2020-04-19-ebook-tennis

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How to improve your mental game on a tennis court
There is a good chance that you started to play tennis because it is good fun. It is also a great way of making friends and keeping an active lifestyle. However, as time passes and you become a better player and start to play competitive matches, the initial joy of playing tennis usually gives space to feelings of nervousness and pressure, which can lead to excessive anxiety, tension and frustration in the tennis court. And why do you get nervous? Maybe you get nervous because you are down a break and love-30. Maybe you are nervous because you are on the brink of losing to someone you have never lost before. There are any number of reasons why you get nervous before or during a point. The point here is that they are all related to the potential outcome of a match, not the actual act of playing tennis.
It is very common to see a vast majority of players investing hours and hours on the training court refining technique and developing the physical ability required for optimal performance. However, little attention is paid to the psychological skills required to compete. Tennis is a mental game. If you follow the professional tour, you probably realised that all top players have the physical and technical ability to excel on the court but what defines a champion is the ability to thrive under the pressure of competition. In the critical moments of a match, it is the player who is able to embrace the challenge and take control of his psychological state that will perform at his best.
On the amateur level, you are probably not alone if you feel that you play much better in practice lessons than in competitive matches. You may be physically and technically superior than you opponent on the court, but if you don’t have the ability to control your psychological state when under pressure, you will limit your capacity to win. There are many reasons behind why that usually happens but the number one reason is fear of losing or the fear of not playing at your full potential. As human beings, we are all exposed to negative feelings, such as fear, frustration, anger and many other emotions. Unfortunately, no matter how well you know how to strike a tennis ball, those negative emotions can make your muscles to feel tight, your legs heavy, your mind distracted and the list goes can go on and on. 
Once negative emotions take control of your overall state of mind during a tennis match, you are very likely to play below your normal standards and will end up losing matches that you probably should win. Unfortunately, the vast majority of tennis coaches will put a lot of attention and time on technical aspects of the game and can spend a whole lesson feeding balls without any specific purpose. At the higher level you play, that approach alone will not take you anywhere and will not make you play any better. If you want to improve as a tennis player and win more competitive matches, you need to focus on three aspects of the game: technical, physical and mental. 
At the professional level, technique accounts for 30%, physical 30% and the mental side is by far the most important element with 40%. If you think about the top 10 players in the world, they all have great technique and fitness levels. When they play each other, their matches are close during most of the match and the final result will usually be driven by one or two points that are played when the stakes and nerves are high. No need to say that the player better prepared mentally will usually outperform in those circumstances and will end up winning key points and eventually the match. I always like to mention Nadal as the best example of mental fortitude in the history of the sport. The Spaniard has won 11 Roland Garros titles out of 13 appearances. In other words, he has won a total of 86 matches out of 88 in total, an astonishing winning percentage of 97.8%. However, when you look at the percentage of points that Nadal won in the same 88 matches, it adds up to only 56% of the total points played. You don’t need to be a statistician to conclude that Nadal’s ability to win crucial points is what sets him apart from his competitors. That shows that in today’s game more than ever, the edge is mental. 
Most of us have not been taught how to train and assess the mental side of the game. That is perfectly fine if you your goal is to play social tennis with your friends at Saturday morning. However, if you want to take your game to the next level, improve as a player and have a change of winning your next year’s club tournament, then I assure you that spending some time working on the mental side of the game will make you wonders. The mental game of tennis is the challenge inside our own mind that every player must battle. Over my 30 years playing the sport, I’ve learned one or two things that can help anyone to be stronger mentally, smarter strategically and calmer emotionally. That combo will make anyone play better under pressure and perform at his best when it matters. Without further do, here I share my top 10 takeaways that will help you to improve the mental side of your tennis game. 
1. The warm up is not actually to warm up
That sounds a paradox, but I do mean that. The 5 minute warm up should be used to assess your opponent’s level of play, his weaknesses and strengths, how well he moves, his style of play, etc. That assessment should be used to define and adjust your game plan. You should also try to disguise your opponent by hiding your weaker points. For instance, if you slice 99% of the time during matches, you should avoid showing that during the warm up and instead hitting through the ball so your opponent will be surprised when the match starts. Regarding warming up your body for the match, you should try to do that a couple of hours before the match if you want to avoid injuries and are serious about competing. It is an illusion to think that 5 minutes of warm up is enough to get your body prepared for the match so use the warm up to relax your body and take the pre match tension away, swing freely without trying to overhit or show your opponent how hard you can hit. That is not the purpose of any warm up.
2. Setting a clear game plan for playing your opponent
If you are not aware of where you are going and what you are trying to achieve, your destiny is likely to be decided by luck. To work out the path that will lead you to winning the match, you should figure out what will put you in a position where you are in control of the rallies. For example, if both you and your opponent have strong forehands but mediocre backhands, then you can choose to play to your opponent’s backhand and run around your own backhand whenever possible. Your opponent will try to do the same, so the match will come down to execution. If you have developed your mental game, you will stand a better chance of executing this strategy better as the match unfolds, especially when the so-called ‘important’ stages of the match come. Executing a strategy successfully hinges on your ability to play tactical shots. These are shots that win the point outright, set you up to finish the point or draw an error because it is the type of shot that your opponent hates. 
3. Focus on what you can control
You need to learn what to focus on and what to ignore during a tennis match. This selective attention is crucial because there are a lot of distractions on the court. The adjacent courts, the spectators and the conditions like the wind, sun (or lights if at night time), heat, rain, humidity and altitude all play a part in the way a match is played. If someone in the crowd shouts during a point or if a ball from the adjacent court rolls over to your court, you have to be able to deal with the distraction without affecting your concentration and mindset. Accept that these things are out of your control and therefore do not let these things bother you, otherwise it can make you lose concentration at important points of the match and undermineyour performance. Dealing with the conditions is a major part of the mental game of tennis. 
4. Develop rituals between the points
The most mentally tough players all have rituals that help them forget about the last point and get back in focus for the next point. Remember that the most important point in tennis is always the next point. You need to clear your mind before the start of the next point, re-focus and get your mind prepared to play the next point. Walking outside the baseline after each point while straightening the strings is a good way to get a mental break and reset for the next point. While serving, bouncing the ball a certain number of times will keep you mind focused and alert. Rituals are also a great way to control the pace of the match and you should always try to speed up if you are playing well or, conversely, you should try to slow down if you feel you are starting to lose a bit of your form. 
5. Accept you are going to make mistakes and control your emotions
You need to remember that the game of tennis is made of more errors than winners. This is true at almost all levels of the game but especially more evident in the beginning when you are learning how to strike a tennis ball. If you get frustrated every time you make a mistake, this will lead to loss of concentration, negative self-talk and will undermine your performance. It is also very easy to get angry when we are losing a match and it is important that you learn how to control that feeling. Have you ever smashed a tennis racquet after a bad point? Does that help you play better? Probably not. Whether you dump an easy volley in the net, or hit a forehand into the fence, try not to react. That is, don’t allow yourself to react before you compose yourself. It’s very easy to yell, or smash a racket immediately after one of the million different potentially infuriating misses there are in the course of a tennis match. Instead, before you react after a bad shot, take a few deep breaths before you do anything. Chances are, after you compose yourself for that second, you will realize an outburst or racket throw won’t do any good for you. Remember that mistakes are a great opportunity to learn so do not blame yourself with negative self-talk during a match for making them. That attitude will only increase your opponent’s confidence and momentum. 
6. Do not overthink
A common problem in both tennis and life is overlooking the obvious by making it overly complicated. It’s that analogy of being too deep into the forest, and all you can see is trees. By overthinking, we tend to generate errors and mistakes in what we do. We get a form of “analysis paralysis” and it can get difficult to take action or realise what needs to be done. The simple preventative measure for this is to think about something simple. In tennis, this can be to simply look at the ball or increase your foot work intensity – and stay focused on them, so that other random thoughts stay out. Remember that in a game like tennis, it’s all about minimizing errors – because whoever makes the most mistakes usually loses the match.
7. Learn to relax before the match
Anxiety is the natural enemy for every competitive athlete, but is an experience that needs to be embraced as an integral part of the competitive environment. The key is to learn how to take control your anxiety before it takes control of you. A level of anxiety facilitates your performance, by activating your body and focusing your mind. Anxiety becomes a problem to your performance when you feel overwhelmed by the physical and psychological symptoms. Learning to relax promotes control of anxiety and facilitates recovery by reducing physical tension and calming the mind. The cumulative effects of stress, the worry about impending performances, and the acute anxiety experienced during critical moments in a match can all be assisted with relaxation exercises. The simplest way to train how to relax is to start practicing meditation and exercises that will make your mind feel connected to your body. Again, learn how to breathe deeply is the first step towards that goal.
8. Look confident and positive
As a general rule, how you carry yourself has a direct correlation to how you actually feel. In tennis this is helpful in more than one way. Even when you are not feeling well or are behind the scoreboard, how you project yourself will not only help you to actually feel that way, but will also inevitably get in the head of your opponent. You may have just played a bad point, or a bad set, but if you still look as confident and carefree as you did before the first ball was struck, your opponent will likely think, “How is this guy still so positive?” which can lead to a lapse in their concentration. Remember, you are engaged in not only a physical battle, but a mental one as well. You can still win the mental battle even if you are losing the physical one. Nadal is again the master in this area. Even when he is not feeling 100% during a tennis match, he will keep the same attitude and will avoid to show any signs of weakness during the match.
9. Focus on the process not on the outcome
This is probably my favourite and easier said than done. Your attitude towards winning or losing will dictate your ability to perform under pressure. In tennis, at the end of the day, you are only either a winner or a loser. It would be perfect if we could all just be winners all the time but that is impossible. Losing is as much a part of the game as winning. If you are too concerned about winning a match, you will probably increase the chances of getting tight and nervous, which in turn will make you play below your true potential. Positive thoughts focused on executing your match plan will assist you to achieve the optimal psychological state for peak performance. A loss will usually generate strong negative emotions and it is critical to ensure these are dealt with in a constructive way. On the mental game of tennis, you can find comfort in the fact that whatever happens, you can learn a lot from every match. That is the key to play freely and without fear. Once you understand that you can’t control the result but you always have the power to control the effort you put on the court, you will start to feel happy with the way you play, regardless if you win or lose. Tell yourself that you truly do not care whether you win or lose. Tell yourself a million times until you truly believe it. Take a deep breath, and embrace the point ahead as just a single point. Whether you win or lose that point, do it again, reset and play an entire match of individual points. 
10. Have fun
Whenever you feel disappointed with your results, try to remember why you first touched a tennis racquet. As I said in the beginning, it was probably because you fell in love with the sport and found hitting tennis balls great fun! That spirit of enjoyment should always be remembered no matter how frustrated you get after losing to someone you probably should have won. Keeping the spirits high even after poor performances will increase your chances of bouncing back quicker and stronger the next time you step onto the court. One of the reasons why Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time is because he enjoys tough matches and challenging opponents – he sees it as fun. If we learn to have fun when we play, not only will the entire experience be more pleasant, but we will also become better players because of it. The same is true in other areas of life – almost nothing that we do is a matter of life and death, and 99% of things are not that serious that we can’t be recovered from. Remember that at the end of the day, tennis is a sport, and life is a game!
As you can see, tennis is a complex competitive sport. There are so many different aspects of the game that need to be in perfect control to play a perfect match. It is common practice to think that technical aspects of the game, including footwork and how well you hit a forehand will play a determinantrole on how successful you are in winning tennis matches and competitions. This is only true to a certain extend and to a certain level of play. However, at the top level of the game, if your mental game is off and you allow your opponent to get the mental edge in a match, it is likely that none of the technical parts of your game will matter. Remember that tennis is played as much between-the-ears as it is between the sidelines. Don’t let your mental toughness (or weakness) cost you any more matches. I hope that next time you step onto the court you will be more aware of the mental aspect of the game of tennis and can take advantage of some of points raised here to improve your overall performance which will hopefully lead to winning more tennis matches.
If you liked the article and want to send your comments or would like to receive more information on how to improve your mental toughness on the tennis court, please get in touch with me at msugui@hotmail.com