TennisMindCamp: Tip of The Week (2-19-09): Don’t Let Your Opponent Back In The Match!

Hey,

When you find yourself on the brink of winning the set, and the score is 5 – 2 or something of that nature, a lot of players find themselves tensing up and a lot of times get extremely nervous.

This usually results in the loss of their competitive edge and makes it very difficult to finish out the set properly.

Does that ever happen to you?

You don’t hit out on your shots. All you keep saying to yourself is, “One more point, don’t miss it, don’t miss it.” When this happens, you begin to develop the mentality of trying NOT to lose instead of trying to win.

You never want this to happen, because this kind of thinking and match play can open the door for your opponent and could help ignite a comeback on their behalf. And I know this is true, because it’s happened to me.

So how can you prevent this from happening?

Mental Method #1: Give your brain a break !

Don’t look too far ahead. Many players actually begin thinking about too many external factors that really have nothing to do with the immediate task at hand, winning the match. They begin looking towards their supporters to make sure they’re feeling good about what they’re doing, visualize themselves on the podium holding the trophy, and a host of other things.

This will undoubtedly screw up your focus, and then when your opponent begins to take advantage of your “mental slippage,” you freeze up mentally and play tentatively like it’s your first match ever because you were caught off gaurd . Well, I got news for you. Don’t think about holding the trophy yet. Simply play one ball at a time.

The game is filled with so many things (…serves, volleys, court positioning, recovery shots, offensive vs defensive awareness, picking out your opponent’s weaknesses etc.) it’s virtually impossible to take on everything all at once, deal with the extra stuff you’re thinking about, and still maintain your focus you need to get the victory.

Mental Method #2: Think positively!

If you’re mind is filled with negative thoughts, the self-fulfilling prophecy will take over. For example, if you’re hanging on to a bad point you played earlier in the match, all that does is help your opponent even more, which can easily lead to more bad points played on your behalf. And this horrible cycle will continue to haunt you until the match it over.

You have to let points go. Singles is a one on one sport. You don’t need two people beating out there. So instead, you should say to yourself what you’ve done correctly after the point is completed (…even if it’s a point you weren’t successful on), the difference in your game will be quite noticeable.

Try out these two mental methods, and you should become much more calm when you can see the end of the game, or better yet, the match in site.

Stay tuned for next weeks tip. And have a great day and an even better game!

All the best,

Brian Hall, Head Coach
Tennis Mind Camp
http://www.Myspace.com/TennisMindCamp
webmaster@TennisMindCamp.com

Tagged as: competitive edge, match play, mind, one ball at a time, tennis, tennismindcamp, think positively, trophy, winning the set, your opponent