The Psychology of Elite Competitive Athletes
What it takes mentally to be at the top of a physical game
Onstage at Lantern Theater Company November 7 through December 15, 2019, The Last Match by Anna Ziegler is the story of two elite tennis players, one approaching the end of a storied career and the other just getting started. In this funny and moving drama, the men playing and the women they love strive to be the best — and try to decide what they are willing to sacrifice along the way.
The mental demands required to become a champion begin long before they win their first trophy. Becoming an elite athlete — particularly in tennis — often means committing to the sport as a child. Roger Federer left home at 14 to enter a tennis academy. Some elite coaches argue that kids should start serious training as early as age nine. According to Federer in the Financial Times, “You give up your childhood a bit, but I would probably do it all over again.”
Once these athletes enter the ranks of elite professionals, even in their youths, a critical element of reaching the top is believing that they can — and will — do so. Roger Federer began practicing his autograph at age 15. Novak Djokovic brought a team of experts and coaches to his first tournaments at age 17, sparking ridicule from the veteran managers — one of whom would go on to manage the now #1 ranked player.
Once athletes reach the elite level, psychology plays an equally important role in keeping them there as their physical practice. According to Allon Khakshouri, who ridiculed Djokovic at that tournament before eventually managing him, “everyone knows how to play really good tennis…The difference between the best and everyone else isn’t about any of that. What it really comes down to is being mentally strong and being focused.”
Khakshouri recommends a number of mental and psychological tools for staying at the top of the game. These include alternating practice with deliberate physical and mental rest periods, surrounding yourself with feedback, nurturing a love of the game, having a healthy relationship with failure and learning from it, and reaching further than your current grasp — like Djokovic did at that tournament.
Former Olympian Nicole Forrester also discusses the psychological fortitude required alongside the physical prowess. Forrester highlights the mental toughness required of elite athletes, a skill that can be both inborn and developed. The tools she recommends for building mental toughness include goal setting, both for results and for their process; positive self-talk to build the necessary belief that they can succeed; and knowing one’s preferred level of excitement or stress before a game, then managing to that level.
This psychology is at the core of the two-decade career of Roger Federer, arguably the greatest man to play the game. He won his first of many tournaments at Wimbledon in 1998, when he won the boys’ tournament at age 17. By 18, he had broken the top 100 in the men’s rankings. “You’re like, ‘Wow, I can really be on the tour. I’m in the locker room with Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. My god, that’s so cool,” Federer told the Financial Times.
Some elite athletes need a lot of control and intense focus off the court to play their best on it; others flourish with more relaxation. Djokovic eats a highly specialized diet, but Federer will have a coffee before a match, and maybe a cookie or a Kit Kat. Small gestures are a part of his overall psychology as a top player: “I don’t want to become too serious. It also reminds me, maybe, that I’m more than just a tennis player.” This goes to Khakshouri’s advice — having a healthy relationship with failure means, in part, recognizing that you have a life outside of the sport, and an on-court failure does not impede that life.
Federer has been at or near the top of the rankings for 20 years, and his mental game has changed over the years. He notes that for young players, including his younger self, the game is often about physical strength and power shots. Now it is a more mental game, more strategic, more about placing shots than powering them past his opponent.
At 38, Federer’s retirement has been discussed in the press for several years. Rafael Nadal, also consistently ranked in the top 3, is 35 and facing retirement talk as well. Playing this much longer than many elite athletes means using the retirement whispers as psychological fuel to stay great, while also making conscious choices about rest and care rather than always playing at full steam.
Playing that long — and being the best for nearly all of it — means watching new generations rise. Many former players, like John McEnroe and Chris Evert, do this from behind a commentator’s desk, sharing their expertise long after they have left the court. Players like Nadal and Federer have the opportunity to watch these players at the net. This was a particular goal for Federer; he wanted to last long enough to play younger generations — “and also…maybe give younger guys an opportunity to play somebody like me.”
This relationship with the opponent is another major psychological aspect of being an elite athlete. According to Khakshouri’s advice, being a great tennis player is as much about studying your competition as it is about improving your own game. For someone like Federer or Serena Williams, the greatest player on the women’s side — and, some argue, the sport as a whole — that means getting comfortable with being challenged. “I would have loved to dominate forever,” Federer told the Financial Times. “When Rafael [Nadal] and other were coming through, it took some getting used to.”
But that challenge drives success, according to Khakshouri and Federer, who says “I take joy after realizing: you cannot be alone at the top. You need rivals. I’m thankful to these guys, who make me a better player.”
The Last Match is onstage at the Lantern November 7 through December 15, 2019. Visit our website for tickets and information.
