Tennis is a very challenging sport and there are many problems you need to solve, not just in the course of a match, but even in the course of one point.

These can include proper ball judgment, good footwork and setting up well for the shot, timing the stroke well, coordinating your whole kinetic chain and many other tennis skills needed for the technical part of the stroke.

Then there’s tactics which may include awareness of opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses, deciding early enough for the right shot, playing high percentage shots and others.

The mental game may include the ability to focus, the ability to block outside distractions, the ability to be in the now and others.

But all these tennis challenges cannot be solved if you don’t solve the basic tennis problems in the order they will happen when you strike the ball. Which are they? (more…)

The Miami 2009 tennis tournament proved to be very exciting and Victoria Azarenka, Juan Martin Del Potro, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray did very well here.

What do these great tennis players have in common in their mental game that enabled them such success?

It’s the power of belief.

They all believed (or just started to believe) that they CAN win and beat the higher ranked opponent.

Juan Martin Del Potro Celebrating His First Win Against Nadal (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Juan Martin Del Potro really believed that he could beat Nadal this time. He played Nadal 4 times before and always lost in straight sets.

When I watched Del Potro in Indian Wells two weeks before when he lost to Nadal 4-6, 2-6, he really didn’t seem to believe he could win.

He seemed intimidated by Nadal, had too much respect for him and really didn’t attack Nadal as he should.

But Del Potro learned something very important from this loss.

He learned that when he plays his own game well, Nadal will not just blast him off the court.

He realized that Nadal is just a human, that he can be neutralized by consistently playing to his backhand, that he can be attacked to the forehand side and will often just defend and that with smart tactics, it is possible to outplay Nadal.

That’s why the Miami match was completely different: Del Potro played the ball. He didn’t play the “big name”. He focused on his game plan and didn’t even falter in the final set tie-break. (more…)