Fact - Tennis matches are usually decided by errors.
Even with the best tennis rackets in the world, the world's top tennis players make more mistakes than they winners.
The player who makes the most mistakes will invariably lose the match and this is the same from your tennis club tennis tournament to a US Open singles final.
The big difference between you (the club player) and the more experienced Pro (although not all the time), is that you tend to make a habit of losing several points as a result of a single mistake.
You become frustrated and that just leads to more tennis balls that go out.
Can you now see how vital it is that you learn how to effectively manage your errors?
Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer are the top 2 top players in the tennis rankings, and for my money they are also the best players at managing their errors. I really think, in fact I know that this is no coincidence.
What Can You Learn From Them?
Think about this - You are playing in a match and miss an easy volley when you had a great chance to win the point!
Does any of this sound familiar?
"You idiot, that was so easy, how could you miss it? I am so rubbish."
This is what we call negative self-talk and it only leads to negative energy and even more mistakes, so your chances of winning the match are severely reduced.
REMEMBER GRANDMA SAID PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT?
Don’t forget that what you do on the practice court will transfer itself to the match court.
So, start managing your errors better on the practise court and you will have a better chance of coping with them during a match.
THIS IS HOW!
• Realise that everybody makes mistakes and after all, you have only lost one point (matches are not won and lost because of one point!).
• Treat mistakes as positive feedback so that when the situation comes up again you will know how to deal with it and execute it much better.
• Be realistic! You are not going to play a match without making an error. Also sometimes your opponent forces you to make an error through his/her good play.
• If you do make an error, play the ideal stroke by visualizing & shadowing it.
• Take deep breaths to help you relax.
• Take the racket out of your playing hand, which also will be your racket “throwing” arm!!.
• Talk to yourself positively.
Use the above, to form a coping routine.
HOW TO PRACTICE
Here is a great way I use have found to practice all of this.
I get two players to play points.
I take points away for negative outbursts and I award extra points for correct mistake behaviour.
SUMMARY
If you don’t learn to control and manage your errors they will manage and control you!
Play tennis, keep yourself under control and you will always be one step ahead of all your opponents.
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