is tennis all mental you hear that a lot that tennis is all about what's going on up here and
this is true to some extent and i made a video discussing the 10 qualities that elite tennis
players must possess in order to be competitive at that level and these things are technique speed
agility reflexes coordination endurance discipline focus the ability to handle pressure and the will
to win so the last three things on this list are especially important when we're talking about
the mental part of the game so a player must have focus a player cannot get distracted by
things that are happening either on the court or outside the court also the player must be
able to handle pressure we all have seen players choke and this is basically an inability to handle
pressure and it comes in many various forms and then most importantly a player must have
the will to win john mcenroe described the qualities of a champion in the following way
a champion is a player who can figure out a way to win when they're at their worst this is what
players such as nadal djokovic and federer are so good at you can see that when they win grand
slams there's always a few matches in the early rounds when they're playing terrible but they
find a way to win this is the will to win and it's crucial to be able to be competitive at that super
elite level and maybe the most important mental element of tennis is confidence and confidence
is related indirectly to all these 10 items and basically what confidence is is a player's
perceived probability of success which in turn is based on a successful history and this can work in
various ways so if a player has been doing well in tournaments and most likely that player is going
to continue to do well but it also works in head to head match-up so if you have lost to someone 20
times in a row obviously your confidence is going to be very low because your perceived probability
of success is going to be low and that's simply based on an unsuccessful history and it's vice
versa so if you have beaten someone many times in a row your confidence is going to be sky high so
when people say tennis is all mental it is true because players at the elite level are so similar
in many of these characteristics especially when it comes down to technique and speed players all
have great technique players all have great speed they're exceptional athletes so it does come down
to these little mental parts of the game who has more will to win who is able to handle the
pressure better and who is able to be more focused when it matters most and most importantly which
player has more confidence and tennis is very much a skill based sport where the mental aspect doesn't
always matter and let's take for example a player who has deficiencies in technique and speed which
are the two most important things a tennis player must possess so that particular player
with deficiencies in those two categories could be great mentally in other words that player could
have great focus can have great ability to handle pressure can also have a very strong will to win
but the deficiencies in technique and speed mean that when they face a player who's superior in
those two elements they have a very little chance to win that match so let me give you an extreme
example we're at a grand slam well let's take the best junior out of the draw and have him face
novak djokovic or rafael nadal the chances that that junior is going to win that match are almost
slim to none for the simple reason that most of the times juniors still have some deficiencies
in technique and speed but let me bring it down to the recreational level so if you have someone
who's a 3.5 ntrp level recreational player who's facing a 4.5 level ntrp player the chances that
the 3.5 will beat the 4.5 are almost slim to none because most of the times the 3.5 has
great deficiencies in technique and since tennis is a skill based sport you cannot make up these
deficiencies if you have problems for example with your forehand or your backhand it doesn't matter
if you are really good at all these other elements and this includes fitness by the way you will have
very little chance to beat someone who's a whole ntrp level above you and the reason why i bring up
fitness is that i've seen it many times at the rec level where players who are really out of shape
let's say someone who's a 5-0 who has carrying a few extra pounds plays against a super
fit marathon runner who's a 4.0 that super fit player has almost zero chance to beat the 5-0
why is that because tennis is a skill-based sport most likely the 4.0 is lacking in the technique
department and the fact that the athleticism is really strong it's not going to be able to
overcome those technical deficiencies and most likely the 4.0 will lose to the 5.0 because of
that so when we say tennis is all mental yes it's absolutely true that tennis is all mental when
we're talking about the very elite level where players have such similar qualities that it comes
down to these mental aspects that determine who is going to win the match but when it comes to the
recreational level tennis is all about technique this is the most important part of tennis this
is what you have to take care of don't worry so much about the mental part of tennis until
you have your technique perfected and guys i know what you're thinking you're getting ready to type
that comment what about somebody with really bad technique who's able to win a lot of matches yes
this is absolutely true however in my experience i find that players like that will usually stagnate
at the 4.5 level so they will do really well up to a certain level but then they can't progress
anymore because players at the 5.0 level usually have too much power and they will be able to blow
players like that off the court and guys this is why i place such importance in technique the
only way to progress to the 5.0 level which is the goal for all my students anybody that comes to me
i tell them i want to get you to the 5.0 level and the only way you're going to do that if you learn
the proper fundamentals of all strokes i'm by no means saying that the mental part of the game is
not important but i've also seen players obsess on it and it can be very frustrating to try to work
on your mental part of the game when that's not really the reason why you're losing the number one
reason why players struggle at the recreational level is technique therefore guys you have to
go out there and grind this is my favorite word anybody that works with me knows that i use the
word grind a lot because that's what tennis is all about we have to go out there and grind we have to
hit balls this is the only way we're gonna perfect our technique so guys go out there and grind