Dealing With Pressure In Tennis Matches
How to handle the kind of pressure when in a tournament situation, a player is 4-5 up serving, and fails to finish the match due to what we call “elbow”?
The player gets so tensed up that he or she can’t perform at the level they suppose to.
Also; when you have players that are naturally tensed up players, how you teach them to train more relaxed, and then apply that skill in a tournament setting?
The reason why the players get tense when serving for the match is because they don’t want to lose this opportunity. If they miss the chance, they will feel very bad. (that is only their opinion – in reality, there is only a probability of winning and not a guarantee)
This is party because coaches and parents scold players like :“How could you waste such an opportunity?” This of course fills the players with guilt. But the fact is, that the player cannot control the outcome and is NOT responsible for the outcome.
The player is only responsible for the performance – giving 100% of effort – which is within his / her control.
If you can convince your players (and of course agree) that they cannot control the outcome, then they should eventually lose the pressure when serving for the match.
Winning or losing is not their problem. Only playing is.
They should also learn to refocus and get any thoughts about the outcome out of their mind. They need to become aware of their thoughts and change or stop them when they appear.
In case of naturally tensed players I would suggest to have them exhale every time they hit (all players should do that anyway but these can put even more emphasis on breathing), really be aware of their body tension and let go of it and practice lots of rituals – when serving and when returning.
Of course, try to find out why exactly are they “naturally” tensed. Tension is not natural, it has to do with the mental tension. Body is only a reflection of your mind…
I suggest you also check the Q&A on pressure in the match on my main site.
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June 17th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I always find that keeping a very strict rountine when serving or receiving gets rid of the jitters. Now trust me, I am not a very “routine” type of individual and lack sometimes the patience to always follow through with it… but on the matches I do it always seems to work great.