Developing self confidence to become an Elite Tennis Player

Confidence in Tennis

Article at a glance:

• Tennis players need to maintain self-confidence during competition and the ability to engage in positive self-talk is critical;
• Psychological skills are trainable and players need to be active in this process;
• Self-confidence is couched in self-esteem and players need to maintain a high self-esteem by investing self-esteem in behaviors other than tennis and through using adaptive coping skills.

Professor Andy Lane looks at the mental qualities needed to be an elite tennis player, and offers practical suggestions on how tennis players can improve their mental game
Imagine the scene. It’s the Wimbledon final and the first game of the match. The game begins and scoring goes as follows; 15-love, 30-love, 40-love and game. After each point the umpire calls the score over the public address system for both players and spectators to hear.
A closer analysis of this sequence of events indicates that one player has been told they are winning five times, before winning the game, whereas the other player has received the same information about losing the game.
We know that success develops self-confidence, both in terms of our own performance (winning each point), and being told that we are being successful by significant others (the umpire, calling out the score, providing information of our success).
Tennis players are constantly bombarded during the course of the game on how well they are performing. Possibly, in no other sport is the score so clearly and constantly expressed to the players and spectators.
Despite constant reinforcement of the score, it is possible for a player to win more points, but lose the game. For example, if a player loses a match 6-4/6-4, but all the winning games are won to love and the losing games lost only after reaching 40/40, he or she would have actually won 34 points in each set, and lost only 30, despite losing the match overall!
In the hypothetical example described above, the difference between who won and who lost would be decided on just 4 points. In this article, we look at how the mental toughness of tennis players can be developed so that they can cope in an environment where confidence can be easily dented and where resilience and determination needs to remain high.

Ready for action

Tennis players need to develop a resilient degree of self-confidence. They are bombarded with information that can affect self-confidence and therefore need to focus on positive information, where sometimes positive information is hard to find.
During a tennis match, players have only themselves for comfort as they are not allowed to speak with their coach during the game. Tennis players need to introspect, and call on inner reserves to maintain self-confidence during a game. Studies have shown that winning tennis players report high levels of self-confidence, and low anxiety(1), are able to control emotions before competition(2) and can use adaptive coping skills(3).
Research also shows that tennis players’ psychological states can be enhanced with appropriate psychological skills training(4), and it is with this in mind that the present article will attempt to offer practical strategies to enhance tennis players’ mental game, based on scientific evidence.
The first thing I do with tennis players is to explore their general self-confidence towards playing tennis. Self-confidence in tennis is different to a more general concept known as self-esteem, which relates to how they value themselves as a person (more later). The aim is to try and ensure that the inner dialogue that runs through a player’s mind focuses on the recalling of previous successes.
The brain and memory are very complex. Sometimes we find it difficult to remove negative thoughts in situations that require us to be positive. When I work with athletes, I try to encourage them to record as many positive features from their training and competition as possible. For example, where tennis players have had a very good session practising serves, it is important that they recall as much information from that practice session as soon as possible.
They should recall how they felt prior to serving excellently, what their thoughts were in the preparation phase before serving, what they were concentrating on while executing the serve, and how they felt about seeing the serve going where they wanted it to go.
Equally, it is important to record situations where performance didn’t go as planned, and unravel how the athlete felt before, during and after those performances. By developing a performance diary it is possible to see individual trends in psychological states, particularly the inner dialogue and thought processes, and how they relate to performance.

Strategy 1: Developing positive self-affirmations

Once the performance diary has been developed, I can then develop with the athlete specific self-talk affirmations. Firstly, we develop general statements, followed by specific affirmations, and also achievement reminders. Some examples are described in box 1 (below).

Box 1: Developing positive self- affirmations

Task 1: Resilient self-confidence

• Affirmations (General)
  • ‘I am confident in my ability’
  • ‘I can stay focused under pressure’
• Affirmations (Specific)
  • Attack the ball’
  • If he gets ahead, just stay calm and focused’
• Achievement reminders
  • ‘My fitness tests show that I’m much stronger’
  • ‘I came back strong after that terrible start in my last game’

This work is followed by strategies to replace negative or unpleasant thoughts and feelings with positive ones. This of course is very difficult to do, and we know that when athletes are experiencing intense emotions during a match, it’s difficult to think strategically. However, most athletes have a strong desire to avoid unpleasant cycles of negative thinking, and through the use of imagery and by going through performances when unpleasant thinking has occurred, you can develop a positive script that can be used in such situations. The key point here is that tennis players need to plan carefully how they manage their mind between each point.

Box 2: Thought replacement

Task 2: Thought replacement task

• ‘My mistake was crucial’ becomes ‘I’ll put it right next time’
• ‘I can’t’ becomes ‘I can ... if ...’
• ‘It’s a problem’ becomes ‘It’s a challenge’
• ‘……………………’ becomes ‘……………………’
• ‘……………………’ becomes ‘……………………’
• ‘……………………’ becomes ‘……………………’

Strategy 2: Thought replacement

The initial quotes in box 2 (opposite) were taken from an athlete’s performance diary. These are typical quotes and the positive thoughts proposed to replace them are also fairly standard. However, the athlete must practice this technique for it to be effective. If we think of the number of times that an athlete experiences negative thinking and try to balance these thoughts against the number of times that they have effectively managed negative thinking, then the likely outcome is that the negative experiences outweigh the positive strategies.
A winning mental strategy can seem effortless, and therefore it is important to document the experiences associated with it so that they can be used proactively when things are not going so well. When negative thinking kicks in, athletes require robust practices to overcome it and it’s important therefore that athletes constantly reinforce replacing negative thinking with positive thinking.
Box 2 shows examples of how you can try to develop alternative ways of thinking about negative thoughts that you experience during competition or training.

Developing performance routines

Performance routines are most effective when the player has as much control of situational factors as possible. It is much easier to develop a performance routine for your own service than returning service. On your own service, you know when you will serve, where you will serve, and how much power and spin you will try to put on the ball. Players have to estimate these factors when returning serve and therefore developing performance routines is more complicated. Pre-performance routines are effective because they are patterns of behaviour and thoughts that can be reinforced. Athletes should practice skills sufficiently so that they can perform the action(s) without thinking, which will help to develop confidence in their ability.
The following is an example pre-performance routine developed with a tennis player.
l PREPARATION PHASE – Focus on physical preparation. Use deep breathing exercises to force yourself to concentrate on physiological processes. The rationale of this strategy is that when athletes are tired it is easier to focus on physiological cues because they are more salient. I use this as a conscious strategy to encourage athletes to think about physiological symptoms, and thereby to gain control of their concentration. I also encourage athletes to develop positive self-statements to focus on relaxing, although in some athletes it is just as important to turn off that inner voice and have no self-talk.

• FOCUSING PHASE – Take another deep breath, focus on target area, and visualise successful performance. When athletes use visualisation in this way, they should also try to feel the movements and rehearse how they can use emotions positively to enhance performance.
• EXECUTION PHASE – The execution phase should be characterised by an inner sense of calm, and a feeling that the athlete is in control of what will happen next. Once the athlete starts performing, over-analytical thoughts should be switched off and the athlete should switch to a mode of being on autopilot, but one that is underpinned by an intense motivation to succeed.
• ANALYSIS PHASE – The analysis phase follows the execution phase and proceeds the preparation phase. It is important that athletes do not spend too long analysing the previous performance, whether they are successful or unsuccessful. Athletes can learn to park their mistakes, accepting that an error was made, but insisting that they will not repeat the same error again during that game. Equally, athletes must not become overconfident and assume that effort could be reduced in order to win the game.

Maintaining concentration under the spotlight

Playing sport can be a very public event. Players need to learn to cope with performing in front of others, and while this can be a celebration of success, when you’re trying to battle through adversity, it can be like living out your nightmare in public.
Playing sport, and particularly tennis (where players are constantly informed of the score) can be a lonely experience. Players need to be able to learn to cope with their own emotions and be able to ignore distractions from the crowd that might hinder their psychological state.
I was recently involved with a project investigating the effects of the crowd on the psychological states of athletes(5). We were particularly interested in how elite athletes coped with being heckled by the crowd. We conducted three focus group interviews seeking to explore which aspects of crowd noise, including singing, were helpful for performance, and which aspects were harmful.
The results revealed that elite players are able to block out crowd noise very effectively. Players articulated very clearly, and described situations in which crowd heckling took place, where they developed strategies that help them cope with crowd noise.

‘When a greater proportion of concentration is focused on ignoring the crowd, then inevitably, a smaller proportion of concentration can be focused on winning the game’

However, while on one level it might be true that crowd noise has little effect on player performance, a closer inspection of the data suggests that players have to work harder to ignore heckling from the crowd than when the crowd are being supportive. If we view concentration as something similar to a percentage scale (ie it has a limit of 100% capacity) then when players are actively ignoring the crowd, a greater proportion of their concentration has to be given than when the crowd are being supportive.
Further, when a greater proportion of concentration is focused on ignoring the crowd, then inevitably, a smaller proportion of it can be focused on winning the game.
Figure 1 shows how the concentration is divided between the game, external distractions, such as the weather, internal distractions, such as planning the next shot or daydreaming, and finally strategies used to actively ignore crowd noise. In figure 1, we can see that the player needs to make little effort to control their attention to ignore crowd noise.

By contrast, where the player is playing in front of a hostile crowd (figure 2, overleaf), it is clear that a greater proportion of concentration needs to be given to ignoring the ground. Therefore, even though experienced players are able to play in front of a hostile crowd, sustaining excellent performance does require more mental effort.

In tennis, crowd support tends to occur between points. While this clearly will not interfere with psychological states during performance, it can affect how an athlete responds to the previous point, and how an athlete prepares for the next point. It is arguable that crowd noise in tennis can be very helpful in developing psychological momentum. Players who respond positively to the previous shot and prepare effectively for the next shot are likely to perform better than players whose focus is still fixed on the previous shot and therefore unprepared the next point.

Dealing with external distractions

Players can be distracted both by external and internal distractions. By looking through the list of possible external distractions indicated below and simply placing a tick beside some of the distractions listed, you can identify what distracts you. Once you’ve identified these distractions, you can start developing strategies to cope with these distractions.

• Noise in the crowd;
• Clicking of a camera;
• Movement seen in peripheral vision;
• Verbal attempts to intimidate by opponents;
• Seeing coach get up and leave.

Dealing with internal distractions

Even when the crowd is silent, your mind can be a forest of internal distractions and an inability to identify the relevant cues can lead to anxiety. We know that becoming anxious leads to an increase in physiological arousal, which in turn makes it more difficult for us to control and concentration.

It’s not just about tennis

In a study, conducted by professional tennis coach Liz Jones and myself, we looked at the coping strategies, and how these interacted with self-esteem among tennis players following defeat. Anecdotal evidence is provided by the multitude of examples of how psychological momentum can be gained following winning or losing critical games.
A tie-break to decide a set is a good example of how psychological momentum can sway to the opponent. The study, using national level junior tennis players, examined changes in self-confidence following the loss of a tie-break(4) (see graph 1). Players were matched according to ability and played a single tie-break. We were particularly interested in the scores of losing players.

Results showed clearly that a loss of self-confidence was inevitably followed by a defeat – a result that was entirely expected. However, we also demonstrated that the self-confidence of players who were high in self-esteem was much higher than players who were low in self-esteem.
Self-esteem is a complex variable. Some individuals invest their self-esteem in a range of different situations; for example, being a good tennis player, being good academically, being kind, having many friends and so on.
Among aspiring elite athletes, there is a tendency to invest self-esteem almost entirely in playing sport, and tennis players who are typically nurtured during adolescence provide a very good example of this.
Those players who were low in self-esteem coped with defeat by using strategies such as self-blame disengagement; that is, they withdrew any serious intention is to win the next game.
I suggest that players are encouraged to invest their self-esteem in a number of different activities. Coaches should therefore not overemphasise the importance of winning and losing to young athletes, as this can lead to self-esteem being coached solely in tennis performance, which can be detrimental in the long-term to not only the health of the player, but also to performance.

‘Coaches should not overemphasise the importance of winning and losing to young athletes, as this can lead to self-esteem being couched solely in tennis performance, which can be detrimental in the long-term to not only the health of the player, but also to performance’

Summary

Psychological momentum in tennis is affected on a point-by-point basis and players need to develop strategies to cope with slumps during the game. Maintaining resilient self-confidence can be achieved by developing effective strategies such as using affirmation statements, thought replacement, pre-performance routines, and using concentration strategies. However, caution is urged when self-esteem is directly affected by changes in self-confidence following poor performance. Players should be encouraged to invest their self-esteem in a range of activities – not only tennis.
Andy Lane is professor of sport and learning at the University of Wolverhampton and editor of the Sport and Exercise Scientist, published by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES)

References:

1. Perceptual and Motor Skills 1996; 83:595-603
2. J of Sports Sci 2000; 18:559-560
3. J of Sport Behavior 2002; 25:331-345
4. J of Sports Sci 2005; 23:1247
5. J of Sports Sci, in press

Winning with consistency

For the vast majority of the tennis-playing population, consistency is the best way to win. Only at the higher levels of tennis does a flashier playing style prevail over consistent tennis with much frequency. For your flash to beat your opponent's consistency, you must hit shots hard enough and/or precisely enough that your opponent either can't get to them or can't get a clean hit on them, and you must make such shots more often than you miss them. This takes more skill than most players have. At the average recreational or club level, you can beat a flashy player simply by giving him enough chances to miss. He might hit a screaming winner now and then, but if you keep getting the ball back, his errors will tip the balance in your favor.
At the beginner level, just getting the ball back in the court, anywhere, is enough to win. Your beginner opponent won't be able to punish your short balls efficiently.
Once you reach the intermediate level, you need to start concentrating on keeping your shots deep. As long as your opponent is hitting from behind her baseline, you have an excellent chance of getting anything she hits, because even her hardest shots won't travel the 78 feet from baseline to baseline faster than you can run to them. If you hit her a short ball, it's a different story. If her shot comes from less far away, she won't have to hit nearly as hard to rob you of your time, and she'll also be able to hit sharper angles. Consistency's most essential partner is depth.
The safest way to get depth is to hit fairly high, which, of course, has the rather useful added benefit of making sure you clear the net. Even the flattest, hardest hitters should try to clear the net by at least three feet on their average baseline shots, which will mean that many will end up one foot above the net. If you can generate strong topspin, you can hit full-powered shots as high as six feet above the net. For less spin-proficient players, flat, slower shots ranging in height up through the lob category can produce depth that many opponents will find extremely difficult to beat. Back in the Moon Ball era, a number of highly ranked pros relied heavily on these semi-lobs, although the best of the Moonballers used more of a topspin than a flat semi-lob.

You might be thinking, "But, what if she attacks the net? It won't matter how deep my ball would have been if she picks it off in the air." This brings in the next most important skill you'll need: direction. If you're competing at the intermediate level, you'll only need a modest ability to aim your shots in order to foil your opponent's attempts at attacking the net. Proficiency at the net is rare among intermediates.
Of course, the ability to control direction is useful well beyond just passing an opponent who's at the net. You want to be able to run your opponent, pick on his weaker side, and wrong-foot him, but as a consistency player, placement isn't just an offensive tool. It's also essential defense.
The best example of defensive placement is hitting crosscourt when you're in trouble. You'll be hitting over the middle of the net, which is 36" high, instead of the 42" at the sidelines. The court is longer, too: 85.5 feet diagonally as opposed to 78 feet down the line. In baseline rallies, you want to be somewhat diagonally opposite your opponent's position. Making him hit from diagonally opposite you puts you close to the best position to be ready for the next shot.
If you want to win with consistency, be ready to run. You're basically trying to wear opponents down, which won't work too well if you wear out first.
Also practice your lob. It will save you over and over again, both when your opponent attacks at net and when you need time to recover your position after retrieving a particularly wide ball.
Lastly, develop a tenacious mindset. Your basic strategy is to let your opponent make too many mistakes. You're the bulldog, or the tortoise racing the hare, or whatever other critter makes you feel like you're simply unshakeable. Let your opponent glory in his spectacular shot -- then drive himself nuts missing the next five! Enjoy it all with a sense of calm, determined confidence.

Tools:Video analysis

Video analysis is a must have tool for all coaches and/or parents ,who involved in a player development.
The most important thing need to be understood is that ,there's no time to waste if you are preparing for
international competition.There are many juniors being prepared all around the world, and most of the successful ones are using all the tools available, focusing on fast improvement.

 Random example how you can benefit, using these tools.If you happened to work on a 2nd serve of a player,there are many things that you can change,but is it really going to improve the player or its only a change.If something in the serve need to be improved, first need to know the reason.What is going to be the benefit of making the change,what other parts of the serve going to be completely ruined by making the change ,without paying attention!-you can work on the toss to get more behind for a 2nd serve,but at the same time, the player might start jumping backwards,losing the well developed balance transfer-One step forward,2 steps back...

  On an HD video ,you can show the player exactly,what is that she/he need to work on,and at the same easy to give out a training plan with still picture illustration to the assistant coach, witch helping for the both of them to be on the same page.

Video analysis can also help to design a training program, witch could be easily followed by less experienced coaches or dedicated parents in the development process of a junior player.
Simple and effective tool...Use it for your own benefit,keep up with the competition surrounding you!

Get your detailed video analysis at Madarasz Tennis Academy Panama

Great place to improve your coaching skills or understand the basics of player development.

Digital Library

Welcome to the USTA Coaching Education Digital Video Player Library. Here you will find video clips of the best players in the world executing various shots including serves, returns, ground strokes and complete points. It is our goal to provide you with a chance to view technique from a place in the front row of the US Open. That’s right; the video-clips you will find here were all captured during past US Opens. This resource gives you the ability to view technique of the best players in the world and provides you with a tool to aid you in your quest to establish proper technique and fundamentals in all of your strokes. We hope you enjoy the newest feature of www.playerdevelopment.usta.com as we all strive to help players become the best they can be!
Goals of Technique Training
There is no doubt that a player’s stroke technique has a great influence on his or her success. Having good fundamentals of tennis technique is one of the key components enabling a player to reach his or her potential. When a player masters the fundamentals of technique, she or he can consistently produce the most efficient, effective, and successful strokes while minimizing the risk of injury. These fundamentals transcend different styles and are relevant and applicable to virtually all ages and levels of play.
As you view the clips of the players in this video library keep in mind that the goals of technique training are threefold:

1. To identify and understand what the fundamentals of technique actually are.
2. To be able to recognize and distinguish between fundamentals, styles, and technical flaws, and
3. To be skilled at teaching technique in the context of the player’s overall development.

Optimum Technique
No standard technique or swing path for a stroke is optimum for all players. As you will see in the clips, each player is unique with his or her own individual physiological, anthropometric, and psychological characteristics; therefore, optimal technique for one player may not be optimal for another.
Example-From the videos you will see that many professional players demonstrate different techniques during their swing and follow through, due to differences in style, age, and size. However, despite these stylistic differences, the techniques used at the instant of ball contact are all very similar.
While the optimal stroke technique may vary from player to player, all tennis strokes should have the following four characteristics (Saviano, 1999; Schonborn, 1998):
1. It is simple. The optimal technique uses as many segments as necessary to produce an effective shot.
2. It is efficient. By using the optimal technique, the player produces the shot with minimum effort relative to the desired results. In addition, use of the optimal technique minimizes stress to the body and helps to prevent injury.
3. It is effective. Using the optimal technique, the player can successfully execute the desired shots.
4. It is flexible and versatile. The player can adapt the technique to the tactical requirements of the game situation.
Players can acquire optimum technique by learning the mechanical fundamentals of stoke production, while still evolving their own individual stroke characteristics. You will find many examples of this as you watch the clips and see that all of the top players have mastered the fundamentals of technique, yet their technical styles of hitting the ball are extremely different.
Fundamentals of Technique and Style
Often people have differences of opinion on their fundamentals of technique. Styles of technique are commonly misinterpreted as fundamentals. One goal of this website is to provide you with a forum to come to a working knowledge of technique that will allow you delineate critical mechanical fundamentals from individual styles. Focus on fundamentals of technique and eliminating technical flaws that will limit a player’s future, while allowing the player to evolve her or his own individual style.
Technique as Part of a Whole Process
Look at technique development as just part of a whole process of a player’s ability to play the game successfully, both technically and tactically. Good technique should not be a goal unto itself, so keep the isolation of technique work to a minimum. When working on technique, try, when it is appropriate and possible, to incorporate the broad spectrum of skills required to play the game.
Finally, remember that the video-clips that you will view are clips of mature professional players. They possess skills, abilities, and strengths that younger, less mature players do not possess. The players you see here are the end product of years of practice and physical, technical, and tactical development. Just because you see the best players in the world executing a shot in a certain way, does not mean that a 10 or 12 year old player has the strength or ability to do what the top players in the world can do. Use the clips as a template to guide you with your players.

Mistakes to avoid in preparation

No-Ad and Super-Tie Breaker Scoring

I wholeheartedly agree with the ITF including doubles at all junior events. It tremendously contributes to the overall development of junior players. However, the use of the No-Ad scoring and the Super-Tie Breaker for third set is not beneficial.

There are three goals that should be considered in making a rule change:

1. The Process Goal for the player’s developmental learning.

2. The Product Goal to establish an even playing field.

3. The Fan Goal to attract and appeal to the spectators.

In junior tennis, the Process Goal is not satisfied by No-Ad scoring. The players do not learn the discipline to labor through the lengthy, war-like games that are the key to becoming skilled in tennis.

Perhaps the most important key to achieving high level of success in tennis is developing the skill that it takes to manage the momentum of traditional scoring. Traditional scoring is multi-dimensional. No-Ad scoring is not.

Likewise the Product Goal is not satisfied either, as the best players lose some of their edge in regards to their mental, emotional, and physical skills. All advantages are neutralized by the immediate fluctuations of momentum and pressures caused by the No-Ad system.

With traditional scoring, the subtle separation that a slightly better player has in his or her skills becomes a large advantage during the match. With No-Ad scoring, however, even a big skill separation is potentially nullified with the quick gains and losses of momentum.

The Fan Goal is not being satisfied either. The No-Ad scoring system eliminates the drama and suspense of a player being able to put together three consecutive points.

The traditional scoring system is an heirloom of tennis. It is unique in the sports world. It tests the player’s ability to group points and convert games. This deep skill should not be compromised. The athlete should impact the outcome of each game, not the scoring system.

Key momentum fluctuations are drastically impacted by the use of No-Ad scoring: For example, a 30-0 lead gives the player 16:1 odds that he/she will have a game point in No-Ad scoring. Likewise, a 30-15 lead gives a player 8:1 odds that he will have a game point.

At other key times, the impact of one point unfairly loads the deck as well. The critical 7th game is a good study of this. A 4-2 lead can turn into 5-2 or 4-3 based on a net cord or a bad line call. Even though this is the most obvious example, all game points are worth two games.

In tennis, it is fascinating when players with a similar skill level are competing. The winner must be able to closeout his or her opponent at the end of the match by gaining mastery over his or her nerves. No-Ad scoring takes this dimension away from the player’s developmental process.

Lastly, major tournaments should never be determined by the use of a 10-Point Tie-Breaker for the third set. For example, at the 2008 US Open Junior event, there were 23 doubles matches on the boys draw. 17 of these were decided by a Super-Tie Breaker. This demeans a great achievement and is not a good indicator of the better team.

There should be a valid reason for that the No-Ad system and the 10-Point Match Tie-Breaker to be used for Junior ITF events. Mostly likely, they were implemented with the hope that it would prepare junior players for its use in professional doubles. There is, however, no evidence that there is a carry over value. Most doubles players in the professional ranks are singles players who did not advance far enough in the singles rankings to sustain their career.

The No-Ad system in professional tennis was implemented as a compromise to prevent doubles from being dropped from the tour. Since then, however, it has remained extremely unpopular.

Tournament owners have ignored a simple scheduling solution. Before playing any singles matches, they may consider playing two rounds of doubles on the first two days of the event. Thus, players can use the doubles matches to ready themselves for singles competition, and the first two days can be dedicated to fan appreciation and kids clinics (perhaps even conducted by the doubles players). After these first two days, tournament owners would only have to take care of the remaining 4 doubles teams.

A bad rule is much like a bad politician. Both are easy to put into place, but the ramifications can be long lasting. And once in place, the bad rule or the bad politician are very hard to remove.

The integrity of the game is founded on a level playing field. The physical, mental and emotional skills of tennis should be the sole criteria that determine the outcome of a match, rather than a well timed injury or bathroom timeout. Furthermore, No-Ad scoring and the 10-Point Super-Tie Breaker impairs the crucial role of momentum in the sport. Players and coaches who spend thousands of hours of preparation and training to execute their skills deserve the best chance to win.

great article...Special thanks for Chuck Kriese