Mental Preparation for Matches

Welcome to session number fifty 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 interviews Ian Westermann of www.essentialtennis.com about how players should mentally prepare for tournaments. Young tennis players know how to get ready physically before a match, but most players don’t take enough time to get mentally prepared before a match.

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*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast #60 (right click and “save as” to your computer)

Subscribe to Ian’s podcast The Essential Tennis Podcast at iTunes.

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 CD program!

How to Perform Well Under Pressure

Most tennis players encounter pressure during matches. What is pressure? Pressure occurs when you feel like you should win, have to play well or worry about the consequences of losing. You can feel increased pressure during critical moments in the match (e.g. third set tiebreaker). You can also feel pressure from parents or coaches who expect you to win matches or play well. When you react negatively to pressure, you can underperform.

Pressure is based on your expectations about how you think you should perform in match. Expectations are set unreasonably high, making it difficult to reach them. Examples of expectations might include playing with the perfect technique or strategy or not having any unforced errors. When you are not performing up to your expectations, you feel added pressure. You can tighten up, play tentatively and try to avoid mistakes.

We received a few questions about playing under pressure:

(1) How to play under pressure?
(2) What am I supposed to do when I become tight in the match?

To play well under pressure, you’ll need to stop focusing on the results of the match. You don’t want to obsess about what might happen. “What if I lose the next point?” “What if I’m down in the 3-4 in the set?” The key is not to get head of yourself or dwell on what might happen and instead focus on execution.

The bottom line is that thinking about results doesn’t help you execute. The minute you notice you’re focusing on results, you’ll want to refocus on what’s important. You’ll want to think about your strategy for the next point, how you will play to your strengths or your target for the upcoming shot. You’ll want to play each point as if nothing happened before, as if it is the start of the match.

Pressure can cause players to tighten up. You don’t want to panic when you feel tight, which can cause you to tighten up even more. Between points you can take some time to relax your muscles or take a deep breath. Relax your racquet in your non-dominant hand or shake your arm to release the tension. Direct your focus to your strategy for the next point. When you divert your focus away from how tight you feel or the results, you will be able to perform better in the moment.

Tennis Podcast: Boost Your Focus

Welcome to session number fifty 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 answers a question from a tennis player who doesn’t see the ball well. Many tennis players don’t perform their best when they don’t see the ball well. Listen to this mental game of tennis podcast to to learn how to improve your focus.

 

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*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast #56 (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!

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.

How To Focus During Tennis Matches

Do you get sidetracked by distractions that happen during matches, such as an argument in an adjacent court or a bug pestering you? I call these distractions external distractions. They can happen grab your attention and hurt your focus during a match.

I recently received a question about how to handle distractions during tennis matches from a junior player in California…

“How do I learn how to focus on the right things? For instance, when I am in a match, I tell myself that I should not think about distractions (like gnats buzzing around my head), but I can’t get it out of my head. Since I told myself not to think about this, this is all I think about and my game suffers.”

What’s the problem here? This tennis player thinks too much about avoiding distractions. When you think about how not to be distracted on the court, what are you thinking about? Right, the distraction, itself.

You can separate everything you think about during a match into two categories. (1) Stuff you think about that helps you execute your shots and play good tennis. (2) Stuff you think about that does not help you play well and is distracting to your mission.

“Just don’t think about the bug, just don’t pay attention to the bug,” you say to yourself. If you are trying not to think about the bug flying around your head, what are you focused on? Exactly, the bug!

You never what to think about avoiding distractions when playing…

Instead, you want to think about what performance cues will help you execute shots. For example, during a serve, you want to focus on these cues:

• planning the serve
• seeing a good serve in your mind
• proper set up and your routine
• proper ball toss
• trusting your stroke

You don’t want to give attention to the external distractions around you by trying to block them out of your mind!

Here’s the trick: external distractions fade into the background when you give 100% focus to the performance cues that help you execute your shots!

So, don’t try to avoid or block out distractions. Instead, focus 100% on executing your strokes and game plan.

If you want to learn all my mental game of tennis strategies, check out my new CD program:

“Tennis Confidence: Mental Toughness for Tournament Players”

Your Confidence Coach,

Dr. Patrick Cohn

p.s. I’ve also have a neat program for helping athletes focus called “The Focused Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Superior Concentration.” Check it out:

The Focused Athlete: A 14-Day Plan for Superior Concentration

Winning the Mental Game Battle

Tennis is a mental game. You’ve probably at some point in your tennis career lost focus, composure, or had trouble regaining confidence and momentum during a match. If you’ve struggled with any of these mental challenges, you know how important the mind game of tennis is. The mental game of tennis is important for tennis pros as well.

At the Chennai Open, Marin Cilic experienced the mental grind of a tennis match. Cilic reached the finals only to compete against Stanislas Wawrinka, a player he’s never beaten before on four different occasions. Wawrinka lead the first set 5-3 breaking Cilic’s serve. Cilic then battled back in the first set to even it at 5-5 and ended up pulling out the first set in a tiebreak. In a thrilling 2 hour 40 minute match, Cilic clenched his first victory against Wawrinka winning the title and the match, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3).

”This was the longest final I have played in and also the toughest. It was a mental battle out there with a lot of long rallies and returns. It is not easy to maintain your top game over such a long match. It makes me very proud that I have once again come out well in the first week. It was not easy to adjust to the heat. A lot of sweat and hard work went into winning this week. I am very pleased really, very happy,” said Cilic.

Long, grueling matches can make it difficult to stay patient and focused for the entire match. You might become impatient trying to end the point too quickly. You might focus on your missed chances to win the set. You might question your ability to pull out the match. All of these thoughts don’t help you perform your best.

Maintaining your focus is crucial during long matches. Tiebreakers especially challenge your focus when every point counts.

“The two tiebreaks … it was important for me to win the first one to get the mental advantage as it had a lot of rallies, it had a lot of running, and the match went for almost three hours. It wasn’t easy to maintain yourself on the court all the time mentally and to stay focused,” said Cilic.

When you lose your focus on the match, stop, regroup and refocus on what’s important. You have plenty of time in between points to refocus from distractions. Put the last point behind you and approach the next point as if it were the very first point of the match. Think of the next point as starting the match without any mistakes. Once you’re ready to play the point, focus on the cues that matter most, such as the placement of your serve or return of serve.

Your tennis psychology tip is to stay patient and pace your focus during long matches. Stay committed to your strategy, focus on what’s important and keep believing in your ability to win the match.

Boost Tennis Focus at the Start of a Match

Welcome to session number fifty 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 improve your focus at the start of the match. Many tennis players have a hard time focusing at the beginning of a match. This can cause players to get behind in a match. Listen to this mental game of tennis podcast to learn how stay focused during the first set of a match.

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*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast #50 (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: Do You Focus Too Much on Your Opponents Bad Line Calls?

Welcome to session number forty one 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 let go of bad line calls your opponent makes. Many tennis players focus too much on their opponent’s bad line calls, which can cause them to lose focus, become frustrated and play tenatively. Listen to the podcast to learn how to forget about your opponent’s bad line calls.

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*Download The Tennis Psychology Podcast #41 (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: How to Play in the Moment

 Welcome to session number forty 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 in the “here and now.” Many tennis players think too much about the score, causing them to lose focus on the current point or shot. Listen to the podcast to learn how to play in the moment.

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 #40 (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!

Kim Clijsters Wins the Mind Game

Kim Clijsters was an unlikely champion at the 2009 U.S. Open defeating Caroline Wozniacki 7-5 6-3 in the final. After a long absence from the game, Clijsters returned to tennis with a new outlook and a new mental game for tennis. Her mental game was the key to her success in the final match against Wozniacki…

Clijsters played the 2009 US Open with a calm about her. She was composed and did not get rattled after errors. Playing in a major championship, it’s easy for players to think about winning during a match, get over excited, and lose focus. But getting too far ahead of yourself will not help you win the current point. When you focus on winning, you can lose focus on the current point or shot.

Your tennis mind can only focus on one thought at a time. When you fill your might with results, you aren’t focused on hitting the current shot. And when you’re not focused on the current shot, you’re more likely to have a few loose points or make more errors.

Playing in the present moment or playing one point at a time is important to perform your best, especially when you are winning matches. You must focus on the process, rather than what it would mean to win. Kim Clijsters knew this important task: to not let her mind jump forward to winning the US Open.

“I think I really had to be patient, as well, but also try not to play along with her (Wozniacki’s) game. So I didn’t have that feeling [I could win this match] until, you know, when I had match point. I was like, Okay, maybe I can do this. Because in the past, it’s so easy to just lose focus if you start thinking like that.”

Having confidence you can win a match is a good thing. Thinking too much about winning the match in the final set is not a good thing because it does not help you close out the match. If you find your mind racing ahead to the results of the match, refocus on the current point instead. Focus on how you will construct the point and play to your strengths.

Your tennis psychology tip is to not allow your mind to race ahead to winning the match when playing. Instead, focus on the current point or shot. Play one point at a time. Whether you’re winning or losing isn’t important during the match. Focus on your strategy playing each point to the best of your physical ability.

Boost Your Tennis Confidence Quickly

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