How Do You Improve Mental Toughness?

How Do You Improve Mental Toughness in Tennis?

What does success in tennis require?

Of course, success requires physical practice and technical skills but that is not enough.

Tennis is more than being quick, having a strong aerobic capacity and having good strokes.

Throughout the course of your tennis training and competitive career, you will have a lot of adversity.

A few challenges you may face are, but not limited to:

injuries
tiredness
boredom
burnout
losses
mistakes
criticism
failure
slumps

If you are not mentally tough, these challenges could hurt your play on the court and derail your career.

Serena Williams is known for her accomplishments in tennis but also for her high level of mental toughness. Williams has dominated tennis for a long period of time. Serena has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and has topped the rankings for 319 weeks.

Some may point to her physical prowess, athleticism and powerful strokes for her success.

But Serena has faced her fair share of adversity including:

a big drop in the rankings
injuries
a surgery accompanied with complications
high expectations
Grand Slam pressure
upsets
physical fatigue, to name a few

WILLIAMS: “The ride for me was not and has not been easy… I’ve had my share of ups and downs.”

Despite her success, Serena has overcome a lot throughout her career and attributes her success to mental toughness.

WILLIAMS: “My game is my mental toughness. Just not only to be able to play, to win, but to be able to come back when I’m down. Both on the court and after tough losses, just to continue to come back and continue to fight, it’s something that takes a lot of tenacity.”

Mental toughness is the hallmark of all great tennis players.

When times get tough, the mentally tough get even tougher.

Without mental toughness, you would not be able to fully take advantage of all your talents and abilities.

Without mental toughness, you will not be able to surmount all the inevitable obstacles you will face throughout your tennis career.

Not only does mental toughness help you overcome obstacles but it will help you deal with pressure, thrive during critical moments in matches, learn from losses and keep pushing forward when times get tough.

Since tennis is highly competitive, you need an edge and the greatest advantage can be gained by honing your mental toughness.

Best of all, mental toughness is available to every tennis player.

The short answer is that mental toughness is developed through training.

Mental toughness training involves setting small challenges and finding ways to conquer those challenges. As you progress through those challenges, you can look to challenge yourself in more taxing ways.

In essence, mental toughness is developed incrementally, similar to strength training. It does not happen overnight.

Instead of looking for ways around obstacles, mental toughness training requires that you look for ways though obstacles by purposefully creating challenges in your practice and training sessions.

Your Mental Training Plan:

Everything you do to improve your mental game will instill greater mental toughness.

This includes:

1. Managing high expectations that undermine confidence.
2. Learn how to focus on the process instead of results.
3. Being proactive with your confidence and not leaving it to chance.
4. Learning how to take your training to matches.
5. Staying composed in challenging situations on the court.

Every step you take to improve your mental game will improve your overall mental toughness…

Stay today with “Tennis Confidence: Audio program:

Learn Proven 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.”
“My confidence seems to disappear when I go from practice to matches and I don’t know why.”
“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.”

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!

Tennis Confidence: Mental Toughness For Tournament Players

What are mental game customers saying?

“I have really enjoyed listening to your tennis psychology podcasts on iTunes and reading your E-books. I just found your web site and I already have improved in my mental game. I played in a tennis tournament this past weekend and played with the amount of confidence I should have in myself.”
~Melanie Lewis, Junior Tennis Player

“Since you last worked with AJ in early September, his National ranking has improved from 349 to 148. His tournament record at one point, since talking with you was 17-4, with 3 of the 4 being in third sets or tiebreakers and 2 of those matches being the same player, whom he has since beaten (you may recall he was on an 0-9 losing streak when we contacted you). His tie-breaker record is at least 90% through last weekend when he won the 18s District tournament with a semi and final match tiebreak win. Your help has definitely improved AJ’s results and his on-court demeanor has substantially improved.”
~Dawn Woodman, A.J.’s Mother

“I want to let you know that your “Tennis Confidence” CD program has been extremely helpful to me. I listen to the CDs in the car and the program is helping me overcome a lifetime of tournament performance Anxiety. Thank you!”
~Wing Yu, Tennis Player

Boost Your Self-Confidence in Tennis With Expert Mental Game Coaching!

Master mental game coach, Dr. Patrick Cohn, can help you overcome your mental game issues with personal mental game coaching.

You can work with Dr. Patrick Cohn himself in Orlando, Florida or via Skype, FaceTime, or telephone.

Call us toll free at 888-742-7225 (local: 407-909-1700) or contact us for more information about the different coaching programs we offer!

One-on-one mental game coaching with Dr. Cohn

What are our mental coaching students saying?

“Dr. Cohn did a great job working with my son Joe on his mental skills for tennis. He taught him the mental skills and discipline necessary to move to the next level. Thanks Doc!”
~Mike Withers, Joe Withers Father

“We are amazed at how much ‘The Confident Athlete’ program has helped my niece play her best tennis during matches. She literally made it to the farthest round of a tournament (semifinals) after finishing the CDs/workbook. We are going to do all five in the series.”
~Jason Bourguignon, Uncle

“Dr. Cohn, one of my goals is to become a world-class-coach. There are a few coaches from the US who inspired me the most–John Wooden, Don Shula, and Pat Riley. After working with you, I now also list your name among the most influential coaches in my field!”
~Franz

“Maggie had such a great weekend. As always, after she works with you she just seems more grounded and focused. She’s less likely to look around and get distracted during her match. She’s more focused on one point at a time. Also, as a parent, I’ve learned to encourage her process goals and not outcomes. Consequently, she played well and won her first doubles match, upsetting a seeded team in a really really close match!”
~Katherine Johnson Cannata, Maggie’s mother

‘My Game is My Mental Toughness’ Says Serena Williams