From good to great: three qualities of great champions
The technique and the physical prerequisites are one thing - but what makes the champions on the mental side? Tennis insider Marco Kühn took a look at it.
by Marco Kühn
last edit: Sep 05, 2021, 11:22 am
It's a little outside of the sleepy town of Manacor. After passing a dusty roundabout, you can't see much of her. But then, a few meters further on, it suddenly towers up.
The Rafael Nadal Academy is impressive. Not just from the outside, also from the inside. Sure, the training facility and the museum with virtual reality entertainment are modern. But what quickly becomes apparent: Not only tennis, but also character is trained here. If you stroll through the academy's shop, you will find a practical notebook there. And it says: "Lessons in Life. Performance in Tennis".
Reason enough to take a look at the character traits of the great champions during an epic match.
Do you feel like doing a bit of head training? Then come with me.
Why is character even important in tennis?
You may be thinking to yourself: "Hold on! In tennis I need good technique, lots of forehand winners and a service board. Character is irrelevant, I'm cool anyway!".
And you are right. But now imagine that you can fire your service board and the forehand winners, who are dizzying for your opponents, at 4: 2 and 30:30. Or after you annoyedly lost a damn tight first set 5-7 in which you were clearly the better player.
Your forehand and your strong serve are the Porsche that stands in front of your door. Your character drives this Porsche.
Check out the crazy Andy Murray.
His talent and his wit set him apart from many other players. His character, this snappy never giving up, led him to his greatest successes. It is also this character who brought him his comeback and an absolutely fantastic match against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The strokes develop a player, the character forms a champion out of it.
Trait # 1: Be a friend to yourself
Yes I know. It's damn hard to forgive your countless stupid mistakes during a match. The unnecessarily sifted forehand from the half-field at 3: 3 and 30:30. Or the overhead ball at 4: 5 and 15:30.
And because that is exactly what is so difficult, this characteristic distinguishes the successful from the not-so-successful players. While a 60-minute war between his 22 personalities rages on in Benoit Paire, Novak Djokovic shouts briefly towards the box and then doesn't make a single mistake for 120 minutes.
We'll talk about frustration tolerance in a moment, but we should now note: Learn to be a friend and coach on the pitch. You are the only person during a match who can motivate, build and support you.
Trait # 2: Emotional Control
I got a zero in math. I could hardly pronounce geometry and fractions were a martial art for me. Before every math exam, I was more afraid than a starved gorilla. Stomach cramps, racing pulse, sweaty palms and horror scenarios in the head were quite normal. What will Dad say if I bring home a five again?
On the court we experience similar, shall we say: symptoms. In addition, we experience panic, fear, anger, frustration, severe nervousness, hope, hopelessness - a whole range of emotions.
Every match sends us into a tornado of emotions. And our beloved tennis sport is so complex because mastering all these emotions is almost a sport in itself. Great champions are absolute great masters at being able to control these emotions.
It is important for us to understand that it is never about trying to fight these emotions. Anyone who wants to fight fear is in a hopeless battle. The art is to allow these emotions and with these emotions, hand in hand, to play your best tennis.
Emotional control is not a struggle, but a partnership.
Trait # 3: High tolerance for frustration
"A match is won between ears". Fine, but what does that mean? Imagine you play your championship game as the clear favorite in front of 42 spectators. Your opponent was a few skill levels below you in your internet analysis. A crystal clear story on paper (or smartphone screen).
But then that opponent spoons every ball up onto your backhand. First you go around these moon balls, hit every forehand and quickly lead 3-0. Less than 30 minutes later you are standing on the baseline, cursing, gesticulating wildly towards your teammates and shrugging your shoulders, you no longer know how to hold the bat and the scoreboard says: 3: 6 from your point of view.
How do you react What then follows shows how high your tolerance for frustration is - or not.
A tennis match consists of dynamics. Sometimes you play strong for 15 minutes and your opponent weak. Then you play weak and your opponent strong. And then there are phases when you both play your best tennis.
An important quality of great champions is to accept these dynamics and stay cool even when completely crazy things happen on the court. This can be a wasted 5: 1 lead, irrational behavior on the part of the opponent or a place that is difficult to play on.
A high tolerance for frustration is characterized by the quick ticking off points that have already been played. A skill that can significantly improve your tennis performance.
What did we learn?
Finally, let's take a quick look at what we can learn from the great champions.
Cursing ourselves on the court never leads us to victory. We should forgive ourselves for slight mistakes, analyze individual rallies from time to time and in this way be a friend and coach to ourselves on the pitch.
Then there is the game with our nervousness, our fears. These are part of tournament tennis like a double fault in a Zverev match. We should never "wipe away" or "fight" these emotions, but rather find ways to play the best tennis with these feelings.
And, finally: In addition to technique, tactics and strategy, a high tolerance for frustration is a skill that can bring your game forward.
These three qualities may soon transform your tennis from good to great.