How to Let Go of Errors in Tennis

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Do you have trouble on the tennis court letting go of mistakes? Hi, I'm Dr. Patrick Cohn. In this video, you're you're going to learn how to let go of mistakes on the tennis court.

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So I received the following question from Laurie. This is what Laurie had to say. I play tennis and very frequently I get mad at myself and my game. I cannot seem to let go of my mistakes and need help with myself mentally on the court. I am constantly blaming myself for all the mistakes. What would you suggest, Laurie? This is a great question, one that I get quite often with tennis players who get upset for frustrated angry on the tennis court. First of all, number one is it starts with your expectations about what is acceptable and what isn't acceptable for you. If you go out there, for example, and think, if I have a short ball, I have to put that short ball away. So your standard is you can never miss that short ball. And when you do miss that short ball, guess what? You're not playing to your own expectations. Thus you become frustrated. So step one is to be very, very careful of those expectations that you take out to the tennis court with you that will cause you to become upset when you don't play to those expectations. I also call them the shoulds. I should never double fall, should never miss a short ball, I should never hit a ball long, etc. Etc. Secondly, you have to define what are the top mistakes that you judge yourself on? What are those mistakes that you get the most upset on the tennis court? I'll use the short ball example for one of them. Now, once you list those mistakes and you identify those ones that really get you upset, the next step is for you to develop a different reaction, a different response. In my work as a mental coach, we call that anticipate and cope. When you're anticipating and coping, you're thinking about, okay, I'm going to get probably upset with myself when I miss a short ball. If I miss a short ball, well, how do I handle that? How do I change my approach so that I don't get frustrated? So if you think that's unacceptable, I can never miss a short ball, then you have to attack that reaction and replace it with a new reaction. So you might say to yourself, I'm not perfect. I miss easy shots. Even the pros miss easy shots. And it's okay, let it go. Let's move on. Essentially, what you're trying to do to let go of mistakes is you make that mistake okay in your own mind. What that means, basically, is, I'm okay, the mistake's okay, I need to move on. Because you can't move on and have the monkey on the back on the next point. What that means is you can't be dwelling on the past mistake and then play that next point freely or with a focused mind. So your first priority is to get that monkey off your back. And the only way you're going to do that is you develop a new reaction for each and every one of those mistakes that get you upset. Now, finally, I'll also say that you have to stop judging your performance. Judging your performance is based upon those expectations that you have, remember? So you can have expectations. You have to be very careful about judging your performance. Lorrae, thanks for your question. I hope that was helpful for you. If you want more information, go to sportspsychologytennis.com and check out some other articles I have there and sign up for a free report while you're there. Thanks.

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