Do You Sit On The Lead in Matches?

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Do you have any tennis players that are really good when they're fighting from behind and down in a match, but once they get into the lead and they should really close out the match, they don't. They tend to relax and let up. Hi, I'm Dr. Patrick Cohn with a new episode of the Tennis Psychology Podcast. Today I answer a question from a sports parent. Her name is Kamila. She asked the My son is a great fighter. When he is down in a tennis match, he literally fights out of the gutter when he is a set down, saving match points and going on to win the match. However, when he's in the lead in a match and he should win easily, he relaxes, even messes around and ends up losing. What can I say to him that will help keep his foot on the gas when he's on top?

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Kameya I often find that there's two reasons why tennis players will sit on a lead and eventually lose the momentum and lose the match. The first reason is because of a comfort zone and the second reason is due to complacency. Let's talk about the first one, what I call the comfort zone. Often tennis players, when they get a big lead, they tend to start to think ahead and say, oh, wouldn't it be great if I can close out this match right now? And they often will protect the lead or sit on the lead. And that's where they go from playing offensive tennis to playing defensive tennis. Now they're just trying not to make mistakes. They're getting the ball back, but they're really not going to controlling the points or forcing the issue and trying to win points. They're waiting for their opponent to make mistakes. And I often find in this case, when you allow your opponent to come into the match like that, you give your opponent momentum, you give your opponent confidence and they can certainly make a comeback because of that momentum that they have. So in that particular case, you want to to talk to your player about continuing to play what I call offensive tennis instead of defensive tennis. This requires that you talk about the difference between the two mindsets. What is offensive tennis and what is defensive Tennis and what does it look like when they're playing defensively? What does it feel like for them when they're playing defensively? And then define for them what is offensive tennis, what got them into the lead in the first place? How was he playing? How was he constructing the points? What was he thinking about to win points and maybe be aggressive in that particular case? So it's really about getting players to continue to play aggressive, continue to stick to their game plan, and continue to focus on one point at a time and not really get into the results. Because I find focusing too much on the results can lead them to either getting overanxious or worried that they can close out the match. And sometimes that can lead to that defensive play. As far as the complacency issue, I think it sounds like with your son, he's getting bored, maybe, and then, as you say, he starts to relax and he starts to mess around a little bit, maybe play shots he shouldn't be playing. So in that case, when it comes to complacency, you want to find a challenge for him, what I call the game within the game. What can he do to get excited and to challenge himself to win maybe three out of four points to hit more winners, for example, maybe even to change up his strategy in some way to get him excited about continuing to play hard and continuing to play in a way that got him into that position, into that winning position. Hope that was helpful. Thanks for the question and good luck with this tennis game.

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