How To Overcome Tentative Performances In Tennis

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In tennis matches, do you have trouble playing those important points? Well, hi, I'm Dr. Patrick Cohn and in today's Tennis Psychology Podcast, I'm going to answer a question from James, who is a senior tennis player all the way from Scotland.

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Here's the question that I received from James. He said, the problem is that in my competitive tennis matches I just cannot relax on important points. And this happens often. I invariably make an unforced error or play defensively. And it happened again recently in the Scottish Veterans tournament. I'm now 66 years old. What can I do to improve my mental game, especially for important points? James, thanks for the question. You're not alone in terms of players who struggle on important points, and I think there's certainly some things that you can do to improve your mental game and play better on those important points. So a couple of things that I'd like to point out. First is the number one, you say you just cannot relax and number two, you tend to play defensively and make errors on those important points. All right? So first of all, one of the things that you have to know is that you're placing more of an importance on the so called important points. Now in my work I call that labeling. You're actually labeling the point being more important. And I think that's your trigger. That's the trigger within you that causes you to tighten up and probably play more defensively. Now let's address that aspect. The aspect of playing defensively, or I call tentatively, means you're trying not to screw up, you're trying not to make mistakes, you're trying not to hit the ball out, for example. So that's certainly a mindset that you can work on right away. So with that said, one of the things that you have to do is first of all treat every point as just another point in the match. And I know that's easier said than done. But what I'm asking you to do is don't label the point in your mind, whether it's in or add out, as an important point because that triggers something in your mind to play more defensively and cautiously, which leads you to making more errors. Secondly, it's really an issue about trusting in your game and trusting in your skills. If you're backing off, you're playing more tentatively and defensively. You're really not trusting in your strokes and and in your ability to hit out on the ball and hit your normal shots. So what I usually tell players in that situation is if your tendency is to back off and play too tentatively and defensively, then what do you think you need to do in that situation when you feel yourself playing tentatively? Well, you need to set a little goal for yourself to play more aggressively throughout the match. I don't want you to go. It's an important point once again, and I need to play more aggressively. I just want you to think about playing consistently aggressive, playing your game throughout the match in that especially when you notice that you're starting to tighten up and short stroke it out there, that's when you got to go, I need to swing through, swing out, trust my stroke, trust my shot making ability. And really, wouldn't you rather go down swinging than going down bunting? That's the question. Thanks for your question, James, and good luck with your game.

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