Mind
Training for Tennis
- Tip 16
The
Secret That Turned Federer's Career Around in 2002
http://www.tennispsychology.com
During
his press conferences at the end of year Masters in Shanghai
in 2006, Roger Federer - who at that stage, had been virtually
an untouchable force for the past 4 years - finally
explained the one major thing which turned his career around,
from the early years when he regularly lost to the former top
players such as Lleyton Hewitt, who he finally dethroned at
the time as the number one player in the world.
This
aspect was clearly evident when Federer played a match against Andy
Roddick at the end of year Shanghai playoff, saving 3 match points
to eventually win (including being down a set and 4-1 in the second
set tie-break, with Roddick to serve).
His
secret sounds so simple yet it made all the difference to his career.
Federer
said his career finally went golden when he learned not to panic
on the court when he was down or under pressure - and that rather
than giving up, he now "hangs in there and hopes for the best
whenever things are down".
Federer
attributes his success to this one simple decision, and said it
has been the best choice that he has ever made in tennis.
Federer
indicated this again after the Roddick match, when he mentioned
that it appeared that he was going to lose the match for sure -
and that he just decided to "keep playing and see what happened",
just in case Roddick got nervous or something dramatic should happen
that might change the match.
And
as is so often the case, Federer escaped from a seemingly impossible
situation to register another victory.
One
could say that Federer wins these matches because of the amount
of inner belief he created from the incredible win/loss record he
amassed from 2003-2007, but the fact is that he did not begin to
amass this record, or the level of self-belief he now possesses,
until he first began believing in himself.
It
was at Wimbledon in 2003 which was the beginning of his incredible
reign at the top of the game.
Federer
realized that, in order to become a champion, he had to first begin
thinking like one - and this made all the difference to
his career.
This
is actually the opposite of how most players think - as most believe
that once they start winning lots of matches, "the belief will
come", which will help them win more matches. But this
is not how it works - because as Federer discovered, it's actually
the other way around.
The
secret is that you have to first create the belief, before you
will begin winning lots of matches.
So
how do you increase your belief? The same way as you
master anything else - you develop your belief by practicing
it regularly. Here's a few things that help increase
belief:
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