An easy way to block yourself before a match
How do I suppress negative thoughts that have built up in me before a tennis match? Tennis insider Marco Kühn has some tips ready for you again.
by Marco Kühn
last edit: Jun 26, 2020, 05:02 pm
It's hard to believe, but tennis players tend to manipulate. In tennis, trifles can have a big impact on court performance.
Example: If your training buddy tells you how strong your future opponent is playing before your next match. How whipping it chases the forehand over the net and how few mistakes it makes with its backhand. With these words, your buddy paints a picture in your mind. While your buddy is speaking, you are creating a kite that you can hardly control.
The first picture
You go to the court on the day of the match to kill the dragon you created yourself. But how does the picture you have painted in your head affect your performance?
You will be much more sensitive to your opponent's blows. Two or three good fore-hands in the release trigger slight panic attacks. If the opponent also hits two volleys and three good first serves, then you hardly have a serious belief in your triumph. There are many hobby players who raise their opponents on a pictorial platform. However, they no longer bring the opponent down from this platform. The opposite is the case. You look for and find reasons why your opponent was placed on this pedestal.
Such a scenario is manipulation of yourself and the safest way to block yourself before an important match. Your own insecurity and panic will become apparent with every swing and tactical decision.
The second picture
You can also deal with these psychological factors differently. You can distance yourself from the picture you have drawn of your opponent in your mind. Similar to an artist who steps away from the canvas to check if he can improve anything.
You look at the information from your buddy from a different position. You record the information, but you first try to check it in the match. If you then notice that the opponent's forehand is good, but definitely not a whip, then the picture has improved. Like the artist whom we just briefly consulted as a visual example.
Your goal should be to draw a realistic and complete picture of your opponent. To see only the strengths and to be impressed by them is manipulation towards yourself. You tend to think only positively about the opponent in the match, but only negatively about yourself. Such a mental structure prevents you from playing tennis that you can play.
An idea to take away:
Memorize the picture of the artist checking his painting at a healthy distance. You will find some mistakes in your opponent, similar to the artist.