Improve Your Tennis Performance with Mental Training
“Why should I add mental toughness training into my training regimen? Isn’t all the physical training enough?”
This is a great question asked by many tennis players. There is no doubt that tennis requires many hours to hone physical and technical skills.
Without physical training, you would become physically tired by the second set. Without technical training, you would have difficulty putting the ball in play on your serve or hitting consistent ground strokes.
If you are going to play competitive tennis, you need to be skilled at the technical and physical aspects of the game…
But if you want to advance in the sport of tennis, play at your peak on a consistent basis and reach your potential as an athlete, you need to be skilled at the mental aspects of the game…
**And one of the most necessary mental skills is MENTAL TOUGHNESS!
Just as tennis players are not born with the skill of hitting a well-placed, blistering serve, players are not born with the skill of mental toughness.
You already know how mentally demanding tennis can be…
There are times when it feels you can’t score a point and you want to smash your racquet into the ground…
Or you are trying to come back from a set down…
Or a match dragged on and you feel physically and mentally tired…
Or you are trying to learn a new serve during practice and you just can’t seem to hit it right.
These are the times, along with countless other mentally-demanding scenarios, when mental toughness comes into play.
If you schedule mental toughness training into your daily training, potentially daunting circumstances will become ‘conquerable’.
Every tough circumstance you conquer vaults you towards your potential.
World No. 20 Elise Mertens reached her second WTA final of the season by winning two three-set matches to advance to the championship.
Due to a week of rain, Mertens was forced to play a mentally-demanding schedule but rose to the challenge by beating Mona Barthel in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(0) in a two hour, 36-minute match, then winning against Vera Lapko in the semifinals, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in just over two hours.
MERTENS: “It’s mentally tough [playing two singles matches in one day] and also for the body, which sometimes didn’t want to move that well today! I pulled through against a really good player… I had to stay aggressive. I’m happy with my performance today.”
Mertens pointed out that mental toughness plays a part in every moment of competition.
MERTENS: “I think it’s just about mentally staying tough in every moment. I take it match by match. Whether it’s the first round or the final, you just want to win the match. If the level is good and you play your game, then maybe something can happen.”
It’s time to take your game to the next level. It’s time to invest in your mental toughness.
Related Tennis Psychology Articles:
- Stay Mentally Tough During Matches
- Why Improve Your Mental Toughness Skills
- Iga Swiatek Attributes Mental Toughness to her French Open Win
- Download our a FREE Tennis Psychology Report
*Subscribe to The Tennis Psychology Podcast on iTunes
*Subscribe to The Tennis Psychology Podcast on Spotify
Improve Your Mental Game for Tennis
Tennis Confidence 2.0
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Read more about Tennis Confidence Program>>
Very nice article. I love it. So thanks for sharing.