Coaches and parents alike used to tell me, “Tennis is 20% physical, 80% mental.” Truer words really have never been spoken. The majority of a tennis match is downtime between points, the time spent thinking about the last point and preparing for the next. How you spend this downtime makes or breaks you as a tennis player. It is the time when you can relax yourself and find complete focus or it is the time when you can completely fall apart under the pressure of past and future points.
Launch Tennis Head Coach Brandon Davis knows how difficult the mental aspect of the game is and is here to help you “maximize the downtime to help you prepare as best as possible for the next point.”
1. Immediate Response After the Point is Over
“The first thing you must do is have a positive response – a pump up, a smile, and even if you need to yell to let off some steam always give yourself something specific to do!”
“The second thing you should do is turn away quickly from the last shot you just hit or whatever happened at the end of the point.”
“The goal is to be what some call “in the moment” or what I like to call in the “present positive.”
2. Maintain Your Focus and Stay In the Match
“The next thing that you need to focus on is what your eyes are doing while you’re walking towards the other side to either serve or return.”
“The easiest things to focus on in-between points is to look at your strings (you see a lot of pros do this, many are taught this technique) or you can just keep your head down and look towards the ground while you walk. This should allow you to more easily keep your focus!”
3. Develop a Ritual and Stick to It
“The third thing you should focus on is your ritual before the serve or return.”
“It should be something that puts you in a comfortable place, and prepares you to play the next point.”
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