The author explains what is the concept of metagame and how it is applied to any competitive area, not just sports. Metagame is about understanding the competition moves and leveraging that information to make win decisions.

https://matt-rickard.ghost.io/winning-ugly-and-the-metagame/

Brad Gilbert is a former professional tennis player and Olympic gold medalist. He wrote a book about tennis strategy called Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis, where he detailed the somewhat unorthodox strategies he used against opponents he deemed much better than himself. While I don’t know much about tennis, it stressed the importance of the metagame.

The metagame isn’t just about sports (or Poker, see The Raiser’s Edge) – it applies to almost any pursuit. The metagame is the psychological game that exists among players, involving adjustments based on how an opponent is likely to interpret a given set of actions. It’s not about playing the perfect game, it’s about understanding the psychology of your opponent and using that to your advantage.