What is the mental game of tennis? Mental toughness is consistently generating and maintaining focus in stressful situations and environments.
The mentality of a player is very complex. It’s easy to step onto the practice court, hit a thousand balls, and be perfect. Then you get out there for a match, and stress and pressure are real. Having said this, tennis is a game that requires a healthy and balanced mind to win.
Because it is primarily an individual sport, the mind can frequently make or break a player if they aren’t mentally tough. With no teammates to lean on, the tennis player is left alone, forced to confront his inner demons at every turn. The mental aspect of tennis has been extensively discussed.
Professional players have crumbled under pressure as sand castles washed away by a raging tide. We’ve seen it time and again on a global scale on the men’s and women’s professional tours. We’ve also seen players with ice in their veins rise to the occasion. These players appear to be immune to distractions, completing tasks under difficult conditions.
We admire these players and hail them as heroes. It takes time to develop a strong mind that is determined and disciplined. While physical prowess comes and goes, the mind is the one thing you can always control in tennis. You are solely responsible for your outlook, expectations, and mindset.
As there is no one-size-fits-all approach to teaching mental toughness, this post will attempt to teach you ten alternatives to improve your mental game in tennis. Hopefully, these suggestions will help you strengthen your mental fortitude and give you the key to playing tennis like you always wished.
No Time for Negativity
Between points, your worst enemy is frustration. You’re still fixated on the previous point or error when you’re frustrated. You can’t play your best when your mental energy is split between the previous and following points. I teach my students how to mentally prepare and manage their expectations before they step on the court.
For instance, high expectations are the source of dissatisfaction, especially when you fail to meet your personal “standards.” For example, if you expect to make no unforced errors or to hit perfect shots, you will become frustrated when you make mistakes.
Be in The Moment
In tennis, concentrating on one point at a time is an excellent way to improve your mental performance. This strategy focuses on diverting your attention away from the previous points or the points ahead. The idea is to concentrate and focus on what is about to happen at the current point and play in the current moment.
This allows you to play with greater clarity and be engaged. You’re removing unhealthy distractions, which helps you find your flow. It is difficult to train your mind to do this. Off-court practice is a great way to improve your game. Begin practicing mindfulness.
Mindfulness is an excellent technique for reducing distractions and focusing on the present moment. You’ll notice that you’re more productive in everything you do. Begin to pay attention to your senses; when you eat, try to taste the flavours and notice the smells, texture, and colours. Try it for a week, every meal.
Pay attention to specific parts of your tennis gear, such as the racket’s frame, the strings, the court surface, the ball, the wind and your opponent the next time you’re on the court. You’ll get into a routine, becoming second nature to you, and as a result, there will be fewer distractions during your next competitive tennis match.
Unwind
Anxiety can be a bigger adversary than the actual opponent for some players. Still, it is a reality that needs to be accepted as a vital element of any kind of competition. The challenge is finding a way to manage your anxiety before it manages you.
On the one hand, anxiety can enhance your performance by activating your body and focusing your mind, but when physical and psychological symptoms overpower you, anxiety becomes debilitating to your game.
Remembering to stay calm encourages anxiety control and aids recovery by relieving physical tightness and relaxing the mind. Relaxation exercises can help with the long-term impacts of stress, concern over impending performances, and acute anxiety during vital moments in a match.
Faith
Success is defined not by a specific outcome but by your ability to perform to the best of your ability. You can’t foresee which tennis matches or tournaments you’ll win, but you can make sure your physical, technical, and psychological skills are at their peak.
Keep an optimistic outlook on yourself and your capacity to succeed. Concentrate on increasing your confidence in your ability to execute your tennis game and observe the tasks you can accomplish.
Focusing on your strengths and learning new ways to think and act confidently might help you enhance your self-esteem. Enjoy the challenge of putting your talents to the test in a high-pressure setting, and learn from your mistakes to recover from disappointments and losses.
You will become a confident and resilient competitor if you actively use your good and bad experiences. Tennis is a sport of mental fortitude. Players must maintain an optimal psychological state for the duration of a match, restore it for the following match, and sustain it across numerous tournaments.
The psychological recovery process assists players in coping with and recovering from a match to maintain performance standards throughout a tournament. A win or a loss will elicit strong emotions, which must be dealt with constructively.
Anchors
Before each point, practice a brief ritual, often referred to as an anchor, to prime your body for the point and condition your mind to associate that ritual with a successful point. Your mind will become more clear and more concentrated as a result. It’s a feedback loop in which the more you practice the ritual, the more your brain links it to success, and the more success you have, the more successful the ritual becomes.
It’s a successful method that every professional tennis player uses before a point, whether it’s changing your shirt at the start of each set, adjusting your shorts or tucking your hair behind the ears, alla Nadal.
Be Uncomfortable
Nerves are necessary for good performance. “Everyone has an optimal level of anxiety,” Patrick Mouratoglou says. “When I work with a player, we emphasize embracing anxiety as a sign of personal engagement.”
Anxiety indicates that a player is invested, and getting comfortable in that uncomfortable place is critical to preventing anxiety from becoming panic.” Nerves are not a sign of weakness; they indicate that you are progressing toward your goal.
Distractions
If you allow distractions into your game flow, the audience or the opposing player will sway them in their favour and continue to disrupt your game. If you let your opponent or the crowd influence you, you will play a reactive rather than a proactive game, and you’ll find yourself playing the opponent rather than your own game.
As a result, you are likely to lose focus and commit more errors than you were planning on. You might make shots you wouldn’t usually go for in your game. To avoid being influenced by your opponent or the crowd, you must be able to rely on a ritual that grounds you and that keeps your head in the game.
Take a Break
A three-set match can take several hours. You simply cannot concentrate for two to three hours without a break. You want to use the downtime on changeovers and between points to temporarily relax your focus so you can focus on the next point at peak levels. I’m not telling you to pull out your phone and order a pizza during a changeover. The goal should be gradually building your concentration for when you need it during the game.
Acceptance
Accept that you will not always perform at your peak. ‘Not even the most successful players in the game play at their peak in every tennis match,’ says R. Forzoni. ‘Assume a player participates in 20 matches. Two of those may be regarded as outstanding by the player, while the other may be regarded as poor.
How they perform in the remaining 16 matches will likely determine their success level – so keep that in mind for 80 percent of the matches you play.’ Never use the phrase “having a bad day” because it gives you an excuse to keep having a bad day. Making excuses ahead of time is a form of ‘self-handicapping behavior,’ which prevents you from changing the situation.
Support
While many of the above suggestions center on improving our mental game, it’s crucial to keep in mind that tennis requires at least two players to play tennis. Not to mention the coaches, family members, and other tennis players who all affect us. We want to surround ourselves with psychologically strong players who will push us and help us improve through challenges in tennis and develop mental toughness.
Thus we carefully select our opponents, coaches, and supporting cast. We also don’t want to pick up bad mental habits from the bad guys. Only when you actively manage your psychological functioning in all areas of your life can you expect psychological strategies for sports performance to positively impact the court.
FAQs
What is Federer’s secret To His mental game?
Roger Federer acknowledges and accepts all the challenging thoughts and emotions that appear in his mind and body and yet, stays focused on what’s right in front of him on the court at that very moment. He doesn’t resist the negative thoughts or feelings or tries to get rid of them. He rides the waves of his emotions and stays present and focused on the match.
How can the player become mentally tough and successfully deal with all kinds of challenges?
Understanding tennis psychology’s fundamental concepts and strategies is an excellent starting point. A player can then apply the sports psychology practices to help him stay focused, manage arousal, and achieve his optimum mental state. The player’s experience in mentally challenging tennis matches, however, is what matters most because it gradually but surely strengthens his mental toughness.
How much of tennis is mental?
We all know the saying that tennis is just as much of a mental game as a physical game. While it is hard to say how mental tennis is, many claim that tennis is 85% mental and 15% physical. Your capacity to handle the stress of competitive tennis, regardless of your skill level, is closely tied to your success as a tennis player.
Extra Resource
Check out the Tennis Psychology Podcast to give you additional perspectives on the mental game of tennis.
Christoph Friedrich is a German tennis player and coach currently residing in Oakland, California. He began his tennis journey at the age of eight and has since dedicated his life to the sport. After working as a tennis coach and hitting partner in New York City for eight years, Christoph decided to share his knowledge and experience with tennis players around the world by creating the My Tennis Expert blog. His goal is to make tennis education accessible to everyone and help players select the best equipment for their game, from racquets and strings to shoes and overgrips. Christoph's extensive research and expertise in tennis technology make him a valuable resource for players of all levels.