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...what would have
happened in the other case that I interpret it so readily to my own
advantage. I have sometimes lain awake a whole night, trying to serve
out the last ball of an interesting game in a particular corner of the
court, which I had missed from a nervous feeling. Rackets (I might
observe, for the sake of the uninformed reader) is, like any other
athletic game, very much a thing of skill and practice; but it is also a
thing of opinion, 'subject to all the skyey influences.'
If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory. 
If you
hesitate in striking at the ball, it is ten to one but you miss it. If
you are apprehensive of committing some particular error (such as
striking the ball _foul_) you will be nearly sure to do it. While
thinking of that which you are so earnestly bent upon avoiding, your
hand mechanically follows the strongest idea, and obeys the imagination
rather than the intention of the striker. A run of luck is a forerunner
of success, and courage is as much wanted as skill. No one is,...
Hazlitt, William
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A little bit about Hazlitt, William
William Hazlitt (10 April 1778 - 18 September 1830) was an English writer remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, often esteemed the greatest English literary critic after Samuel Johnson. Indeed, Hazlitt's writings and remarks on Shakespeare's plays and characters are rivaled only by those of Johnson in their depth, insight, originality, and imagination. · Can we improve this biography? Post your version
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