Hitting In Practice But Missing In A Tennis Match
Hi! I recently ordered your e-book on mental toughness and would like to ask a question about my tennis.
I have a wonderful forehand against the machine and my tennis coach.
However, during match play, every time I try to do things the “right way”, the ball goes long.
I’m pretty sure my issue is in my head and not one of technique. Any suggestions?
What “worries” me 
a little bit in your short description are the words “the right way”.
IF you are thinking about technique when you play a point, you will almost always hit a poor shot.
Why?
Because your brain is extremely busy with calculating the trajectory of the ball flight, where you have to position yourself, balancing and coordinating your body, timing the swing and so on.
If you disrupt this intensive process with your thinking, it will start making mistakes.
So you will end up too close to the ball, maybe poorly balanced, maybe late on the swing and so on. So you will very likely hit a poor shot.
And you may think that something was wrong with your technique and you will try even harder to think. And you will even more interfere with the subconscious process of moving, balancing, calculating and so on.
So mistakes will keep happening.
Now that you understand what is going on when you miss a shot during a match play, you can also see the solution.
Clear your mind of conscious thinking.
Focus on the ball and your overall strategy of playing. Tennis technique will work by itself.
You also don’t tell yourself to lift the right knee and transfer weight forward when you start walking. It’s natural and subconscious.
Tennis technique is the same. Just play and it will happen.
One more thing: if you are looking for a perfect technique, then you need to know that there isn’t one.
Your technique needs to adapt to different heights, spins, distances and speeds of the ball.
So if sometimes your follow-through ends up below your shoulder that’s not the wrong technique, that’s how it needed to adapt in order to play the right ball depending on the situation you were in.
Here are some articles that may explain more about technique and mistakes:
4 Reasons Why Recreational Tennis Players Cannot Have Perfect Technique
There Are Only 4 Mistakes In Tennis
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December 24th, 2007 at 9:02 am
“Clear your mind of conscious thinking.”
- this is 100% essential! Everytime, this has been my problem. I am always too conscious of my stance and ends up losing focus on the ball. Hence, too many mishits.
January 16th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I thought it was just me those three words (”the right way”) jumped out at and made worry. I wholeheartedly agree. That’s the wrong goal. It’s about where the ball goes, not how you swing. If you aim at the wrong goal, you are somewhat mentally off target, and that will have you doing counterproductive things. You’ll be paying more attention to form (looking good) than performance (making the shots). Ironically, too much thought and conscious effort in form usually makes it worse, not better.