A PLAYERS MENTAL PRIORITY CHECKLIST

I encounter many players who have all the strokes and can play really well in practice but during matches can’t re-produce the same standard of play. In matches their game is riddled with unforced errors.

It’s always difficult to find the solution to help these players because the cause of the problem can be many things. Humans are complicated and no more so than the mental issues that plague a tennis player who has a chronic problem with unforced errors!

I recently had success in helping with a young player who was prone to unexplained errors during her matches.

I found the remedy to her unforced errors by first deciding that her problem was mental and not technical. Although most of her mistakes were caused by poor technique, I had seen enough of her using good technique that I decided that working more on her technique would not help her that much in the long term. This is an important decision for you to make because you will have to constantly hold yourself back from making comments during practice about her technique.

Once I decided to address her unforced errors as a mental issue and not a technical one, things changed for the better quickly.

I also began to study the other players in our group and to identify what exactly was going on in their mind as they hit the unforced error. I began to see various patterns emerging.

Although we believe that every player plays tennis with the intention of getting the ball back in the court, I began to sense that some players had other alternative priorities, and that not all of them had “getting the ball in” as their number one priority.

Here were some of those other alternative priorities I began to see:

THE NEED FOR SPEED 

There are players who are fixated on hitting the ball fast. Their goal on every ball is to hit it as fast as they can… that’s the plan! 

It’s their priority because they believe that to become a top player that’s the way they have to play.  They believe that they’re developing their game for the future and in the future, they need to hit a big ball.

Players from Korea and Russia have speed as a priority and many of the top women players in the world adopt speed as their top priority when the play.

Of course, if certain balls don’t allow for big swings and racquet head acceleration too bad, they’ll hit it that way anyway!

These players have speed as their priority above getting the ball in the court. They tend to overhit the easy put-away’s in their quest to hit the ball faster and faster.

HOW IT LOOKS 

Other players in our squad put a lot of priority on how the stroke should look. Not content on finishing the point with a standard forehand they felt the finish needed “more”, it needed to be special.

These players hit strokes that are inappropriate for what they actually need to do. It is almost like a form of acting, and I’m sure they fully expected that if the “act” well enough the stroke would be good also.

These types of players put “Look” above getting the ball in the court. “Look” is number one on their priority checklist.

WHAT OTHERS THINK 

Another player type has the opinion of others on their mind constantly as they play. They worry about what others think of them.

They play wondering if they are getting the approval of their parents or coach. Sometimes it can be the opinion of their fellow trainees that takes priority over getting the ball in the court.

Again, this takes them out of the present moment, and away from focusing on adapting to the ball and making the correct decisions during points. Imagine coming forward to finish your mid-court forehand and wondering what others would think if you missed this ball?

These players placed the opinion of others above getting the ball in above all else and therefore at crucial times in a match their focus and awareness was not where it should be.

THE SCORE 

Having a mindset of being overly concerned about the score, or perceiving a particular point as being more crucial to win than others will take your mind off the stroke about to be played and play nasty tricks with your decision making and execution of the stroke.

STRONG FEAR OF ERRORS 

Having a strongly ingrained fear of making mistakes takes you out of the shot at the worst possible time… just as you are about to execute the stroke. 

Fear will fill your head with “junk” during points and that will detract from your ability to get the ball back in the court.

OVER-THINKING TECHNIQUE 

I’m a big believer in correct technique. I often say that having correct technique is like a players’ armour to protect them from the mental stresses associated with matches.

However, my belief is that the mind should consider technique (how you will deal with the particular ball) very quickly and spontaneously, and then allow one more mental consideration to follow it. 

Leaving the mind with Technique as its final consideration before hitting the ball is dangerous because it creates added problems of its own. A mind fixated on technique through the stroke doesn’t help with other factors such as peripheral vision and anticipation during the point.

So what does the mind need to focus on in order for it to relax and yet make smart decisions, while also dealing with the pressures of the match?

TEACH PLAYERS TO FOCUS ON GETTING THE BALL IN

Over the years I have seen many players who already have the game and the strokes to be great players and to achieve great results but because of their fixation on how fast they must hit the ball, how the stroke must look, Their concern about what others are thinking, building pressure on themselves because of the score, a crippling fear of making errors and over-thinking technique, fail to reach their potential.

Here is the process I used recently to help change a players’ mindset to simply having Getting the Ball In as the number one priority.

Step #1:  I asked my player to drop the ball at the baseline and hit it across the net to me. 

I described exactly where I wanted the ball to land and the type of flight I wanted it to go there.

Step #2:  Once she was comfortable with doing that exactly how I wanted it, I began to return the ball back to her so that she now needed to repeat the target and flight off my return.

Step #3:  During this time I never corrected mistakes and never mentioned spins, contact angles, positioning of her feet or any other associated techniques. The exercise was to take her mind off everything except the intended target. My belief was that she had the techniques, awareness, and focus inside her already… I was trying to develop her instinct for the game not more technique!

Step #4:  Over the course of the next week she made huge progress in reducing mistakes and immediately began playing points much better. Every so often I had to remind her to fix her focus back on the intended target whenever score pressure, the opinion of others started to overwhelm her.

However, her game had improved so much by focusing on the intended target that she changed back to it very quickly once reminded to do so!

If you have players who are failing to live up to expectations in tournaments and you feel they have a Priority Checklist problem give the above 4 steps a try.

For more information on mental training for players (and coaches) check out other posts on the topic