Mind
Training for Tennis -
Tip 14
The
Secret To Mental Strength In
Matches
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The
mental strength you display when
you are trailing your opponent, or
even when you are in a winning position,
will determine your final result
almost every time.
Being
mentally strong is an almost mystical
ability, where a player is able
to successfully pull through all
the pressures of a match to come
out on top, virtually every time.
The
opposite of mental strength is fear. For
instance, some players immediately
hit the 'panic button' as soon as they
get into the slightest bit of trouble
early in a match (such as being down
a break of serve in the first set)
and competely change their tactics
altogether, instead of continuing to
play their own natural game, before
maybe incorporating a few tactical
changes later to see how they work. This
happens because of fear.
Other
players find that when they are leading
a match, they suddenly begin to freeze
up right at the crucial moment,
when they are serving for the match. They
begin trying to "protect their
lead" instead of playing the
aggressive tennis that got them into
the winning position. (As
they say, "never change a winning
game").
In
both cases, the secret is to
remain mentally strong and not allow
fear to dictate your thinking - but this
is easier said than done. So
what is the real secret to mental strength?
The
answer is easy. To become mentally
strong, simply keep your mind in
the present moment, 100% of the
time - and never focus on
the past, or on the future.
Fear
usually comes from allowing our minds
to develop a "fear of
what might happen" outlook - instead of focusing on playing one
point at a time, and keeping our thoughts
100% in the now.
Former
world no.1 tennis player in the 1970's
Arthur Ashe, who was one of the mentally-strongest
tennis players of all time, once said
that tennis is a sport where "we
do not have the luxury of thinking
cumulatively" - or in other words,
if we think about more than one point
at a time during a match, we are going
to lose.
So
the secret to keeping your mind strong
and preventing mental lapses is to
practice this mental skill relentlessly
in all your matches and practice,
until you finally master it.
But
know this - it is NOT easy. If
it was, everyone could do it. It
is actually a very powerful mental discipline, which
takes quite some time to master - because the very last thing
your conscious mind wants to do
is focus upon the present moment.
Your
conscious mind loves nothing more
than to focus upon all the negatives -
such as the points that we have lost,
and also fearing whatever might happen
in the future.
So
you must relentlessly bring your
focus back onto the present point - again, and again, and again - until
it finally becomes disciplined enough
to do this automatically.
It
sounds easy, but it will be
one of the toughest things you have
ever tried to master. You will need to practice
this as much as your have practicing
your groundstrokes, before the results
will begin to come through. But
once you do, you will never have any
major mental lapses during your matches
ever again - and you will become very, very hard
to beat.
So
go to it - and let me know how you
go!
