when I'm ahead, and always crumbling in tiebreakers. There have been a lot of 6-7's :[
Weak mental game in SC/SC2: The main thing here is I am scared to lose. This makes me not ladder as much and quitting while I'm ahead (on a winning streak). Recently I was on an 11 game winning streak in SC2 and since then I've been something like 5-16 or something :[...
The mental game is my weakness in any type of competition. It takes me a long time to build it up but it can easily be undone by anything. It makes me really frustrated.
The day I got over my mental block about Tennis and started psyching out my opponents consistently was a great day 
A lot of people fail to ignore how you can do so many little things in Tennis (like in Starcraft) to play mental games with people, especially people who are REALLY into the match. Things just like giving your opponent 4 extra balls to serve with when they're up 40-15, acting like you're raging when you really aren't, taking only two balls when you hit a deuce and you're serving, yelling when you swing, taking your time before serving...
I'm sure people who don't know me think I'm a total douchebag when I play tennis competitively. I will note that I don't do this stuff at all when I'm playing friends, unless we're going back and forth with our bad manner
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On October 21 2010 07:41 Hikko wrote:Show nested quote +On October 21 2010 06:11 NoUShutUp wrote:
Sadly, this blog reminds me of my abilities in tennis and SC/SC2.
Weak mental game in tennis: Always had trouble getting the last game or last point of a match, losing the mental edge when I'm ahead, and always crumbling in tiebreakers. There have been a lot of 6-7's :[
Weak mental game in SC/SC2: The main thing here is I am scared to lose. This makes me not ladder as much and quitting while I'm ahead (on a winning streak). Recently I was on an 11 game winning streak in SC2 and since then I've been something like 5-16 or something :[...
The mental game is my weakness in any type of competition. It takes me a long time to build it up but it can easily be undone by anything. It makes me really frustrated. The day I got over my mental block about Tennis and started psyching out my opponents consistently was a great day A lot of people fail to ignore how you can do so many little things in Tennis (like in Starcraft) to play mental games with people, especially people who are REALLY into the match. Things just like giving your opponent 4 extra balls to serve with when they're up 40-15, acting like you're raging when you really aren't, taking only two balls when you hit a deuce and you're serving, yelling when you swing, taking your time before serving... I'm sure people who don't know me think I'm a total douchebag when I play tennis competitively. I will note that I don't do this stuff at all when I'm playing friends, unless we're going back and forth with our bad manner
Yeap in college, if my opponent had momentum, I would start taking a very long time in between points. Especially if I am down a set. Getting under your opponents skin even a tiny bit helps a lot.
In doubles, I would very rarely take my 1st serve at the net player, especially if he is very close to the net. If he volleyed the ball to block himself, or if I hit him, by tennis rules it is our point. God did that set the other team on tilt.
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I play tennis, and I admit that there are similarities between the two. However, I feel that in tennis, the points are over, and aggressive positioning or defensive play only lasts for one point. However, in starcraft, there are no points, everything is permanent throughout the set. This really changes the value of long-term strategies and favors tactics that will give a player an advantage through a point that only lasts 30 seconds. In starcraft I feel that you have to think a lot about "Where is this giong to put me in 5 minutes, 10, 15?"
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there are so many "something is similar to sc/sc2" threads....I probly can start my own starcraft is similar to shitting lol
they both need high concentration and it feels good after u finish your job (win).
im kidding don't ban me plz
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I think this all comes back to the concept of mastery in general. When you are in the process of getting good at something you go through a period where you learn a lot of mechanics and technique, and the most important thing you can be doing is practicing those things. In this time almost any increase in skill will be to this. When you start to get to the highest level though, say a BW starleague, the difference between the "great" players and the "good enough" players is the ability to do a lot of seemingly inconsequential things right, and to use all these tools they have developed to handle any situation.
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
i improved mentally in tennis through playing iccup LOLL
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EPT
