and how to win tennis matches that you are losing today!
How many times have you found yourself in a winning position and all of a sudden see everything melt down or fizzle into defeat?
Nikolay Davidenko is an example of a player that can be among the best in the world today, but who becomes an average Joe when playing Roger Federer and he has proven this once more at the Estoril Open in Portugal.
In professional tennis winning the first point when your opponent is serving is the opening of the door to a break, a 30 love lead is almost a guaranteed break a 40-15 score is tantamount to a break. Coming back in a tie breaker from 4-0 and a 5-2 deficit to a 5-5 situation and serving to go 6-5 ahead is an enormous psychological edge. Davidenko went through all of that in the Estoril final and still lost the set 7/6 to Roger Federer!
From the tennis instruction point of view and its mental implications, let us analyze what's happening inside Davidenko's mind and with his body, to understand what the mental turning point is:
- Davidenko's greatest enemy are the memories that he can not erase from past losses.
- He is aware that off the ground he can be the best player by far and come to huge leads in games and points, but only when the score is in its infancy.
- Through the years he has had 3-1 leads, 4-2 game leads and the point leads we have seen above against Federer and has never been able to capitalize on them.
Davidenko is pretty well known to do these left, right and cross court monotonous drills with his brother on a daily basis, which amounts to hundreds if not thousands of hours per year. Sure enough, that is when he looks and plays like a million dollars, implementing these routines in the early stages of matches against Federer and let's say almost unstoppable by any player at today's ATP top level.
At this point of the matches Davidenko is in mental heaven, no pressure, no stress, just bliss, probably running high on serotonin and dopamine (Happy Hormones)!
Now how does his body react to all of this?
- In tune with his mind, his body is full of positive energy and responds to every demand expeditiously and efficiently.
- In the execution department all is well, tennis strokes are flawless and winners add up in a hurry, while unforced errors are at a minimum.
- All of Davidenkos demeanor is that of a winner!
When does this all change and why?
It all changes when the score is at the 4-4, 5-5 and tiebreakers. Why?
Davidenko realizes he has a chance to win! and what happens in his mind?
- A build up of anxiety, stress and fear to win. It is here that the past losses start to haunt him.
- He mentally goes to the north pole and freezes!
- He starts to think that 'NOW I have to start hitting winners and the lines at every ball!'
How does his body react to this?
- All systems get tight! Flaws in the stroke production and movement begin to flare up.
What do you see?
- A Davidenko missing shots by inches that he was comfortably making just minutes ago.
- A player rushing for winners, when he would have waited for one or two more shots in previous situations and than made the kill!
- A Nikolay, that starts bouncing the racket on the ground, waiving his arms and looking up at his brother in despair. (Which he never did up to this point)
- An athlete so tight, that on a set point slams an easy passing shot into the bottom of the net in response to a "banana" (terrible approach-shot) where Federer had left the whole court completely open for all options!
- Another passing-shot sailing wide by two meters when the alley had a hole 3 meters wide and 10 meters deep. Considering that Davidenko could have hit this ball hard and straight at his opponent (because Federer had hit a poor topspin forehand approach), he missed his target by over 5 meters, that is 15 feet.
The list is endless and you must keep in mind this just happens between 5/4 and 7/6, amazing!
What would you need to do if you are in Davidenko's shoe's or this situations happen to you in match play and how do you achieve the mental turning point in tennis?
As you know, we all play tennis to win and have bragging rights to it or you would not be reading this piece! :-)
First I will go through the mechanical process or the tennis training for this specific challenge:
- What Davidenko does with his brother everyday is fine and an important part of tennis, so should you if you want to achieve, great stamina, consistency, movement and confidence in your strokes.
- Since Davidenko or you might not always find the right challenger or if you want to do this with the closest level of difficulty in almost tournament play pressure, you ought to do the following:
Give your opponent the whole court and you have only one half of his court to play (and win).
The practice MUST be as close as possible to tournament play, using the above scenario:
- Do NOT drill, play point situations (with serve) such as and starting the game at: 30-0, 40-15, 40-30 in your favor.
- Play full tie-breakers.
- Play tiebreakers starting at; even at 5-5 or 6-5 and 7-6 in your favor.
- Start a set at: even 5-5 and 4-1, 5-4, 6-5 in your favor.
What will happen to you on the mental side? Your mind will say; this is unfair! I do not have a chance!
And I ask your mind, do you have a chance against Federer or the foe that beats you over and over? Do you want to beat them?
After practicing one or two situations several times, choose one or two of the above scores and play full court.
Now how do you handle this play situation?
- Play calm and collected, but with a very high level of intensity and concentration through the points.
- Play point by point. (Do not think about past points or future points). Focus on that point, in that moment and on what you are going to do then.
- Make your opponent play every point win or lose . NO free points, with mistakes of your own!
- Use skills and variation. In a restricted situation like this, expect to be attacked, make your opponent volley low when possible otherwise make him volley at all times (no free points). In difficult positions use your defensive lob and when possible your topspin aggressive lob.
- Play deep as much as you can, but also bring your opponent un-willingly to the net and use the plays cited in the previous paragraph.
Now let us go through the mental part.
As you saw Davidenko's mind is the main culprit and with all of us it is identical, our nervous central command is what will determine success or failure. So what do you do in practice?
- Get yourself in a frame of mind that is as competitive and exciting as in tournament play and get the adrenaline running in your body.
- Use a relaxed focus, meaning that you have to be concentrated in the task ahead, but do NOT get over tight (let your mind and body act together in harmony).
- Losing or winning points do NOT look at your Coach or around to spectators or friends. Keep your focus while relaxing in between points by looking at your racket strings or playing with them. YOU are the one that is going to execute and win or loose matches, NOT your Coach!
- Take full responsibility for all outcomes. Winning or losing. NO EXCUSES!
- Always acknowledge good shots and give credit to your opponent.
- Do NOT bounce your racket on the ground! EVER! :-)
- Do NOT allow ANY negative thoughts in your mind, remember it is always the next point that matters.
- Remember every match you play, every practice you do, every point you play, every game you fight for, it is a NEW EVENT, it is a NEW CHANCE to redeem something or consolidate something else. So be POSITIVE, believe in yourself at all times and you will succeed.
- Stay motivated and motivate yourself no matter how desperate or how bad, how silly, how easy a shot was. Turn away from those situations immediately and go back to preparing for the next point, without showing ANY disappointment or negativity. It was just a point and you can WIN the next one and the next one!
- NEVER EVER be disappointed at yourself. You are your best friend and you are giving your best. Whatever else happens outside is out of your control, but inside you MUST always be proud of yourself and of your efforts in victory or defeat. So keep your head up at all times.
When serving:
- Take your time, don't rush, the ball is in your hand and you have total control of the point until you release it.
- If you are tight, bounce a little on your feet before you serve to loosen up. (Shake your arms and legs if needed).
- Take a deep breath or two to settle your heart beat and calm down.
- Bounce the ball several times and choose the target.
- Vary, vary, vary; spins, speed, length, placement.
When returning:
- Do not let your opponent rush you, take your time, signal if you are not ready.
- Before getting into the ready position, bounce on your toes a couple of times to increase reactivity.
- If you are nervous or over excited take a deep breath or two, to settle your heart beat and yourself.
- If you are missing or slow, make a couple of short quick swooshing movements on both sides, backhand and forehand, with your racket to activate your nervous system reaction time and your fast fibers muscle response.
- Try to bounce, split step and cut every return diagonally towards the ball. In other words you are not hitting winners at every return, but you are playing them confidently and aggressively, meaning you are taking control!
- If your opponent is serving particularly fast and well, just block the returns back deep with short back swings.
- If he serves and volleys, return low to his shoe laces or hard at his body.
ATTENTION: For every point play situation or game situation you practise with half court for you to play to and full court for your opponent, at the end it must be followed by a full court play for both players.!
Do this several days or weeks until positive results start showing!
After you have gone through these practices, you should have learned:
- To control your emotions at all times.
- To control your fears.
- To relax when needed.
- To use variation under pressure.
- To be creative (remember the lob!)
- To win key points under pressure.
- To close important games and sets.
- To close matches and win!
There you have it. I hope you will develop your Mental Turning Point in tennis and start wining tennis matches that you are losing today! I am positive it would help Davidenko!
If you try it, let me know about your progress in the comment box below, I will be pleased to know about it. And by the way, if you have questions or comments, just write me a note, I will be glad to respond.
Keep on improving your tennis.
Sergio Cruz.
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