How to Stay Focused and Cope with Distractions on the Court

Welcome to the Tennis Psychology Podcast with your host, Dr. Patrick Cohn. Dr. Cohn is a mental Game of tennis expert. Do you want to improve your mental toughness for tennis? Then join us on the Tennis Psychology Podcast sessions with Doc.

Do you get distracted easily by poor weather conditions when you play or people on an adjacent court that are catching your attention and then it frustrates you and it's hard for you to get your focus back? Hi, I'm Dr. Patrick Cohn and today is session number 78 of the tennis Psychology Podcast. Today I answer a question about how to stay focused when you're distracted and not allow the small stuff to cause you to become upset and lose your rhythm on the court.

How do I avoid frustration from external factors hurting my performance such as the wind, sun, poor night lighting, unusual sounds nearby, etc. I let these affect me too much. Improve your mental game quickly by visiting sportspsychologytennis.com today and claim a free tennis psychology report titled titled 6 Unforced Mental Game Errors Tennis Players make between points.

The first thing I want you to understand is that everybody has to play in the same conditions. Your opponent has to deal with that poor lighting situation just like you do. If you allow it to enter your mind, get you frustrated, or cause you to become distracted, well, immediately you're going to giving the match away to your opponent, in essence because it's not bothering your opponent. In other words, half the people that might be playing in that condition are going to get upset and allow it to affect their play. The other half is not going to allow it to affect their play. And those are the people that are going to thrive in those conditions. So the bottom line is when you're playing on a bumpy court surface or with poor lighting or or with a wind that you don't like, everybody has to deal with the same situation. Therefore, you have to be able to rise to that challenge and say I love this and get into the challenge of playing in poor lighting or on a bumpy court or with noises around you. Secondly, I think what's happening is you're paying too much attention to these external distractions. The the moment you give it energy, oh, I missed that shot because I couldn't see the target well, or I missed that return of serve because the lighting is not good enough. As soon as you give it energy is when it starts to enter your mind. Don't allow that problem to become an excuse for yourself for poor play. In other words, that's what's considered task irrelevant cue for me it has no relevance, it has no importance to executing shots, but you're allowing it to occupy your mind. So you have to go into the match mentally prepared to deal with any scenario. Strong crosswind, for example the clay court being a bumpy court, poor lighting, your opponent yelling people in the adjacent courts. What is your strategy for dealing with each of those? We call that mental preparation or anticipation and cope. In other words, you have to think through some of these challenges that you have with the poor lighting and then think about how are you going to adapt with composure and confidence if instead of allowing it to eat away at your confidence and become a distraction for you at the least. Thanks for your question and good luck with your game.

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