How Rafael Nadal Gets Into The Right State Before The Match And What You Can Learn From That
If you’ve ever watched the coin toss at the start of the match when Rafael Nadal is one of the players on court, you’ve definitely noticed his sprint to the baseline after the players decide on which side they’ll play and who will serve first.
I believe there is a reason why Nadal starts his warm up in that way as I have personally done a few similar things before matches to get into the right state.
The following article will explain what the state is, why we have three different responses to perceived threats and how we can trigger the right one to perform well at the start of the match.
Did you know that your performance at the beginning of the match depends almost entirely on your state?
State can simply be described by how you feel (tense, relaxed, activated, …) and what is your mental state (calm, alert, upset, …).
If you feel tense and anxious, you will not be able to play well. Your body will not be well coordinated, you’ll have trouble moving quickly and smoothly and you’ll have trouble concentrating and tracking the ball well.
But if on the other hand you’ll feel good energy in your body and you’ll be alert and focused, you’ll play very well. Your body will be able to react immediately and your mind will work very fast and accurate.
So what is the reason we don’t get into this state and how can we do it?
When we know that we’ll play a tennis match, our most primitive part of the brain will interpret that as a threat. We’re about to enter a fight.
(Note: I am using the theory of a triune brain where the most primitive part of the brain is called a “reptilian brain” – and it’s where our survival instincts are stored.)
And if you’ve watched just a few shows on the National Geographic, then you know how reptiles (let’s say lizards for example) react to a threat; they either flee (run away), freeze (pretend they’re dead) or they fight.
(Couldn’t find a NG video but this amateur video shows the “play dead” or “freeze” response of lizards…)
The same survival instinct still resides in us. Our primitive part of the brain is not smart enough to see that the fight (a tennis match) we’re about to have is not a real fight.
It will most likely trigger one of the 3 responses – fight, flight or freeze.
If it triggers the flight response, you’ll feel very anxious. You’ll want to leave the court but your rational mind will fight that desire – obviously you cannot embarrass yourself by running off the court. 
So you’ll stay there and try to play a match but inside you’ll feel this huge tension – the desire to avoid the confrontation and the rational decision to complete the match.
This tension will cause the “tennis arm”, weak legs, shallow breathing, poor focus and making you very reactive (you’ll get upset quickly) to missed sitters, bad line calls, double faults and so on.
If your primitive brain triggers the freeze response, you’ll feel very similar effects mentioned above – but probably they’ll be even more severe. The freeze response blocks your rational thinking and your tactical decisions will be really bad. You’ll make “stupid” shots.
Your body will start to experience “choking” – you’ll have really big problems moving and swinging your racquet. You’ll feel like you’re moving in water – like something preventing you from free movement.
But if you’re primitive brain triggers the fight response, you’ll feel energized and very alert. You’ll be ready to fight which means you’ll be able to move quickly, explosively and your mind will be very focused on task at hand.
The secret of getting into the right state is by actively going into the fight mode. This will “lead” your fight-flight-freeze response to follow your lead and trigger the fight mode.
So how do you lead your response into the fight mode?
Well, how would you get ready for a real fight with someone?
You’d warm up, start jumping and look to become more aggressive. You’d start to breathe more deeply and store more oxygen in your blood for the near-future exertion in the right.
Now do that when you start warming up for a tennis match.
Warm up with high intensity before going on court, make sure that you sweat and that your body is not tense.
When you warm up well, your body will feel more relaxed and it will prevent the freeze response.
When you start warming up on court (even on mini tennis!), make sure to move well, breathe fully and shake off any tensions you may feel.
Imagine getting ready for a fight – and at the same time realizing that there is no real danger of getting hurt.
In most cases – if you’re really not a total beginner when it comes to tennis competition – you’re anxiety levels will drop and you’ll regain your normal performance after 10 to 15 minutes of play – regardless of which response was triggered at the start of the match.
But if you want to start the match well, you need to get into the right state before the match starts.
Now that you know why you need to trigger the fight response and how to do it, scroll back up to the first video of Rafael Nadal and you’ll clearly understand what he is actually doing.
Of course, keep in mind that I never actually talked to Rafa and that I cannot guarantee that this is exactly why he jumps on spot and does his famous sprint, but I can definitely see that his approach will trigger the fight mode and that this is what enables him to start matches well without feeling the tension.
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May 6th, 2010 at 2:32 am
GREAT AS ALLWAYS!!!
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May 6th, 2010 at 7:41 am
What’s up with that other habit of his, just before he serves the ball? (You know which one!)
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May 7th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Great that you touched upon this important matter… I’ll make an old and long story short. I was playing this guy that was consistently beating me (for the nth time) and not because of his great tennis but mostly because I was beating myself through UNBELIEVABLY STUPID mistakes that I wouldn’t really make under different circumstances.
When I look back I remember that because of all past losses I had somehow made the decision that I was undoubtedly playing a “better player than me” so therefore I should be “nice”, avoid getting upset and in the spirit of good sportsmanship just resign myself to losing graciously… I also remember feeling : “why fight…? you’re just gonna make yourself look more idiotic… huffing and puffing while he stands there making you run all over the court picking and choosing when to hit his next winner..” Well, I didn’t know then the enormous mistake I was making but I learned the hard way.
Which brings me to the subject matter of “fight mode” and experiencing first hand the benefits it can provide. Eventually the dynamic I described shifted into a new gear when I noticed the guy getting really cocky and dismissive over a line call I politely questioned… (attitude he had not displayed before) Well, at first I didn’t say anything but inside this made me literally furious! and I felt that on top of the fact that I wasn’t getting any pay off from all my graciousness -and resolve- to learn and try to improve from the constant losing, I definitely didn’t need the extra aggravation.
Result? At that point I was losing 0-3 and I proceeded to win 6 games in a row. Something I had never done before. We played one more time and at 3-2 (with me being in front) he suddenly quit (complaining of back pain, something he’d never done before either) I also used to play with his dad on occasion… but other than a wave from the distance at the local park I play, the invitations to play decreased significantly to the point that today I never hear from them anymore.
The moral of the story is: that day when I got furious, it felt like I started playing tennis more like a boxer fights a match. I’m sure at the time it was an exaggerated reaction but I relate fully with the article in the sense that it was “fight mode”. I didn’t care If I lost actually because to me it felt like I had nothing to lose anymore, it was more like I wanted to knock him out…
I remember that he had this insiduos little drop shot that he drove me crazy with and with which he scored about a 1000 points. Getting to them became so much easier since my speed improved so significantly. I can say the same for my strokes’ pace and my serving getting way better.
Maybe you’re not supposed to play angry, but this was anger that was being channeled positively. There’s no question in my mind that it was beneficial. I learned a great deal from this experience. I’m sure I lose less today from having changed what it used to be a wrong approach to tennis matches.
No question that what Nadal does for preparation has to do with getting himself in the right state of mind, and although he hasn’t stated it to be so, it does look indeed like a fighter’s preparation to get into the “fighter mode” needed to increase the potential of playing at optimum level. Coming to think of it, there’s so much about his game and attitude that resembles fighting. No wonder his spanish fans use “Matador” as his moniker, which is a term they use when referring to great bullfighters that means “The Killer”. Keep posting this good stuff!
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May 8th, 2010 at 2:46 am
Really appreciate the insight..thanks!
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May 8th, 2010 at 7:30 am
Very beautifully put. I gotta say that the experiences mentioned above namely flight,fight and freeze were faced and still faced by me during tournaments. Initially when i started tournaments i went into the freeze mode and slowly after play a few of them i learned how to calm my nerves and shifted to fight mode. This made a tremendous difference to my performance in matches. But even nowadays, when i play with a really good opponent, during the initial warm up i get kinda intimidated and go into the flight mode. It takes about 2 games to get to a proper fight mode. When i play with opponents whom i know are weaker fight mode kicks in and i play really really well. I always thought that i was the only one to feel so even after so much experience playing competitive tournaments. Im happy to know that even professional players feel the same way.
I skip for about 5-10 minutes before the match to calm myself since we don’t get practice before the match as mentioned by you. It really helps.
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May 11th, 2010 at 6:07 am
Very interesting. Maybe this is why it is so easy to play from behind. You are threatened and enter into fight mode. The person who is about to win actually can drop a bit and freeze or get into flight mode.
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May 23rd, 2010 at 8:12 am
I like this article very much!
It would be very nice if this kind of inspirational tennis articles (your blog and tennismindgame.com are full of them!) would be compiled into a book (maybe Kindle or iPad version) and not just get buried in the electronic archives…
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