Do You Put Your Competitors On A Pedistole?

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Do you ever wonder if you put your opponents up on a pedestal and then allow that to psych you out prior to a match? Hi, I'm Dr. Patrick Cohn. Welcome to session number 102. In today's session, I answer a question from a player wondering about how to treat her opponents prior to a match. Here's the question from Jenny. Is it okay, before you play a match to put your opponents on a very high level? In other words, expect them to be better than they are and therefore be prepared for what will come your way? Or should you never think about your opponent and concentrate on your own game?

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I think it depends a little bit on the person. For example, Jenny, if you're typically an overconfident tennis player, which means that you go into matches thinking that you're going to win 6060 every time, and then you end up losing and wonder why you lost, then I would say you need to go into the matches knowing that you might have a tight match and your opponent might be very good. But for the most part, my general answer to your question is no. I never want my students to put their opponents on a pedestal and look at their opponents on a very high level. Often that leads to a concept I call self intimidation. Self intimidation is when you compare yourself to your opponent. That means you compare your ranking or you compare the seeding, or you compare your opponent's strengths or shots with your strengths or shots. And typically that doesn't lead down a good path when we're talking about the mental game. Why? Because often players will compare themselves to players they think are better than them. And then often, like I said, that leads to a discrepancy between what you think you have and what your opponent has. So my preference is what you said in the second part of your question. I believe that you should never think about your opponent's ability or put them on a pedestal, create them, or expect them to be better than they are. And I would prefer that you concentrate on your own game. Now, there is one caveat to that, and that is you certainly want to know a little bit about your opponent's game. Plan and how they play. Does your opponent have a good forehand or a weak backhand or does your opponent like to is a counter puncher and like to track down all the balls and get them back into the court? Does your opponent lob I mean how does your opponent play the game that strategically that's good information and you want that information that's really critical for you to be able to play your strengths and your opponent's weaknesses. But I would rather you focus on what you have and concentrate on your game. In other words building yourself up in your skills so once you get in that match that you feel fully confident when you start that match rather than making this comparison between your skills and your opponent's skills. Hope that was helpful. Good luck with your game.

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