Don't
get me wrong, however, nervousness before a match
is not a bad thing! It's a sign that you are psyched
up and ready to go. (So don't get nervous if you're
nervous!!) It's only extreme nervousness
that most players can do without before a match.
So
what is the best way I know to begin to create
belief in yourself and your own ability?
Daily
visualization. Let me explain, this is all you
have to do. Every day for 5 minutes (or
even if just for a few minutes) vividly imagine
in your mind the absolute perfect match you wish
to play at your next tournament, as if it is really
happening right at that very moment.
This literally programmes
your subconscious mind for success (much like a
computer), it's a form of self-hypnosis which is
very safe, easy and it works brilliantly.
A
crucial element - when you visualize playing
a match in your mind, use all your senses -
imagine seeing the players, court and surroundings,
all in their respective colours, and hear the
sounds of people cheering you. Most of all - feel
that amazing joy of victory when you win
the match.
If
you do this every day for around 5 minutes, you
will gradually notice a shift in your confidence
levels before and during matches, and your results
will begin to steadily improve. I don't have the
space to tell you how this works, except to say
that this creates a mental program (or blueprint)
in the area of your mind that is the control-center
of all of your body's movements.
Now
the only trick to it is this - it's only the
truly dedicated players who will do this every
day. This very quickly sorts out the serious
players from the ones who just wish they
were better, but are not willing to do anything
about it. Are you willing to try this for 5 minutes
a day? If you do, you may well discover a whole
range of extra benefits from it as well, which
even go far beyond tennis.
There
are many important aspects to visualization which
you should know about (I could probably write 100
pages on this topic alone), but some of the important
aspects it can be used for are to: