The mental aspect of tennis

[thehustler]

The mental aspect of tennis

I’m going to write about my favorite subject in sports, the mental aspect. To me having a strong mentality is the key to getting you to the top of anything. Without it you might just be a run of the mill middle management type with no aspirations to do anything more than just collect a paycheck every two weeks that barely covers your bills. That’s not fun. Who really wants just that? Not me. Hopefully not you.

All pros have all the same shots. They all can serve, volley, overhead and so on. Some work a little harder than others to get that extra edge, some just are happy with what they have. Let’s take Nadal for example. For quite some time people knocked his serve, it wasn’t great. It started points but didn’t get him free ones. What did he do? Did he just sit there and be happy with what he had? No. He has that mentality that makes him want to be the best. 6 grand slams and a number one ranking later he is the best. But is he content? No. He still wants to improve. How scary is that for his opponents? If you want to be the best think the way Nadal does, you can always be better, there’s always room for improvement. Don’t settle.

The ego, my favorite thing. The ego loves to make you think that it can take you to the top, and it can sure seem like it at times. But once you get there people are going to knock you off and the ego can’t take that either, so it makes you say and do dumb things that make you look like an ass. But what is ego? Ego is not just this overinflated sense of self worth. Ego is also the whining stories you tell. The me and my story routine. We’ve all had them. You know what the funny thing about those stories is? They don’t help you at all. Sure we all like to share our stories, what we do with our coach, the people we chat with and so on and the ego loves that. The ego loves it especially when you complain. You feed the need of the go every time you complain about your serve, how tired you get, everything. But what do you do? How do you defeat your ego? Let me share a story with you.

When I started playing tennis 5 ½ years ago I thought I had a basic idea of how to play. Get the ball in and over the net. I took lessons. First thing taught was the serve. But I was a stubborn mule. I didn’t want to drop my racket back all the way behind my head. I couldn’t time it. It was too slow. Wahh wahh wahh. Well guess what? For the longest time I had a crappy serve. I knew my athleticism would help me get around the court, but I was frustrated. If I served it either went over hard or missed hard. Funny thing was though is that I won. A lot. My first year I won 7 tournaments at the 3.5 level. I got bumped to 4.0. Then my ego took a huge hit when I started getting my butt kicked. I still refused to change anything, even though I told myself I needed to. My ego said what I have is safe; it worked so why change it? Sounds good to me. I struggled, but I found a way with my crappy game to win. I never won another tournament, but I started getting to the semis and finals. That made my ego feel good. Still no change though. My ego had total control over me.

Then I started league play. I lost 3 matches out of 11 or 12 my first year. That was good. I got bumped to 4.5, but my captains pleaded with me to appeal down to play 4.0. I knew I’d get slaughtered at 4.5 and my ego knew that as well, so I appealed down. I played another season, won most of my matches and got bumped to 4.5 again. Well this time I decided that this was where I was meant to be. I finally decided to stop letting my ego control me or so I thought. I decided this year though to not play leagues as I wanted to focus on my new career. My ego has had a hard time with this. What? No appealing down? No playing leagues so my ego can try to control me and tell me how I should feel? Nope. You know it feels good. I’ve spent my time improving my game, but before I could I had to tell myself something first. I had to tell myself that I deserve to play better, that I can be better, that I want to be the best I can be and no matter where I end up I will be happy. It’s been a rough road. You don’t improve things until you are meant to improve them. I’ve watched a lot of tennis and I notice what the pros do, but I never did them even after watching. Sure I might try it out, but my ego would say “Hey this is uncomfortable. You’re losing, go back to doing what works.” I’d tell my ego “No!” My game has improved now and I’m happier. I’m trying new things even if my ego hates it.

One other thing I mentioned about the ego is the me and my story. My story was I was fast and athletic, but I couldn’t serve worth a lick. As long as everyone knew that story and I kept believing that story I would always play like that. Eliminate your story. Don’t talk about how you can’t hit cross court or can’t volley. Tell yourself that you deserve to hit cross court or volley effectively. Yes tell yourself that you DESERVE these things. If you don’t believe it then it won’t happen. It might take longer than you think, but that’s your ego slowing you down. Just know things will happen in due time, mainly when you’re ready and only when you’re ready. You need to have positive thoughts and thought patterns. If you’re out playing and it’s windy so what? Be happy you’re out playing tennis. Sun? So what? Heat? Who cares? Just enjoy what you are doing and the game becomes that much easier.

Losing. I’ve never lost a tennis match in my life. Sure there were outcomes where the score wasn’t in my favor, but I didn’t lose the match. I prefer to look at it as “I haven’t lost, I just found a way to not beat someone”. Simple isn’t it? That can change how you look at a match even when the score isn’t in your favor. You learned, you didn’t lose. How great is that? Learning makes you better, so why get frustrated if the score isn’t in your favor? It’s all about mindset.

There are no drills. It just takes time and patience. Be happy with what you have and know that it can get better. Don’t look at things negatively for you will never improve and you will always be sharing your stories about “If I only…”. Ignore people who complain about others. They are draining your energy and they are not fun people to be around. Got a doubles partner who complains, argues with you and drains you, but they’re really good at tennis? Is it worth it to win at the expense of a little bit of your soul being chipped away at? Nope. Cut them. I’ve reduced crappy tennis partners and only found good ones and I enjoy the time I have with everyone. Tennis and life is fun. Enjoy it. This is your shot, don’t do something just to please others if it doesn’t please you. That’s just insanity. Good luck out there. I know you can be a great tennis player, so just believe it already.

 

[morten]

excellent post! Thanks

 

[yellowoctopus]

Shrinking courts for opponents since 2004.

Good post. I would have put this in this thread instead [http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=259192].

Can you comment on Ego vs. Confidence?

thanks

 

[thehustler]

Part 2 How do you achieve a great mentality?

First of all you need to play matches. Lots and lots of matches. Practice won’t do it alone. You can be the world’s greatest practice player, but that means squat on the court when it matters. Remember the score will not be in your favor at times, but then again it’s always in your favor. Even if you “lose” 6-4, 7-6 remember what you did well. Perhaps you dug yourself out of a hole that you didn’t think you could get out of. Remember that for the next time you play. Maybe the next time you “win” by the same score, only you faced break point on each service game but managed to hold each time. Remember that. Don’t ever forget that. As you play more and more you will find ways out of things and remembering that you did will help you in the future. It will make you stronger mentally as you know you can get out of a jam. No coach can practice this with you. Nobody can really teach this to you. You just need to get your butt out there, play matches and learn. Experience is the best teacher. Writing about how you don’t have the experience or complaining about this or that won’t help you. Get out there and play. Remember the good, don’t focus on the bad and you’ll be in great shape.

 

[dotorman]

Losing. I’ve never lost a tennis match in my life. Sure there were outcomes where the score wasn’t in my favor, but I didn’t lose the match. I prefer to look at it as “I haven’t lost, I just found a way to not beat someone”. Simple isn’t it? That can change how you look at a match even when the score isn’t in your favor. You learned, you didn’t lose. How great is that? Learning makes you better, so why get frustrated if the score isn’t in your favor? It’s all about mindset.

Great post!

 

[thehustler]

Good post. I would have put this in this thread instead [http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=259192].

Can you comment on Ego vs. Confidence?

thanks

Ego vs confidence? Sure. What is confidence? Confidence is saying I know I have the tools to do what I need to do and I believe in myself and those tools. Ego says I have the tools, but I have to constantly go out and prove that what I have works, because if I don't nobody will believe me. For example I'm a 4.5. I know I have the tools to be a 4.5 otherwise I wouldn't be rated a 4.5. My ego would tell me "Well yeah that's nice, but you need to prove you're a 4.5." Why? Who do I need to prove it to? Myself? My friends? Why? Who cares. The ego does not care about facts. Facts do not need to be defended for they are facts. That's why there are so many fights about which favorite player is better than who and so on. The facts of record are there. They cannot be disputed. Ego gets in the way unfortunately and people get heated and try to defend the facts where the facts don't need defending at all.

If you notice the same people defending who's better Rafa vs Roger then they have an ego problem. There are facts. Rafa leads 13-6, is now ranked #1 and has won the last 5 meetings. Those cannot be disputed. Federer has won more grand slams. That cannot be disputed. But people want to. What if's and if only's are part of the ego. Sampras will never play Laver or Borg in their primes. That's a fact. I doubt Roger or Rafa have conversations about who's better. They just play tennis and let their games do the talking. That's all you can do. That's confidence.

 

[thehustler]

Emotions.

Emotions are interesting in sports. We all think differently when it comes to emotions. Some like Borg who never showed anything at all, but was feeling it internally. Federer was the same way. Some people are like Nadal and love to show that emotion to get themselves pumped up. Some are like Johnny Mac and get mad madder and madder. However you look at it emotions can help or hurt you, not just in tennis but in life.

Let's start with Borg. He never showed anything. For the most part most of us don't, but that's mainly when we're playing well and dominating. Borg didn't show anything even when he was down. That can be hard for an opponent to figure out what you're feeling and can confuse them on how to handle the situation. The good players know to keep pressing on the gas if you're down and to step up if they're down. They won't care if you show any emotion or not. For people who like to be like Borg that's good for you. If that's what works for you then do it.

Nadal. He's fun to watch. He can get so pumped up at just the right moments and he's always showing positive energy which sends quite a message to his opponent. It tells his opponent that he's in this for the long haul and he'd better be prepared to fight or it will be over quick. This can be difficult to overcome if you don't have the mentality to do so. Again if this works for you then do so. If not then don't complain when people do.

Johnny Mac. Boy he could get riled up. For some people that works. For a lot though it doesn't. If you don't have the game of Johnny Mac then getting mad madder and madder probably won't help you out much. This can quickly lead down the road to despair and eventually you'll be smashing rackets. This road would be best advised if you have an incredible game and you somehow play better angry.

Most of us will get upset at some point during our tennis lives. If you haven't then either you're just too good of a player your entire life or you're lying. Getting upset isn't a bad thing, as long as you know how to use it. For example let's go back to Federer vs Nadal in 2005 at Indian Wells I think it was. Nadal is beating the living crap out of Federer. Fed gets mad, slams his racket and lets out a howl. The crowd is stunned. Nadal is stunned and for that brief moment it kind of rattles Nadal. Fed goes on to win in 5. That is how you use emotions, anger to your advantage. Let it out, but then get over it. Perhaps instead of throwing your racket on the ground throw it into the net. Let out a howl. But then let it go. It's over now. Now you can refocus your energy into beating your opponent. Depending on your opponent this can do a couple things. One it can motivate them to really take you to the woodshed and just make you even more upset or two it can rattle them. They might play a little tentative, and while I don't agree with gamesmanship this can be a way to get inside their head. I've played many matches where I got upset, threw my racket in the net or let out a howl and was able to refocus. My opponents that knew me well knew they were screwed because I just charged myself up.

In the end how you deal with emotion is up to you. While I don't advocate throwing your racket around and cursing like a madman I do suggest letting it out if necessary. Just a quick yell can charge you up and get you in fighting mode again. But if you're going to be a freakin baby and cry about everything then you need to get some help. People can understand a moment of frustration, but a baby on the court they can't stand. Don't be that baby.