Confidence Against Higher Ranked Opponents

Welcome to session number sixty four 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 stay confident no matter who you play. Many tennis players lose confidence in their game when playing higher seeded or ranked players. Listen to this mental game of tennis podcast to learn how to boost your tennis confidence.   

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*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast #64 (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!

Keeping Confidence After Losing Matches

Welcome to session number sixty three 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 boost your self-confidence in matches. Many tennis players lose self-confidence after playing poorly or losing matches. Listen to this mental game of tennis podcast to learn how to maintain your self-confidence after losing matches.

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 #63 (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!

Rafael Nadal Relies on His Confidence to Win

To compete at the top of your game you need to have confidence in your ability to succeed. Number 1 ranked tennis professional, Rafael Nadal understands the importance of confidence to win tournaments and succeed in tennis. “I rely on my confidence to help me win,” said Nadal. “I have total confidence that I am going to play well on match days.”

Having confidence offers you an advantage over your competitors because confident athletes play more relaxed, focused, and aggressive. Nadal knows that if he isn’t confident on match day he is at a disadvantage. “I am not playing good this week because I lost a little bit of confidence about me…There are moments when you don’t have the confidence you need and it affects your performance,” said Nadal.

To maintain confidence you must develop mental toughness to overcome adversity, setbacks, mistakes, and accept defeat. “You have to accept when you don’t play well and somebody else does,” said Nadel. After a loss take time to cool down after a loss and focus on the positives of your performance.

Accepting when you do not play well will help you maintain confidence and learn from your performance. Dwelling on mistakes or setbacks will decrease your confidence, which may cause you to play tentatively. When you have confidence you are more likely to play aggressively which Nadal feels is vital to winning in tennis. “When I am confident I play a bit more aggressively which is a decisive factor during matches,” said Nadal.

To ensure that he has confidence going into a match Nadal prepares physically and mentally before competition. “I played for four hours today so I’m a bit tired but I’m confident I can win.” Practice will help you gain confidence and become self-efficient in your sport. It is also important to transfer what you learn in practice to competition. Give 100% during the match and leave it all on the court.

Melzer Enjoys the Mental Battle

How do you react when you’re down in a match? Do you try harder, tighten up and try to avoid making mistakes? Do you get frustrated and try to end the point as quick as you can by trying to hit a winner on every shot?. Or do you give up, tank the match, and want the match to be over–fast. If you said yes, you must learn how to comeback after losing a game or set and fight to win the match. Let’s examine a resent example at the French Open…

Jurgen Melzer is one of those players who can mount a comeback. Melzer upset number 3 seed Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the French Open. He was down two sets and 2-0 in the third before he started to change the momentum in the match. Melzer went on to win the match 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

When he was down two sets and 2-0 in the third, Melzer commented on how he was able to stay in the match mentally.

“I changed the match. Well, the only thing I told myself, It’s my first quarterfinals in my life in a Grand Slam. Just don’t go away. Just don’t make it easy for him. Fight as much as you can, and I was I wasn’t playing so bad. I just missed a lot of easy shots when I had the chance and the opportunity to finish the point. And after that, I mean, I got back in, and at 2 All in the third it was an open match,” said Melzer.

“Well, at the end, it’s just like getting to another chance and just believing you’re gonna win. I think all those break points I played good points. I came in and won. And then at the end, it’s just a battle. You just I mean, of course we were both tired and everything hurt. I just got through.”

Melzer also believed that he could win the match. When asked what keeps him going, he said,

“That I’m a good tennis player. It was just a few links here and there were missing. As long as you believe in yourself I had enough as I said earlier, I have enough game or I had enough game all the time. I played good matches.

It’s just the more matches you win on a high level, the more confidence you get. For me, it was never a question of talent. It was more in the head.”

Do you lose confidence when you are down or enjoy the battle of making a comeback? First, you have to believe you can’t win a tight match or comeback when down early, so you don’t tank the match and give up. You will learn to win more matches when you can enjoy the battle instead of be frustrated with losing. You must embrace these moments when you can, which will make you a better player.

Your tennis psychology tip for today is to love the challenge of coming from behind. Stay confident in your ability to make a comeback instead of tanking the match.

Samantha Stosur’s Match Toughness

Tennis players constantly work on improving their strokes. While that’s important, many players lose sight of the importance of match play. Players can gain experience and confidence from playing lots of matches. Match play allows you to work on your between point routines, battle back when you’re down, and strive to keep your momentum going when you’re playing well. Without match play, it becomes difficult for players to transfer their practice to matches.

Sam Stosur won her first round match at the French Open. Stosur has now reached the French Open final where she will meet Francesca Schiavone. In her first round match, Stosur beat Simona Halep 7-5, 6-1. She attributes her first round victory to playing lots of matches and building her confidence. Stosur was down 2-4 the first set, but was able to bounce back from the deficit.

“Confidence is a good thing. When you play a lot and win a lot of matches, you’re feeling good, and that being 4-2 down doesn’t make you panic. You still feel like you’re in the match and all that kind of thing. You know, like I said before, I didn’t think it was a big deal, and broke back and was 5-4 up. So then, you know, it totally swings back around,” said Stosur.

Match play is important to your mental game. During matches, you may experience frustration after mistakes. You may tighten up during critical points. Think of playing matches not only to improve your skills and strategy, but also your mental game. You can find out what your mental game challenges are during match play. These same mental challenges might not be as noticeable in practice.

“I think my preparation going into this year’s tournament is a lot better than last year. I’ve played a lot more matches, won a lot more matches, so I’m feeling a lot more confident than what I was last year. Obviously last year, as the week went on, all that kind of was erased. It didn’t really matter what happened before the French. It was right there, which is kind of the same this year. But going into it, I feel like I’m playing better and probably more confident now than what I was this time last year,” said Stosur.

Your tennis psychology tip is to play practice matches and not just work to perfect your strokes! There is no substitute to match play. Playing matches can help you improve your mental toughness as well as your tennis skills. Use your matches to help build your confidence for future matches.

Do You Perform Better Under Pressure?

Pressure can be both an advantage and disadvantage for your game depending on how you interpret the pressure. Some tennis players thrive under pressure, whereas other players fold under pressure. 

Serena Williams thinks pressure is harmful to her game. Williams played her first tournament after a long layoff at the Italian Open this week. She struggled to find her groove, but was able to come out with a win beating Andrea Petkovic 6-2 3-6 6-0.

“I went in there thinking I can win or I can lose. You never know what can happen and I didn’t put too much pressure on myself. I got off to a little bit of a slow start, but it was good and I was able to fight it off,” said Williams.

Self-impossed expectations are often a source of pressure for athletes. You can set the bar so high that it’s very hard to achieve. Expectations are synonymous with pressure because they cause you to focus on the outcomes and lose focus in the moment.

What’s the solution? First, you want to understand what strict expectations you place on your game. Some players expect to have a perfect match, not make any errors, or never double fault, for example. What happens when you don’t perform up to your expectations? A sudden lose of confidence, in many cases.

Once you pinpoint your expectations, you’ll want to discard them. You simply note your have expectations and focus instead on something more helpful to your game. You’ll want to focus on smaller objectives or mini-goals during your match, such as to have quick feet.

The goal is to replace your expectations with smaller goals that help you focus on expecution instead of results. You might concentrate on a strategy or picking a target. Please don’t judge how well you are accomplishing your mini-goals. Your process goals help you focus in the moment, and are not intended to help you judge your performance during the match.

Your tennis psychology tip is to let go of pressure-packed expectations so you can perform free of pressure. Set smaller goals to help you focused on what’s important to playing one point at a time.

Ljubicic Breaks Slump: Strong Mental Game

Many tennis players experience slumps. Slumps occur when you perform poorly for a period of time. Slumps may be short-term, but sometimes they can happen for weeks or maybe even months at a time. A poor performance at a single tournament wouldn’t be considered a slump. But, losing in early rounds for consecutive tournaments would qualify as a slump.

 When you’re in a slump, it can be difficult to bounce back mentally. Your confidence takes a hit. You question your ability, mental toughness or ability to compete at a high level.  Your focus turns to past statistics, results and poor performances, leaving you frustrated and angry.  Doubt and negative thinking creep in causing the slump to continue.

Even professional players experience slumps sometimes. Ivan Ljubicic experienced his own kind of slump. He lost five consecutive tournaments in the first round last year.  Ljubicic broke through his slump at the BNP Paribas Open last week. He didn’t just make it past the first round, he won the tournament! He outlasted American Andy Roddick 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) to capture the title.

 ”I felt really creative out there. I played all different shots: lobs, drop shots, volleys, winners, slices. I just felt I could hit the ball anywhere. I was playing the shots that were coming to my mind,” said Ljubicic.

When not performing well during a slump, you might play more tentatively, unsure of your shot selection or placement. When you’re unsure about shot selection or placement, you tighten up leaving a poorly executed shot. To play well, you have to be decisive and use variety in your game, like Ljubicic.  Stay committed to your strategy and the results will come.

 “It was really a mind game. When you have two big serves, not a lot of rallies happening, it’s a very mental match. I was fortunate enough to be more relaxed by the end of the match,” said Ljubicic about the final match with no service breaks.

 Your tennis psychology tip is to focus on improving your game each day instead of match results. Assess what you can improve on for the next match and set a plan with your coach to make gains. You’ll want to structure practice to improve specific parts of your game. Continue working on your tennis, your mental game and eventually you will break out of a slump.

Improve Confidence in Your Mental Game

Welcome to session number forty eight 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 improve your confidence in your mental game during matches. Some tennis players aren’t confident with their ability to focus, stay composed or trust themselves in matches. Listen to this tennis psychology podcast to learn how boost your confidence in your mental toughness.

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 #48 (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!

Mental Keys to Boost Match Confidence

 Welcome to session number forty 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 teaches you how boost your tennis confidence in matches. Do you have to wait for a good shot or winner to feel confident? Do you lose confidence easily after a mistake? Listen to this mental game of tennis podcast to learn how to maintain your tennis confidence in matches.

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 #47 (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: Play with Match Confidence

Welcome to 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 talks with Ian Westermann from www.essentialtennis.com about how to improve your tennis confidence in match play. Many tennis players don’t play up to their potential in matches. You’ll also learn if you can overthink your mental game during matches.

Ian Westermann is a graduate of the Professional Tennis Management Program at Ferris State University and played Division II tennis at Ferris. Ian is USPTA certifed tennis pro and teaches full time at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, MD. The Essential Tennis Podcast focuses on fitness, technique, mental game and strategy.

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* Subscribe to Ian’s Essential Tennis Podcast at iTunes

*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast   (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

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