Introduction
In order to reach the highest levels of success, it takes more than just physical prowess and technical understanding. To truly excel, one must also have a deep understanding and awareness of the mental and cognitive aspects involved in the game, as well as what’s happening within yourself. Belief, confidence, and resilience are bred and gained upon through knowledge and understanding. This knowledge allows players to make strategic decisions, overcome challenges and opponents, and perform at their best under stress. With guidance and willingness to learn, you will develop into well-rounded players who have the mental fortitude and resilience to achieve greatness in the competitive world of tennis.
You cannot out perform your self image
When you look in the mirror you need to see everything you can be as well as what you are.
What you think of yourself is what you will become
Always be your biggest supporter, and never make yourself less than what you are!
Mental
Areas of Focus
Mental Toughness
Develop a strong mindset with our coaching program to thrive in high-pressure situations. With the right tools and support mental toughness can become a major factor in your success on the court.
Emotional Intelligence
Learn how to effectively manage and regulate your emotions, leading to improved decision-making and performance on the court
Focus and Attention
Maintaining a strong attention span and focus is key to success on the court. Take the time to develop these important skills, allowing you to excel in every aspect of the game. Don’t let distractions hold you back from reaching your full potential as an athlete..
Belief and confidence
Belief is the internal trust and conviction in oneself, while confidence is the outward expression of this trust. Confidence is often visible to others and can be seen through body language, tone of voice, and actions. Both belief and confidence are important for success in sports and in life.
Mental Toughness
Mental Toughness is often used as a broad term that covers multiple aspects of the mental game, and often confused with areas such as confidence, emotional intelligence, and belief. However, it has its own area of focus. Mental Toughness from the outside looking in is a players ability to stay “tough” under pressure and in stressful situations. What does that mean? By definition this means that you acquire most of your Mental Toughness over time because you would have had to learn from many situations in order to achieve it. I like to think of it like a callus on your hands. First you get blisters, until the skin toughens over time. Toughness can be associated with with your minds ability to be less stimulated by events on the court because you’ve seen them over and over and learned from them.
Looking “tough” and “player presence”
In the competitive world of sports, having a strong mental game is essential for achieving success. Athletes must learn to present themselves as unfazed by challenges and setbacks. This valuable skill takes time and effort to cultivate, requiring consistent practice and unyielding determination. Through dedicated efforts, athletes can improve their mental toughness just by looking tough and gain a competitive advantage on the court.
Frustration Tolerance
Frustration tolerance is simply how long it takes you to get frustrated or how much you can handle before getting frustrated. The best players are able to clear their mind and empty their “frustration cup” more often and therefore show less frustration. Can you delete and clear past events as fast as possible?
Mental Kindness
While we often talk about mental toughness in the sense of being able to handle stress. It is also important to reference mental kindness because that is your ability to take care of yourself and to be your own cheerleader. The more mentally kind you can be often times will result in a more mental, tough demeanor. At the end of the day you have to have your own back, and you have to be your biggest supporter.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to manage both your own emotions and understand the emotions of people around you. By definition I hope it’s easy to understand why this is important in tennis. Here are three key elements to emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation.
Self-Awareness
One key aspect of personal growth and development is self-awareness. It involves being able to recognize and understand one’s own behavior patterns and reactions in various situations. This level of self-awareness goes beyond just acknowledging basic emotions; it allows for deeper understanding of oneself and the ability to control actions and make decisions based on that understanding. With this self-awareness comes the potential for positive changes and personal improvement. By being in tune with our own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, we can become more self-aware individuals and continue to grow and develop in competition.
Self Regulation
Self-regulation is a crucial element in attaining lasting success, both in an individual and professional capacity. It involves the efficient management of emotions, thoughts, and actions to achieve one’s objectives. Building solid self-regulation abilities can result in heightened triumph in all facets of tennis, both on and off the court. By honing this skill, athletes can learn to maintain control, channel their energies and overcome hurdles. It also improves focus, decision-making, and overall performance. In the long run, mastering self-regulation can set individuals on a path towards sustained success and fulfillment in all aspects of life.
Motivation
Motivation is the mental force that explains why a person does something and is the driving force behind human actions. For athletes, motivation can come both from within and from external factors. Intrinsic motivation refers to the determination and passion that comes from oneself, while extrinsic motivation is derived from external sources such as coaches, teammates, or the desire for recognition. In the world of tennis, both types of motivation are vital to stay focused and persevere through the challenges of training and competition. It takes a balance of both internal and external motivation to succeed on this difficult journey towards tennis excellence.
Staying Focused
One of the most common pieces of advice given to athletes by coaches and parents is to “stay focused.” However, the issue is not typically the ability to stay focused, but rather what the athlete is focused on. Oftentimes, athletes become too fixated on result based thoughts, such as winning or losing, rather than staying true to their own personal goals and performance goals.
Attention Span
Attention Span is how long you can focus on a certain task or objective. During a tennis match that lasts 3 hours this can be a pretty hard feat to be able to remain entirely focused for that long. However, having the proper rituals and routines can allow your focus to drift and then come back and perform at a high level.
Attention
Focus
Attention Focus is what exactly you’re focused on. This is most likely the culprit in many circumstances on the court surrounding results. Thoughts can drift all over the place, past, present, future, and the best athletes are able to get back to the present the most often.
Belief and Confidence
Often times we enter the court to play an opponent, and often times that opponent is…ourself. This is where we find out your relationship with ‘Belief’ and ‘Confidence’. Belief is not costly, you do not need anything to attain it. Confidence, however, can waver depending on all sorts of factors. Confidence is essentially the external, and belief the internal.
Belief
Belief is not just about a positive mindset, but it’s also a powerful force that can drive us to achieve our goals and overcome challenges. It is the unwavering trust in our own worth and value, and the resilience and determination to keep going even when faced with the toughest obstacles. With belief, we have the grit to persevere and reach new heights, pushing ourselves to go beyond what we thought possible. In the world of sports, belief is often the difference between good and great. The players that believe in themselves the most are often the ones that achieve more, breaking through barriers and setting new records. Harnessing the power of belief and using it to propel us towards our dreams is what every sports movie is all about, and that’s why we love them!
Confidence
Confidence is not something that we are simply born with, it is achieved through hard work and accomplishment. It comes from having evidence in different situations that we are capable, as well as developing our skills and abilities over time through experience. It is a continuous journey that requires dedication and determination, but the payoff is immeasurable. Combining the confidence you feel inwardly, with an outward projection of confidence is an intimidating factor for an athlete. Knowing you have put in the work and you trust yourself to perform based on hard purposeful practice is a major confidence booster.
Warning – Belief and Confidence
It is clear that belief and confidence are crucial aspects for athletes to reach their full potential and perform at their best. However, these two concepts can be difficult to maintain and can easily be affected by external factors. In today’s age of social media, rankings, UTR, WTN, and gossip, it is easy for players to become distracted and lose sight of their true abilities. It is important to handle these challenges with care, as they can have a major impact on an athlete’s mindset and performance. By remaining focused and blocking out negative influences, athletes can truly excel and achieve their goals.
Easiest Mental Traps
There are countless mental traps that can easily ensnare even the most skilled competitors. These pitfalls can be seen at every tournament, no matter the sport or level of competition. Despite our knowledge and efforts to avoid them, we inevitably find ourselves succumbing to their grip. As coaches and athletes, we must continually work to identify and break free from these traps in order to find our best more often. It is a constant battle, but one that is necessary for success in the highly competitive world of tennis.
Tanking
Tanking is relieving yourself of care to reduce stress. It can happen for a point, set, match, or anytime the player decides to remove effort and stop trying. Although there are a few reasons that a player may tank the most common one is the emotional tank due to frustration. Others may include exhaustion or fatigue, injury, or a lack of discipline and focus. As we have discussed in other sections, it is so important to have the coping mechanisms to hand the stressors of high level competition. There is a major red flag if you’re tanking just because things get tough. Stay disciplined, problem solve, and try to get into a more competitive spirit. Many times the player can start playing better during a tanking phase, but that is only because they stopped focusing on outcome and just relaxed. That’s why tanking can be dangerous, it works sometimes. Do not be fooled though, its only a bluff.
Excuses
Excuses are costly. Blaming external sources for your wrong doing or trying to pin your shortcomings on something other than yourself can hinder your development. Everyone and anyone can make an excuse. Some excuses are more valid than others, for sure. Excuses are a natural safeguard against taking accountability in your loss or what happened to you. Coaches have heard every excuse imaginable, so as a player you have to be aware that you are making your credibility drop by throwing them around. “Im tired…Im sick…they cheated…there was traffic…I didn’t have time…ITS NOT MY FAULT…” and on and on. Accept responsibility, hold yourself accountable, and be as professional as you can be.
Negative Self-Talk
Negative self-talk is a killer. We all know that little voice in our head that tells us we’re not good enough, that we’ll never succeed, or that we’re just plain stupid. But did you know that this negative self-talk can actually affect us on a biological level? Research has shown that constantly putting ourselves down, whether verbally or in our thoughts, can have long-term effects on our DNA. So instead of beating ourselves up on the court, let’s try to change our inner dialogue and see how it positively impacts our game and our lives. After all, the power of positive thinking is real and we owe it to ourselves to harness it. In a sport that allows almost no external feedback during competition, being your biggest supporter is a must.