Showing your excitement is a great thing… AFTER THE MATCH. That’s right, during a match, I recommend you put a lid on it and don’t let the world see your insides. You need to control them and keep them under wraps.

A great way to regulate and control your emotions during a match is to show no reaction at the end of a point. That’s right, keep your eyes on the prize so to speak, the win.

Physically: If you want to play ball like the great Pete Sampras, you don’t need any outbursts like jumping in the air to show the crowd and/or your opponent that you’re pleased with what you did.

The only fancy footwork you need is the kind that will get you back to the baseline the quickest .

Mentally: If you want to think and have the mental game of Pete Sampras, move on. Don’t dwell.  You want to act like it’s just another day at the office. Once the previous point has been played out, it’s over and your thoughts about it should be too.

Just look at basketball great Michael Jordan on the court or when football superstar Tom Brady takes the field. After they do something great, they’re not screaming to the top of their lungs or dancing in front of the fans. Why not?

This is business, just another day at the office to them. You should take that same approach.  If you choose not to and make a habit of reacting every time a point is completed, you become very unstable as the match goes on.

When you win it, you’re going to feel good… maybe even great about yourself, but when the tables turn around, and you lose the point, your heart, your mind, and your body, go into the tank.

You end up feeling like you’re on a date with an on again off again girlfriend/boyfriend. And you know how utterly shaky and gut-wrenchingly unpredictable times like that can be. You never really feel grounded, nor do you have any foundation or mental base.

Your significant other says something nice about you and your emotions run super high, and you’re jumping up and down. But when he/she turns around and does something you hate, then you feel worse than when Shaq saw Kobe win his first ring without him. Horrible!

Nothing’s consistent. You’re emotions are in limbo and all over the place. Once, you feel you’re somewhat used to something, it changes.

You can’t be that mentally unstable and be going through that type of emotional teeter-totter during a competitive match if you want to be successful. I recommend being even keel where you’re right in the middle. That way, your play, your thoughts, and your mood is constant. You have a much needed internal balance.

Pete Sampras is a great example of a player who has tremendous inner balance. He would always look so calm after every point. Whenever I would watch him, I could never tell the score.  I didn’t know if he was winning or losing by his body language and the expression on his face.

This was a great asset to him and one of the biggest reasons I believe he won so many matches. This not only aided in his ability to maintain strong focus, but it never gave his opponent an opening to take advantage of the way he was feeling either.

Why? Because his opponent was in the same boat as you and I, he didn’t have a clue what was going on in Pete’s head either haha. Yea, a double whammy!

Now, by no means am I saying that Pete never made mistakes or got out of character. Of course he did. And it’s ok to make mistakes and show a little bit ONCE IN A WHILE.

I mean, if you we’re down 1-5 in the final set and had double match point against you, and came roaring back to take a 6-5 lead,  go ahead and give it a quick fist pump. I mean, I don’t think Pete Sampras or Roger Federer could have resisted that one haha.

But the key phrase there is “once in a while.” When you find yourself going up and down on an emotional roller coaster through the entire match, that’ll just lead to unforced errors by the boatload.

So, yes you CAN celebrate. Just make sure, it’s after the match is over or something like the extreme exception I mentioned above.  Make sure your emotionally centered out there, and you’ll see a lot more wins.

Have a great weekend!

Brian

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