Tennis Psych 101 — How to get into an unbeatable frame of mind

Tennis psychology involves knowing your own mind as well as getting an insight into your opponent’s mental viewpoint.

Focus on your own game first

First, try to understand your own mental processes and study how you react in different situations. Assess your reactions to a situation and what effect it has on your game. Does a situation increase your drive to compete or does it annoy you and make you lose your focus?

When you have worked out your own reactions, study your opponent closely so you can assess their likely reactions to certain situations. Someone who plays consistently from the baseline is likely to be a very different kind of person to a serve and volley player.

Baseline moves

Is your baseline opponent someone who plays from there because they don’t have enough variety of shots to play a more mixed game, including approaching the net, or are they a tactician who is varying angles of attack to tire you out and break up your game?

Does the player who hits a backhand return and rushes to the net have too much confidence in their own ability, are they trying to close your options down, or are they brilliant attacking players who love smashing glorious winning shots?

Once you reach a decision about what type of mental game your opponent is playing, the question is how to cope with their style of play.

You can respond to a baseline player by moving in closer, not necessarily to the net but perhaps halfway between the baseline and the net. Move to the middle of the court and see what side your opponent tries to play the ball.

Check whether they are trying to play on their strongest side (forehand or backhand) or if they are looking to play on what they perceive as your weakest side (forehand or backhand).

If, for example, they are trying to play to your backhand a lot, then move over to the backhand side of the court to close down their options and see if they are any good at placing shots anywhere else.

If you can place pressure on your opponent by changing their line of attack they will start to make unforced errors and their confidence will take a hit. Don’t let them take the options they want to take. Force them into making a shot that’s not their top choice.

Serve and volley

The serve and volley player looks like they could be a formidable opponent as they run to the net and take up what looks like an imposing position. However, the fact is that you have to be very good to play a consistently winning game at the net.

You don’t have to make brilliant passing shots to beat them, in most cases you just need to get the ball back consistently relatively low over the net and not teeing the ball up for an easy volley. The confidence of a net player is easily sapped if you play some relatively simple shots which require fast reactions for them to even return the ball, let alone hit a winner. Once their confidence takes a knock they often retreat to play a defensive game.

Hit and miss

Everybody loves to remember the great shots they have made — it’s one of the real joys of playing tennis — but there aren’t so many players who also recognise the psychological importance of shots that didn’t quite make it.

For example, an opponent hits a terrific shot against you and you run the ball down and flick it back but your shot is out by a fraction. That response you’ve made may well shake up your opponent who sees that even their best shots might not be quite enough against you. They’ll be thinking more about the placement of their shots and their deliberations may bring more errors in their game. Don’t let a ball run past you when you could have made an effort, no matter what the score is.

Consider this — if that shot you ran down and returned had been just in, then not only did it take away what your opponent would have been considering as a stone cold point in their favour but it also gave you a point that you didn’t think you would ever get and it swings the pendulum your way. As ever, in sport and in life, confidence is the key.