Why Do We Want to Win?

Like all social species, we are programmed to compete.

Human beings evolved to live and work in groups. We are a social species, like wolves or chimpanzees, and as such there is a social hierarchy. It is a pecking order or social ranking, and, like the other species, who is on top of whom feels important.

Simply, we are genetically programmed to compete with each other to elevate our rankings on this hierarchy. Other social species achieve their rankings by fighting (or by threatening to fight). We do it by competing successfully in various areas, one of which is sport.

At its most basic level, a competitive tennis match is a symbolic fight for supremacy, a concept that clarifies many of the otherwise incomprehensible emotions swirling around such matches.

Tennis is a symbolic fight, because you just can’t hit each other. In tennis, each contestant pits his or her physicality, intelligence, will, nerve, fortitude, and even character against an opponent who is doing likewise as they wrestle to a decision. On court you can ‘feel’ your opponents pushing you around – trying to dominate and control you – while you do the same in return.

There is no way around…