4 life hacks from tennis players to help you focus

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Tennis is a series of psychological challenges. Therefore, sports psychologists help athletes channel anger in a positive direction and develop mindfulness. In this article, one of the world's leading psychology coaches explains four steps players can take to avoid psychological problems on the court and maximize productivity.

Understanding the instructions

We watched the video. We provided athletes with recordings of their matches, literally thousands of hours of footage, and noticed that often victory and defeat depended not on what happened during the match, but on what was left behind the scenes.

During their time on the court - roughly 75% of the match - the players showed a whole range of emotions, and it’s not surprising that they were not positive. And not because the players themselves are negative, but because tennis is a psychologically difficult sport with a lot of unexpected moments. Therefore, on the spot, we began to create instructions for the players to monitor their emotional state between sets, learn more about their emotional relationships and determine the optimal peak of productivity. And if at first the players simply followed the instructions, then later this technique became a habit for many.

Step 1. Positive physical reaction

All cells in our body are connected. Negative thinking or anger leads to tension throughout the body. We succumb to rage, thereby creating problems for ourselves on a deeper level. We do what we later regret, and regret triggers a different emotional response. Therefore, we taught players to respond positively to every mistake, failure or missed opportunity.

You may notice that many of the best players - Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova - react to their mistakes in the same way: they immediately turn away from them.

And they turn away so quickly, as if this mistake never happened, the athletes leave it behind and move on freely.

And you can do more than just turn away from your mistakes. For example, control the muscles in your face. The muscles of the face are of great importance: they trigger emotional responses that are fed back to our brains. And what you do with your face is directly related to what kind of chemical processes are going on inside. If there is a sad expression on the face, then the body becomes more lethargic.

Now walk. We teach players to walk correctly. It is very important how you conduct yourself; every step you take must be purposeful and confident. To mentally focus on what you need, you should confidently move in a specific direction.

Step 2. Relaxation

You will not be able to show your best side if you do not rest. But getting relaxed isn't easy, especially after you've flunked your serve. Since tennis is a game with limitations, the psychological component of tennis also has limitations: there is no way to think too long and make emotional mistakes.

We give one piece of advice to the players: during the break, gaze closely at the strings of your racket or just at the court.

What for? The eyes absorb a lot of information. If you play in front of tens of thousands of spectators in the stands and look there, something may grab your attention and you may forget that you need to relax. So you are no longer preparing for the next throw, you are processing information. Racket strings or court flooring are neutral on the eyes, they carry no information and give your body a chance to relax.

We also advise players to hold the racket in their other hand. Often, after an unfortunate moment, players hold the racket with a dead grip, dragging it behind them and lowering their heads. The racket should be raised, but it is better to hold it with the non-dominant hand (that is, if the player is right-handed, he must take the racket in his left hand) - during this time the main hand will have time to rest.

You need to relax your shoulders. The shoulders are directly connected to the limbic system of the brain, which is responsible for regulating emotions, memory, sleep, wakefulness, and relaxation. Therefore, relax your shoulders, lower them.

Step 3. Preparation

Now that your body is relaxed and you are in the right emotional state, it's time to get ready. It's time to ask yourself, “What's the score? What do I want to do? What is my plan to win?"

Step 4. Ritual of initiation

Every tennis player should have his own ritual, because rituals help us focus on our thoughts and send them in the right direction. What kind of ritual it is does not matter as long as it helps to focus and maintain strength.

You can throw the ball against the wall or mentally imagine how you are going to serve. Or bend forward and backward, bounce, or imagine where you want to go. The main thing is that the ritual is constant. You need to spend it in the right emotional state and not think about the mistakes that you have made.