Tennis Podcast: Practive vs. Match Mindset

 Welcome to session number thirty two 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 to play your best in matches. Many tennis players don’t perform as well in matches as they do in practice because their mind game misfires in competition. Listen to the podcast to learn what mental game challenges prevent you from taking your practice game to matches.

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Djokovic’s Toughest Opponent: Himself

Many tennis players are their own worst enemy when it comes to the mental game of tennis. When you’re your own worst enemy, you beat yourself and critisize yourself for making too many unforced errors or mistakes on easy shots. You’re impatient about success, going for too much, too quickly. You try too hard to make it happen, rather than just letting it happen.

You might beat yourself up after mistakes and put too much pressure on yourself. In essence, you sell yourself short and don’t give yourself a chance to succeed. You show signs of fragile confidence and question whether or not you deserve to succeed.

Novak Djokovic said that he was his own worst enemy during the final of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Djokovic lost to Andy Murray in straight sets.

“Yet again, I was, I think, the biggest enemy to myself. I was struggling again and adjusting to the heat. But I was really impatient on the start. Made a huge number of unforced errors, and he [Murray] was just playing very solid and waiting for his chances and serving quite well, moving all over the court quite good” said Novak Djokovic.

In order to become your own best friend, you must be patient and believe in your tennis skills. The top players in the world make adjustments in their strategy based on the weather or court conditions.

The key to a strong mind game is to prepare mentally for any challenge you’ll face during a match. If you anticipate a long match, you’ll want to know how to stay patient and react your best in that situation. You might think about what happens to your game when you start doubting yourself and how to shore up your confidence.

If you prepare mentally for any mental or physical game challenge such as heat or fatigue, you’ll feel confident that you can cope with it. I want my students to be proactive with the mental game. If you’re not thinking positively on the court and are your own best friend, you give your opponent the advantage before you even begin the match.

Emotional Control Leads Azarenka to Win

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.

Tennis Podcast: Confidence Rollercoaster

Many tennis players can’t get off the confidence rollercoaster. Your confidence goes up and down based on immediate results. In this week’s tennis psychology session, you’ll learn how to get off the confidence rollercoaster.

Dr. Cohn teaches you the mental strategies to boost your tennis confidence. You’ll have to tap into what makes you feel confident such as your preparation or play.

The Tennis Psychology Podcast by 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.

Use the audio player to listen to The Tennis Psychology Podcast or download the file to your computer below:

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*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast #10  (right click and “save as” to your computer)

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Nadal’s Mental Game: Believe in the Win

OK, I keep thinking about the Nadal-Federer match up. As I said in a previous article, the finals at the Australian Open were filled with tennis psychology gems. I talked about how Nadal knew who he was before the match and it did not change after the match.

Another interesting inner game of tennis quote I picked up from the post-match interview was something Nadal said his coach told him to do: To believe in the victory all the time. Translation: have confidence that you can win the match no matter what happens during the match.

The interviewer asked Nadal if he was worried about his fitness level because of the marathon semi-final match two days earlier. This is what Nadal had to say:

“Yes, little bit. Little bit tired. I was little bit worried about the physical performance because I practiced and was tough to keep the concentration, no? But I spoke with my coach before the match, with Toni. He told me, ‘you go there and fight all the time and believe in the victory all the time.’ I think that’s what I did in the end,” Nadal said.

I think Federer defeated himself mentally in the final set with some faulty thinking. Later, he felt the match should not have gone five sets… He also held the idea that the better player does not always win because it comes down to momentum and who has the momentum at the end of the match:

“He’s tough like many other guys. You know, in a fifth set, anything can happen. That’s the problem. Not usually the better player always wins. Just a matter of momentum sometimes,” said Federer.

You can see two different tennis mindsets playing out here. I don’t really know what they are thinking, but based on the post-match interviews, Federer allowed his lack of momentum to sabotage him chances. Whereas Nadal used momentum and belief that he could win the match to propel him to victory. Federer said he let this one get away from him, but can’t win every tournament he enters. “I think I played a bad fifth set,” Federer said.

Your tennis psychology tip for today: Don’t let the shifts in momentum change the belief in your ability to win the match. Stay confident, hit the shots that got you into the finals, and never lose faith that you can win.

Tennis Podcast: Focusing During Practice

Many tennis players struggle with keeping the same level of intensity in practice as in matches. Some players have a hard time staying focused during practice. In this week’s tennis psychology session, you’ll learn how to keep your focus in practice and in matches. 

Dr. Cohn teaches you the top mental strategies to improve your tennis focus. You’ll have to make practice more challenging for you.

The Tennis Psychology Podcast by 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.

Use the audio player to listen to The Tennis Psychology Podcast or download the file to your computer below:

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*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast #4 (right click and “save as” to your computer)

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*Submit your mental game of tennis question to Dr. Cohn at Peak Performance Sports

Roddick: Tennis Confidence of a Champion

Andy Roddick started this year off with a bang reaching the final of the Qatar Open. Roddick grinded through a tough match against Gael Mofils 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-3.

You could say that Andy Roddick and Gael Mofils are similar in terms of ability. They both have the necessary skills to play on the professional tour. But, there is always only one winner.

“There wasn’t a whole lot between us – I just stayed the course,” Roddick said.

Roddick stayed on course. His course was his game plan for the match. He stayed committed on his game plan. That may have been the difference in the match.

When you stay committed to your game plan, you are decisive with your shots. You know what shot you’re going to hit and where you’re going to hit it. You’re able to dictate the point and play freely and confidently.

But, staying committed is sometimes difficult when you experience highs and lows during your match. You may have a string of good points and then come up with a few unforced errors. That happens to every player, even Andy Roddick.

Andy Roddick didn’t have his best moments in the second set. Roddick lost his momentum and concentration. But that lost momentum did not carry over into the third set.

“I concentrated pretty well in the third set. It was just a matter of winning the points at the right time.”

At the professional level, winning and losing the match may depend on playing better during the critical points. Roddick’s focus intensified during those critical points. He focused on what was important, not on the outcome of the match, what the media might say about his match or worrying about the last mistake he made.

Roddick had some downs during the match, but didn’t dwell on them. “So it’s a matter of staying the course and not getting discouraged by it. It was a physical match but I have done a lot of hard work in close season,” said Roddick.

Many tennis players may lose confidence when their match isn’t going as planned. When their confidence takes a hit, it may be hard to regain that confidence. Andy Roddick’s match was exhausting physically and mentally, but did not lose confidence. He reverted back to his physical and mental preparation. He was ready for the long haul.

Here’s your tennis psychology tip for today… All players experience highs and lows during matches. It’s best to trust in your game plan, stay focused on what’s important and tap into what makes you feel confident.

Tennis Coaches Who Neglect Inner Game

Mental training for tennis might not be for every player or coach. If you don’t take lessons to improve technique or if you don’t care about your fitness for tennis, then you probably won’t care to improve your mental game for tennis either.

Mental training to improve mental toughness is for more dedicated, tournament players that have a desire to improve everyday. Many recreational players don’t fit this profile. They want to play well when they do play, but are not super committed to improving their physical or mental game.

I got the following mental game question from my tennis psychology survey: “If everyone seems to think that the mental portion of the game is so important, why don’t the coaches that I (and most women that I know) focus on this aspect at all? Even though we are amateurs and playing for fun, I would still like to win and hone skills that can carry over into the other parts of my life.”

I don’t know exactly why your coaches don’t focus on the mental game of tennis, but I can comment on this based on my experience working as a mental game coach for 20 plus years. Most coaches do not feel fully trained in the mental game to spend any time in their lessons. Now, I know some coaches that are knowledgeable in the mental game and do integrate this area into their coaching, so it does not apply to all coaches.

Many coaches are comfortable teaching players how to improve strokes and serves. Mechanics are their comfort zone and they often feel like they should stick to teaching technique before integrating mental game strategies into their coaching. Besides, the mental game of tennis is way more abstract than learning how to hit a backhand.

Another mindset prevents tennis coaches and instructors from utilizing sports psychology. They think there’s not enough time during a one hour lesson or practice to get into the mental game. They don’t know how to integrate mental skills into their regular practice sessions either (a good topic for a future tennis psychology article).

Lastly, a portion of old-school coaches or instructors still do not believe in the mental game of tennis. These coaches think sports psychology or mind training for tennis is voodoo or nonsense. They think that hard work and dedication are the answers to not playing up to your potential in matches – you just have to work harder in practice.

Even if your coach or instructor does not believe in mental training for tennis, you can still improve your mind game for tennis on your own time. Much of my work helping tennis players with their mental game happens off the tennis court. We discuss the mental strategies for tennis that they can integrate into practice and play every day.

I have no quick fixes to help you think like a champion. Mind training happens over weeks and months, not one day. Mind training for tennis teaches you about mental game limitations and develops strategies that will help you overcome your mental roadblocks to success, in addition to developing a mindset to get the most out of your physical game.

The Inner Game of Tennis Mindset

The inner game of tennis is a wonderful lesson in sports psychology for tennis players. Timothy Gallwey wrote the “Inner Game of Tennis” many years ago and it was a groundbreaking book at the time in tennis instruction and sports psychology. You should read the inner game of tennis if you have not.

Gallwey says that tennis players must achieve skill mastery, which means you must learn the fundamentals of tennis in order to master your inner game. When you play your best tennis, he would say your mind is quiet with no interference caused by your own self-coaching or over-analysis, such as “keep your eyes on the ball” or “bend your knees.”

The inner game of tennis theory states that two opposing mindsets battle for supremacy. A quite tennis mind allows your performance to flow from creativity. However, when your tennis mind is overactive, you force your game.

Gallwey sums up his theory about the inner game of tennis:

• Self One: The “teller” tennis mind filled with self-judgments and criticism. This mindset wants to over-control your performance.
• Self Two: The “doer” mindset is the best mindset for peak performance in tennis and happens when you are free and react with your game. This mindset allows you to let it happen.

Gallwey’s goal was to help students stop the attack of self one so self two can be free to hit shots intuitively. He used an example in “The Inner Game of Tennis.” He would have his students repeat cue words, such as “back-hit” to suspend the trying/analytical mind (self 1) so the creative mind (self 2) could do the job without restrictions.

“The key to better tennis–or better anything–lies in improving the relationship between the conscious teller, Self 1, and the unconscious, automatic doer, Self 2.”
~Tim Gallwey

Most tennis players will perform their very best when the mind is quiet (not overactive) and focused. You’ll both excel in this mindset and have the most fun. I apply the Inner Game of Tennis principles with my students. I teach my students about two important mindsets: a learning mindset and a performance mindset.

When in a learning or practice mindset, you are trying to improve your strokes, which is necessary to improve your game. Here is one big problem with this mindset: perfectionistic tennis players get “stuck” in the practice mindset and fall in love with perfecting their technique.

When you are playing with a trusting or performance mindset, you allow your skills to “happen” instinctively based on what you’ve learned in practice. The performance mindset is the quiet mind that Gallwey talks about as self 2, which allows you to perform instinctively. When playing in the trusting mode, your performance is on automatic pilot.

With your inner game of tennis during tournaments, the take away lesson is you have to play in the performance mindset. Don’t get trapped by the practice mindset during tennis matches. You’ll spend more time coaching yourself and analyzing your strokes, which will slow you down on the court. You want to have a good balance between the performance and practice mindsets to set the foundation for a good inner game of tennis!