Composure After Bad Line Calls
January 3, 2010 by PatrickCohn
Welcome to session number forty nine of The Tennis Psychology Podcast. Dr. Patrick Cohn at Sports Psychology for Tennis, is a mental game of tennis expert and helps tournament players, tennis coaches and parents improve confidence, focus, and composure using sports psychology strategies.
In this week’s tennis psychology session, Dr. Cohn teaches you the top mental strategies to staying composed after a bad line call from an opponent. Many tennis players become angry or upset after a bad line call from an opponent. This can cause players to lose focus, speed up their play and under perform. Listen to this mental game of tennis podcast to learn how keep your composure after a bad line call.
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*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast #49 (right click and “save as” to your computer)
Subscribe to The Tennis Psychology Podcast via iTunes
*Submit your mental game of tennis question to Dr. Cohn at Peak Performance Sports
*Download a free tennis psychology report to improve your mindset between points
Improve Your Mental Toughness for Tennis Quickly with Dr. Cohn’s new Tennis Confidence audio program!
Tennis Podcast: Letting Go of Past Mistakes
November 22, 2009 by PatrickCohn
Welcome to session number forty six of The Tennis Psychology Podcast. Dr. Patrick Cohn at Sports Psychology for Tennis, is a mental game of tennis expert and helps tournament players, tennis coaches and parents improve confidence, focus, and composure using sports psychology strategies.
In this week’s tennis psychology session, Dr. Cohn teaches you how let go of mistakes and play on with composure. Many tennis players get frustrated when they make mistakes, which cause players to lose focus and under perform. Listen to the podcast to learn how to forget about past mistakes.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast #46 (right click and “save as” to your computer)
Subscribe to The Tennis Psychology Podcast via iTunes
*Submit your mental game of tennis question to Dr. Cohn at Peak Performance Sports
*Download a free tennis psychology report to improve your mindset between points
Improve Your Mental Toughness for Tennis Quickly with Dr. Cohn’s new Tennis Confidence audio program!
Tennis Podcast: Coping with Errors
September 13, 2009 by PatrickCohn
Welcome to session number thirty seven of The Tennis Psychology Podcast. Dr. Patrick Cohn at Sports Psychology for Tennis, is a mental game of tennis expert and helps tournament players, tennis coaches and parents improve confidence, focus, and composure using sports psychology strategies.
In this week’s tennis psychology session, Dr. Cohn answers a question about how coaches and parents can talk to their tennis players about mistakes. Many tennis players tend to dwell on their mistakes. Listen to the podcast to learn how to help your young tennis players with mistakes.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast #37 (right click and “save as” to your computer)
Subscribe to The Tennis Psychology Podcast via iTunes
*Submit your mental game of tennis question to Dr. Cohn at Peak Performance Sports
*Download a free tennis psychology report to improve your mindset between points
Improve Your Mental Toughness for Tennis Quickly with Dr. Cohn’s new Tennis Confidence audio program!
Jankovic: How to Improve After Losses
July 7, 2009 by PatrickCohn
Jelena Jankovic fell to American qualifier, Melanie Oudin in the third round of Wimbledon 6-7, 7-5, 6-2. Jankovic attributed her unexpected loss to the heat, making her feel exhausted and dizzy.
No matter if you are playing under tough conditions or aren’t playing your best tennis, losing can be hard to accept. No tennis player likes to lose. After losing a match, you might become frustrated, which can cause you to lose confidence and motivation.
You won’t play every match perfectly. And you won’t win every match either. Losing is part of the game. For Jankovic, losing becomes an opportunity to improve her game.
“But, you know, every time you lose, it’s of course disappointing. Nobody likes to lose. It’s tough to accept losses, but you just have to try to learn, you know, from the losses. And I think from losses you learn much more be when you’re winning,” said Jankovic.
Losing can give you an opportunity to find out which parts of your game needs improvement. If you win a match, you might not look at why you won or what you need to work on. If you lose, you’ll want to get better, which may mean working on your weaknesses.
It’s easy for you to beat yourself up after a loss or be overly-critical of your performance. This doesn’t help your confidence. You should wait until your negative emotions about the match subside, which could be 20 minutes later or the next day.
Then, look at your performance objectively. You’ll want to think about what you did well during your match. You might notice that your forehand down the line got you out of trouble or that you executed your strategy well. You’ll also want to assess parts of your game you have improved such as your backhand slice or the placement of your second serve. When you think about what you did well, this can help boost your confidence.
You’ll also want to look at what you didn’t do well. Where did you lose most of your points? What was your opponent’s strategy? For example, you might notice that your opponent’s strategy was to bring you into the net and lob over your head. You’ll want to find the weak areas of your game and structure your practice to work on those weaknesses.
The bottom line is that losing is part of sports. Instead of getting upset and losing confidence, you can look at your losses as opportunities to learn and improve your game.
Roger Federer Has Confidence Again
June 8, 2009 by PatrickCohn
Tennis confidence is developed over years of practice and play. However, for some tennis players, confidence can go quickly after making a mistake or losing a match.
Roger Federer had his share of hits to his confidence with a few tough losses to Nadal. Roger Federer bounced back from his loses to win his first title of the season at the Madrid Open recently. Federer beat Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-4 in the final.
“It’s not the moment to get carried away, but it is definitely good for my confidence, especially beating Rafa in the final so it definitely proves that I am doing the right things and I am working extremely hard and it is paying off,” Federer said.
Winning matches is a powerful way to boost confidence. But, match success shouldn’t be your only source of confidence. Winning isn’t something you can completely control. You can’t control how your opponent is playing, the weather, or the court surface which all can play a factor in whether you win or lose.
Likewise, you can get too focused on things not within your control, which can cause you to become frustrated or lose composure. When you become frustrated or angry, you open the door to make more mistakes or speed up your play, which doesn’t help your game. You’ll want to find other sources of confidence, sources you can control, such as your practice, preparation or your mental game.
You’ll also want to have stable confidence instead of fragile confidence. Players with a stable level of confidence are able to bounce back quickly after mistakes and can stay confident despite the ranking or ability of their opponent. Roger Federer’s tennis confidence is consistent no matter who he’s playing.
“It’s not like a relief, I was so close to him [Nadal] at Melbourne and Wimbledon. But I always kept the belief that I could beat him again. That’s what you need on this kind of surface, I stayed positive.”
Some tennis players become negative about who they’re playing or their tennis game. Negativity can lead to a downward spiral causing players to lose emotional control and make more mistakes. The key is to think more positively. Look at playing your opponent as a challenge and think of your mistakes as a learning opportunity instead.
Another important part of Federer’s tennis confidence is patience. Confident athletes are patient about their success. They know that success will come eventually. In contrast, impatient athletes become frustrated when success doesn’t’t come quickly.
“I’ve had some bad losses this year but have felt this win has been coming. Things are falling into place and of course it’s the right time to get the victory,” said Federer.
Things fell into place for Roger Federer at the French Open. Federer captured his first French Open title this year. Federer beat Robin Soderling in three sets, 6-1, 7-6, 6-4.
“So I always believed in my chances to win Paris or any Grand Slam. It’s really for those that I tried to keep myself most fit. That was also one of the reasons why I took six weeks off after the Australian Open. Let everything heal and let everything settle, and then I came back very strong,” said Federer.
Your tennis psychology tip today is to find ways to boost your confidence that you can control, such as your preparation and practice. The key is to keep a positive attitude, stay patient and the results will come.
Emotional Control Leads Azarenka to Win
April 16, 2009 by PatrickCohn
Tennis players can experience strong emotions during match play. Positive emotions, such as experiencing the thrill of hitting a winner can have a powerful effect on your mental game and thus boost your confidence and focus during the match. Feeling positive emotions, such as momentum, can help keep your run going strong.
Negative emotions, such as frustration or anger, can hurt your game. Tennis players feel upset, frustrated or angry for several different reasons. You might become upset after missing shots you have no trouble executing in practice. You might feel angry with yourself after making a poor decision on shot selection or strategy. You might even become frustrated with an opponent’s bad line call.
Whatever the cause of your frustration, a process I call “dwelling on the past” happens and causes you to lose focus on the match. You may carry your frustration with you to the next point or shot causing more mistakes and lower confidence in your game.
Staying composed is critical to improving your mental game of tennis. Victoria Azarenka is an excellent example of staying composed on the court. She experienced the biggest win of her career so far, beating Serena Williams in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open last week.
“I was more consistent and more aggressive. I would say I was always trying to put pressure and I was just believing in myself so much. No matter what, I have to play and keep going and I can win. I think I controlled [my emotions] very well for the first big final. I wasn’t getting upset on any ball. I was just happy to play every point,” said Victoria Azarenka.
Often in my work as a mental game coach to athletes, I see athletes become frustrated because they are blocked from reaching their expectations. The solution is to modify your unrealistic or strict expectations. Your expectations might be about stats (number of winners for example) or results (beating someone in two sets). When you don’t achieve those high expectations, you become frustrated easily and might lose confidence.
Here’s you mental game tip for today: Understand that you can’t be perfect in tennis and always play up to your high expectations. Give yourself the luxury of making 3-4 errors per match. This way you can put mistakes behind you and move on to the next point. Learn from your mistakes instead of beat yourself up for a lost chance or opportunity.
Federer’s Mental Toughness and Maturity
December 23, 2008 by PatrickCohn
I find that younger players with less tournament experience struggle with their emotional control more so that veteran players on Tour. With maturity and greater mental toughness comes increased emotional and mental control on the court.
Even Roger Federer early in his career would lose his composure on the court. But he’s learned to stay calm on the outside and inside as his mental toughness has matured with his experience and wins. He can see it in his opponents, which might turn into his advantage:
“I don’t get the anxiety during a match so much anymore. You know, to throw racquets, to toss balls out of the court, scream and stuff. I almost laugh [on the inside] about it a little bit today when an opponent does it. But that’s something for me that’s not a problem any more.”
~ Roger Federer
However, he does demand more of himself in practice and his frustration comes out. He lets it show in practice. You might argue that it helps him get up for practice and make changes. He does not like to show his anger in tournaments for more than one reason. He wants the respect of his fans and does not want to embarrass himself:
“But in practice that comes out much more often, you know, the frustration, let’s say, disappointment, and the anger and stuff. But, I don’t know, it’s just something that’s gone away over time. And I think, on the match court, it’s just a respect for the fans sitting there and not embarrassing myself, you know, in front of millions on the TV, as well.”
~ Roger Federer
He’s also concerned about kids who watch him play. He wants to set a good example for young kids in tennis even though he enjoyed – on some level – watching McEnroe throw racquets and get upset at officials:
“And maybe kids watching, as well. I want them to have a proper example. Even though I enjoyed watching Goran, McEnroe, these guys throwing racquets. I thought it was funny. But at the same time, I don’t think a tennis player needs to act this way. I think there are different ways, I hope, that kids get inspired other than throwing racquets.”
~Roger Federer
One thing I find interesting about Federer’s mental game based on the quotes above is how much he thinks about embarrassing himself and the image he portrays to kids about his behavior on the court. If concern about what others think about your behavior on the court helps you stay composed, this can be a positive. However, based on what I know about tennis psychology, athletes that worry about what others think have fear of failure and tighten up. But it must work for Federer.
