Jak Beardsworth Tennis

JANUARY, 2012:

PLAYING SCARED

Just about every time I walk through the courts during a league match I see players playing scared, afraid to make a mistake. This is not what “playing within yourself” means.

This happens to even the stars in professional football every Sunday - mostly to kickers, quarterbacks, and coaches as well on game day. These are individuals making millions of dollars for their expertise and talent but who, like you, are also under pressure, in their arena to win or lose their job. The Dallas Cowboys head coach, Jason Garrett, has taken it on the chin this past season from the well respected football pundits for poor game management.

“Jason is coaching scared with a defeatist attitude,” said one. Another noted, “The pressure has gotten to Jason, and he’s really over-coaching.” Tennis player translation: too cautious, over thinking, and hoping things go your way.

When Garrett eventually responded to this criticism he declared, in so many words, that the best players are indeed the mentally toughest players, and the best teams are the mentally toughest teams.” How about that comment from the physically tough, violent, and rough and tumble football culture.

Jak Beardsworth Tennis First of all relax, everyone feels pressure, whether it’s internally or externally produced. It’s not going away, ever! What did the all-time great jazz musician, Miles Davis, say about performance anxiety: “If you’re not nervous, you ain’t listenin’.” It’s normal.

So, on the court, you’d better get used to it and learn counter measures to deal with it comfortably head-on in order to neutralize it as much as possible within the performance equation.

How? By becoming a shot-in and shot-out, point-in and point-out, and day-in and day-out:

audible breather
crystal clear visualizer
keen ball tracker
energized footworker
relaxed gripper
early racker prepper
free stroker
possessor of both positive body language
and game face at ball-on-racket moment

That’s it. It’s that simple, but, as we all know, and I regularly and readily admit, not that easy, particularly if you do not make these core components part of your game every single day – beginning in the warm-up - whether it’s a team practice, a friendly doubles, a ball machine session, solo serving practice, or a league or tournament match.

Another match play paralyzer is over-respecting opponents, what I refer to as the “non-swagger.” These opposing player(s) are across the net from you because they are, give or take a little, the same NTRP level as you. So why the defeatist perception going-in that they’re probably better than you?

Back to “playing within yourself,” exactly what does that mean? Swinging the racket through the ball only as fast as you can control on a consistent basis. No more, no less! It also refers to allowing yourself safe margins for error with regard to both the lines and the net while always remaining aggressive. And, never to be underestimated, if your primary focus is, “I have to win this,” or, “I can’t lose that,” you will forever be relegated to not playing your best tennis, and match play improvement will not be elusive at best.

Instead, arrive early with a positive mind-set, something like: This is the game I’ve arrived with, let’s see how it matches up with the skills they’ve arrived without worries. Fearlessly engaging them – versus the all too common avoidance mode - and letting the chips fall where they may, is the very most you can do.

You may recall the philosopher Kierkegaard’s universal take on all this stuff: “Be with what is, so that what is to be, may become.”

And yes, success usually belongs to those who believe it the most the longest. And that’s what being mentally tough is always about.

Questions and comments are welcome at anytime for all tips present and past via email.

Tips Archive

May, June, 2013 JUST TALKING HEADS OR MORE [read more]
March, April, 2013 SELF-TALK: Good, Bad, or Indifferent [read more]
January, February, 2013 BOOK-A-MILLION: Do Tennis Players Read? [read more]
December, 2012 THE KEY TO TOUR LEVEL BALL STRIKING: And How to Learn It [read more]
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February, 2012 UNDERSTANDING TERMINOLOGY: Drill vs Clinic vs Team Practice [read more]
January, 2012 PLAYING SCARED? [read more]
December, 2011 CUTTING OFF THE ANGLE…VERTICALLY [read more]
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December, 2010 JOHN ISNER’S “GOOD MISS” [read more]
November, 2010 THE MOST NEGLECTED SHOT IN THE GAME [read more]
October, 2010 BALL BOUNCING and the SERVE [read more]
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July-August, 2010 SUMMER SCHOOL COURTSIDE CRIB SHEET [read more]
May-June, 2010 THE 2-HANDED JUMP BACKHAND: The Dumbest Shot in Tennis [read more]
April, 2010 THE STANDING AROUND SYNDROME [read more]
March, 2010 THE ELUSIVE SERVICE TOSS [read more]
February, 2010 PREPARING TO START THE POINT: Serving and Receiving [read more]
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November, 2009 DEFEATING THE POACHER [read more]
October, 2009 PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE [read more]
September, 2009 SERVING SUCCESS: Warming-Up vs Match Play [read more]
August, 2009 THE SPLIT STEP: Defending the Court, Rushing the Net, and More [read more]
July, 2009 THE THIRD GROUNDSTROKE [read more]
June, 2009 HOW MANY HANDS DOES IT TAKE? [read more]
May, 2009 THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL [read more]
April, 2009 PLAYING IN THE FLORIDA WIND [read more]
March, 2009 Letting them Play for Peak Performance in Clubland [read more]
February, 2009 SUPPORTING YOUR GAME [read more]
January, 2009 RESPECTING THE GAME: Top 10 Do's & Don'ts [read more]
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