What To Do When Your Game Falls Apart In Your Tennis Matches!!

thomas daniels

Semi-Pro
The reality that you are facing in every tennis match is the same.

At some point during the match, your matchplay game is going to fall apart on you, when facing pressure.

It happens to the best of us.

Because, tennis competition is all mental.

So, you have to be mentally train and prepared to fight and play through these moments.

It's known as Mushin Mental Training in Japan.

But let's called this one....

"Mental Preparation for dealing with negative situations during your tennis matches."

This is when you mentally picture yourself playing the match in your mind, you should try to see yourself on a movie screen playing and executing in the match, while you are sitting in a theater watching yourself.

Before any match.

(Think about all the bads things that could happen during the match, your serve could break down, you could be missing your passing shots or you could be losing all the big points, by being too emotionally attached to them).

Now, picture how you will mentally respond to these things happening to you.

You should be thinking, if this happens, I am going to do this to counter it and then say this to my self(Go win the point) and then they may do this,so in return, I will respond by doing this to them.

Your goal is to think it all the way through to the end, while mentally picturing and playing it out in your mind.

"Here is the key thing to remember... you have to do this many times leading up to the match or it won't work".

When you do this many times before a match.

You will repond on a subconscious level and it will be like Deja vu for YOU during the match.

Meaning, you will do it, without even being aware of it or trying to do it!!!!

Can you see how?

This is a very powerful way to mentally train before all your tennis matches.

You can call this mental preparation.... Mushin Training.
 

Vanhalen

Professional
I have been falling apart for the past 2 months but only in matches. It has to be mental, in practice I am rock solid against the same guy. He’s asking....what on earth is happening to your strokes when we play matches? Your timing is off, strokes look jerky, never been like this in 3 years we have played together. I’m like 2 compl different players anymore.
 

thomas daniels

Semi-Pro
I have been falling apart for the past 2 months but only in matches. It has to be mental, in practice I am rock solid against the same guy. He’s asking....what on earth is happening to your strokes when we play matches? Your timing is off, strokes look jerky, never been like this in 3 years we have played together. I’m like 2 compl different players anymore.
Been there and done that... but try this training concept for 1 month, it's going to transform your mental game, just watch!!
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Mushin (’no-mind’) deals with the same idea of being in the ‘zone’ or ‘state of flow’ which I agree is the perfect mental state for a match. While pre-match visualization is a good training tool, I don’t think it alone is enough to develop a ‘mushin’ mindset.

The first step is to get good enough at tennis to reach a level of ‘unconscious competence’ so that you don't have to think about technique. Next is to remain at optimal stimulation (neither too relaxed nor too stressed/tight) throughout the match while maintaining a good balance of internal/external focus. Also, having routines between points helps. I am a big believer in mental training like a martial artist for tennis and do at least 15 minutes of visualization even before social matches. I would recommend reading ‘Smart Tennis’ by Dr. John Murray to learn more about the many things you can do to be in a ‘flow state‘ during a match. If you are so inclined, reading about Zen methods to improve the mind can help also.
 

BlueB

Legend
The reality that you are facing in every tennis match is the same.

At some point during the match, your matchplay game is going to fall apart on you, when facing pressure.

It happens to the best of us.

Because, tennis competition is all mental.

So, you have to be mentally train and prepared to fight and play through these moments.

It's known as Mushin Mental Training in Japan.

But let's called this one....

"Mental Preparation for dealing with negative situations during your tennis matches."

This is when you mentally picture yourself playing the match in your mind, you should try to see yourself on a movie screen playing and executing in the match, while you are sitting in a theater watching yourself.

Before any match.

(Think about all the bads things that could happen during the match, your serve could break down, you could be missing your passing shots or you could be losing all the big points, by being too emotionally attached to them).

Now, picture how you will mentally respond to these things happening to you.

You should be thinking, if this happens, I am going to do this to counter it and then say this to my self(Go win the point) and then they may do this,so in return, I will respond by doing this to them.

Your goal is to think it all the way through to the end, while mentally picturing and playing it out in your mind.

"Here is the key thing to remember... you have to do this many times leading up to the match or it won't work".

When you do this many times before a match.

You will repond on a subconscious level and it will be like Deja vu for YOU during the match.

Meaning, you will do it, without even being aware of it or trying to do it!!!!

Can you see how?

This is a very powerful way to mentally train before all your tennis matches.

You can call this mental preparation.... Mushin Training.
Again?








And in quite a few other threads by op and others...
 
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