Sport Psychology
How Professional Tennis Players Use Sport Psychology To Win
Master mental toughness for when you’re down a break, up 5–0 in the final set, and everything in between.
Wimbledon 2019. Roger Federer versus Novak Djokovic. After hours of play, Federer’s moment had arrived: the Wimbledon title was 1 point away. Not only that, but victory depended on one of Federer’s deadliest weapons — his serve. Considering that Federer has one of the greatest serves of all time, and that, among current players, he specializes in winning his service games, victory seemed guaranteed.
It wasn’t — Federer lost, and we’re left asking ourselves what went wrong. Some point to Federer’s aging body. Others argue that his mental strength broke down.
Let’s use Wimbledon 2019 as an opportunity to think about why mental strength is essential for tennis players. Tennis matches are long, and players must maintain their concentration while enduring a storm of emotions, which can be explosive.
Below are 5 video clips of professional tennis players discussing mental strength. We’ll use these interviews to explore research in psychology, and we’ll look at how the pros mirror the research to win.
Visualize Victory
The best tennis players visualize points before they happen. They picture themselves in match-scenarios before stepping foot on court. They do this to control performance anxiety and maintain the confidence that’s needed to perform at the highest level.
The #1 ranked tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic, prepares for matches by visualizing upcoming points, stressful moments, and possible outcomes.
“I try to play the match in my mind before I go on the court. I always try to imagine myself as a winner. I think there is a power to that.” — Novak Djokovic
By visualizing the upcoming match, Djokovic can maintain equanimity during crucial moments on court. Visualization is a powerful tool for Djokovic, but why does it work?
According to a team of researchers, visualization allows athletes to rehearse the physical, cognitive, and emotional aspects of sports performance, without the stress of an actual event. For example, by visualizing the forehand shot, a tennis player can build the confidence to maintain good technique during high-stakes moments when form is likely to flounder. Or, by visualizing tactics before a match, players can stick to their game plan while battling a storm of on-court emotions.
How can you use visualization to become a better athlete? A sport psychology researcher provides 3 helpful visualization techniques:
“Visualizing Yourself: This is one of the exercises of visualization in which athlete visualizes themselves. The athlete is asked to visualize every physical aspect of their body with their eyes closed. While visualizing the body, the athlete tells himself that each of these body parts is fine and in good working condition.
Visualizing Your Game: Another exercise requires the athlete to visualize the actual sport they are to play. The athlete visualizes the events starting from the preparations before going onto the field and the first move, and finally the victory.
Visualizing Your Opponents: So far, you have visualized yourself and your game. In this exercise the athlete is now required to imagine how he sees his opponent playing. While visualizing his opponent’s moves, he is supposed to tell himself that his moves are better than his opponent, and visualize how he should combat his opponents’ moves.”
Master Body Language
“I was nervous…but all of the body language that is not in a positive way is stupid to make it because it’s going against you” — Rafael Nadal
Research led by Marta Miragall provides support for Nadal’s statement. They argue that posture can influence feelings, thoughts, behavior, and physiology.
“Expansive (vs. contractive) or an upright (vs. stooped) posture have been related to positive changes in emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological responses, such as: increased feelings of power and risk-taking behavior, and hormonal changes associated with more dominance and less stress.”
For Nadal, maintaining positive body language helps him stay relaxed and combat nerves. Let’s ask ourselves why this happens. In other words, how does the body impact mental states?
A contentious explanation is embodied cognition, the idea that the mind and the body have a complementarity relationship: the mind influences the body, and in turn, the body influences the mind. Let’s look at an example. Dennis R. Proffitt and other researchers studied how physical states impact how we see the world, and found evidence that physical stress impacts how we judge distances. More specifically, when burdened with a heavy backpack, study participants overestimated distances as compared to when left unencumbered. This suggests that bodily strain distorts our perceptions of the world.
Whether embodied cognition is why Nadal’s positive body language improves his performance should be considered with skepticism, however, as research on the topic has its shortcomings. Regardless of why it occurs, the takeaway is clear: if you want to maximize your athletic performance, you must master body language.
Win One Point
Serena Williams highlights the importance of devoting your whole being to the point being played. It’s ill-advised to focus on what just happened, and we shouldn’t think about upcoming points.
“Focus on one point at a time. Don’t focus on the score. Don’t focus on anything else. Just focus on that sole point.” — Serena Williams
Williams is describing a well-researched psychological treatment: mindfulness training. The goal is to achieve “a state of intentional, non judgmental attention on the present”. Researchers have explored how mindfulness training can help treat depression, anxiety, stress disorders, substance use disorders, and much more — with promising results.
Mindfulness techniques can be incorporated into a tennis player’s toolbox, but implementation should be systematic. Research suggests that consistent mindfulness practice is key for maximizing sports performance. For instance, a study found that mindfulness training improved mental toughness in athletes, but only after adhering to “a 6-week program consisting of weekly 90-min group sessions and home practice.”
Some common mindfulness techniques can be found here. With steady practice, mindfulness training will help you focus on the point being played here and now. Mindfulness will allow you to let go of the frustration or excitement you felt during the last point, and it will help you block out the uncertainty you feel towards the next one.
Evidence-Based Tactics
Simona Halep discusses why “doing homework” is key. To be a good tennis player, you must understand your opponent’s playstyle, tactics, strengths, and weaknesses. For most of us, it’s hard to find video footage of an opponent to analyze before a match. As an alternative, use the warm-up time before a match to analyze your opponent and determine your strategy.
Some common strategies include: playing to your strengths, attacking your opponent’s weaknesses, opening up the court by hitting the ball where your opponent isn’t, attacking the net, forcing an error through variety, or an assortment of offense and defense.
What does research tell us about tennis tactics?
- Researchers found that, among elite tennis players on clay courts, victory was predicted by winning 1) rallies with fewer than 4 shots, 2) baseline points, and 3) first-serve points. In other words, players that win these types of points are likely to win more matches.
- A study on successful junior tennis players found that those who win often rely “on minimizing errors within the first shot following the serve.” Because junior and amateur serves are not as powerful as professional serves, a good tactic is to use the service to create an opportunity to employ a more deadly shot, like the forehand.
- Thought should go into the serve. Researchers found that serving all-out may be ineffective in long matches. Varying serve speed and power throughout a match is a better strategy.
- Finally, a study found that elite tennis players do all they can to compromise their opponent’s technique, consistency, and strategy. They attack weaknesses, hit hard-to-return shots, aim the ball to the open court, and apply pressure every chance they get.
Finding Motivation
“It took me, I’d say, almost 3 years, a good 3 years, to figure myself out on a court” — Roger Federer
Federer describes why it’s important for tennis players to know themselves. In other words, Federer is outlining self-concept: the beliefs that we hold about ourselves.
You need to know what motivates you to play, how you react to winning or losing, your strengths and weaknesses, and how you feel while on court. A component of self-concept is motivation, which we’ll now explore.
Psychologists have studied intrinsic motivation, which when we’re driven by internal factors like enjoyment, interest, or pleasure, and extrinsic motivation, which is when we’re influenced by outside factors like money or grades. Depending on circumstances, athletes may be prompted by intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, or both.
According to Rachel B. Sheehan and other researchers, motivation predicts “objective performance, coping, effort, decreased burnout, enjoyment, and mental health”. Whether you’re motivated by intrinsic or extrinsic factors depends on you, and figuring out why you keep returning to the tennis court is the key to victory.
In Sum
Given the ability of mental strength to propel tennis players to victory, it’s critical to do all you can improve your mind as much as your body.
You just read another post from In Fitness And In Health: a health and fitness community dedicated to sharing knowledge, lessons, and suggestions to living happier, healthier lives.
If you’d like to join our newsletter and receive more stories like this one, tap here.
