How to Overcome Mental Challenges on the Court
Tennis is a sport of physical demands… Big tournaments, hours of training, tough competition, long matches, muscle soreness, and fatigue.
The mental game of tennis is even more challenging… Big tournaments, hours of training, tough competition, long matches, muscle soreness, and fatigue.
The two previous sentences sound the same because the mind and body are intertwined. You cannot separate the physical from the mental in tennis. Within every physical challenge exists a mental component, and mental challenges are far more demanding than the physical demands of the game.
If you are not prepared for the mental demands of competing, you will be in for a tougher time.
A high school tennis player from our Mental Game of Tennis Survey reached out to us with the following concern.
“How do I stay mentally tough during matches? I work hard in practice and am one of the best on my high school team, but I can’t seem to play as good in matches as I do in practice.”
You are not the only one. It can be quite frustrating when you are having amazing practices, but under perform in matches.
You are absolutely correct in identifying this challenge in terms of mental toughness.
You can have great technique, but technique alone will not help when you become frustrated after losing your serve. Mental toughness will give you the ability to calm yourself and manage your emotions.
You can be in peak physical condition but conditioning alone will not help you maintain your confidence playing in excessive heat or poor court conditions. Mental toughness helps you to focus on what you can control and keeps your confidence stable.
You can train to improve your speed and agility, but physical skills alone will not help when you are being dominated by a lower-ranked opponent. Mental toughness will help immerse you in the present moment, stop ruminating about losing points, and help you get your mind back in the game.
You can prepare, train, and practice, but physical training alone won’t help you when your opponent or officials are not making the right calls and you feel yourself being cheated. Mental toughness will help you refocus and use those bad calls to motivate you and fuel your performance.
Without mental toughness, consistent peak performance is not possible.
Mental toughness helps with every area of your game so that it is difficult to calculate the total impact mental toughness has on your performance.
Mental toughness is critical for every tennis player, from beginner to professional.
Professional players face additional challenges such as extensive travel, sponsorships, and the toughest competitors in the world. To be successful at the professional level, it is extremely important to develop mental toughness to give a player an edge over the competition.
WTA player Iga Swiatek, 19 years-old, has worked with a sports psychologist for several years developing her mental toughness. Swiatek singled out mental toughness as the key to her first Grand Slam title, the 2020 French Open.
SWIATEK: “I just believe that mental toughness is probably the most important thing in tennis right now because everybody can play on the highest level. But the ones that are tough and that can handle the pressure are the biggest ones [most successful].”
If you are not building YOUR mental toughness, you will fall behind the pack.
Conversely, when you build mental toughness, you gain an edge over the competition.
How to Build Mental Toughness for Tennis:
Mental toughness can be improved by using the “Seek & Destroy” strategy.
The seek component revolves around identifying situations where you struggle under pressure… “I usually lose confidence or focus when…”
The destroy component is developing mental skills to counter that weakness such as building stable confidence, improving focus later in matches, learning how to play with a lead and not tighten up, and performing well on important points when under pressure.
And athletes are not weak for admitting they need to improve their mental game for tennis. Rather, it shows a willingness to learn and grow. Take it from Swiatek.
Learn Proven Tennis Mental Game Strategies To Perform Your Best On The Court!
Are you (or your players) performing up to your ability in competition?
Do you bring your best and most confident game to matches?
I often hear players complain about the following problems when they play in matches…
“I get so tight or tense before matches that I can’t think straight or have any rhythm in my game.”
“I get so frustrated with hitting bad shots or with errors and it snowballs.”
“I expect so much when I play that I unravel and lose confidence when the match does not go as planned.”
“My confidence seems to disappear when I go from practice to matches and I don’t know why.”
Successful tennis players have learned how to perform with ultimate confidence in tournaments.
If you are ready to improve your mental toughness and perform with ultimate self-confidence in matches, Tennis Confidence: Mental Toughness For Tournament Players can help you do this!
- Players: Learn how to take control of your confidence, focus your best, and win more close matches.
- Parents: Help boost your junior tennis player’s confidence for tournaments. Just load the program on your player’s IPod!
- Coaches: Boost your team’s confidence using simple, proven mental strategies.
- Instructors: Learn how to give your students the mental game advantage.
Use Tennis Confidence to help boost your mental toughness in tennis and discover powerful and proven mental game strategies that have helped professional athletes win!
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