By Damon Valentino | Monday, August 28, 2017
Through the lens of sport and performance psychology, much of what separates one player from another actually happens between points.
Photo credit: Hopman Cup
Attention rising stars: We’re talking to you Alexander Zverev, Nick Kyrgios, Grigor Dimitrov, Dominic Thiem and Jack Sock.
So you want to win the US Open?
Opinion: Federer Seeding is Major Fail For US Open
Here’s a secret past champions know: You must master the mental game to prevail in the most physically punishing major.
“This tournament is so much about fitness, more than Paris, I think, and more than Wimbledon with the weather is a little bit easier, like 20 degrees easier,” says six-time US Open champion Chrissie Evert. “And it's on a hard court, and it's at the end of the year, and players, even though they don't admit it, are starting maybe to get a little bit worn out, the body and the mind.
“I think that's why this is always such a big challenge of all the Grand Slams to play your best tennis, because it's hard to be fresh when it's the ninth month of the year you've been playing full time.”
Five of the world’s Top 11-ranked men—including reigning champion Stan Wawrinka, 2016 finalist Novak Djokovic and 2012 champion Andy Murray— are missing the Open due to injury.
A talented crop of NextGen stars have know their time is now to break through and win a first Grand Slam title.
Can the next generation cope with greater expectation that come with a higher seed and possibly take out five-time US Open champion Roger Federer or world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the process?
To understand who may break through in New York, we need to shift our attention from what is happening during the point to what is happening between points.
Through the lens of sport and performance psychology, much of what separates one player from another actually happens between points.
If you think that’s hyperbole, add up the amount of time the ball is actually in play the next time you watch a match. A typical three-hour match actually consists of about 30 minutes of active play.
That means there’s two and-a-half hours to think about it.
Most of us spend that time battling the commentators in our own head, who are quick to find the mistakes, unfair conditions, suspect line calls, annoying gusts of wind, or any number of other factors—real or imagined—that crop up during and between play.
Rising stars, if you want to win the 2017 U.S Open, here is a four-point plan to help you master the year's final major:
1. Manage Nervous System
The science is clear. Your brain is constantly on the lookout for danger and it can’t distinguish between a stressful tennis match and something more life threatening. This can create all sorts of negative ramifications—rising blood pressure and heart rate, narrowed focus, shallow breathing, to name a few—on your ability to thrive under pressure. Fortunately, there are techniques you can use (breathing, imagery, routines) to regulate fight or flight responses and stay calm and cool in the heat of the moment. Keeping your nervous system under control will allow you to stay on top of the rest of your game plan.
2. Tap Into Ideal Mind
All of you have had recent success to earn a high US Open seed, and that is a great place to understand how it feels when you are at your best and your overall awareness of when you are on top of your game. Research shows that when we can identify and embody the conditions when we are at our best and attach a word to this state—gritty, aggressive, competitive, fluid—we are essentially creating a new folder in the brain where all that good stuff is stored.
During a match, you can connect with your ideal mindset by opening up that folder and accessing all the productive content inside. This is a great way to learn how to respond during a match and not react to things out of our control.
3. Make Peace with Failure and Success
Roger Federer and Pete Sampras are two of the greatest champions of all-time, who shared one very powerful characteristic, their coach, Paul Annacone, told Tennis Now.
“They’re not afraid to win, they’re not afraid to lose,” Annacone told us of Sampras and Federer. “They can live with the consequences because of their processes.”
If you have made peace with either outcome, it’s much easier to first recognize this thought-loop as it’s happening, then shift away from these fantasies of winning and losing in real time and shift focus back to what’s productive right now. You’ll be amazed at how loose and powerful you can play without all the baggage of what might happen.
4. Embrace Improvisation
You have all mastered the basics of shot making and are proficient with tactics, so to break through in New York, you also must embrace the spontaneous nature of the game. Like any good improvisational actor or musician, spend less time with a “no, but…” attitude and embody the “yes, and…” approach.
With all the potential combinations of shots, spins, score, along with all the other external factors that come with playing the U.S Open, if you can add your own expression to the moment and play in the zone or in a flow state, you tend to produce your best performance.
Here’s how it works. Studies show that when we perform in a flow state, we are essentially turning off the prefrontal cortex of our brain. This is the part of our brain that does all the thinking, problem solving, and analysis. This may seem counter-intuitive, but when this part of our brain goes off line, we have additional resources to be more creative, be more flexible mentally, and focus on the small details that are happening in real time.
In other words, all that thinking, and the attention you give it, is getting in the way of your performance.
So which one of you truly understands that the mental game is a huge part of achieving success and realizes that to win it all, you need to win the battle between points?
Which of you knows that the real superpower is playing up to your own potential and not depleting valuable resources on the elements that are not productive?
I’ll be watching the incredible points that you play, but I’ll also be looking to see who seems to be in control of the other battle that is going on between the points, where most of the match is played.
Tennis Now contributing writer Damon Valentino was a full scholarship tennis player at Michigan State University. He holds a Masters degree in Sport Psychology from JFK University in Pleasant Hill, CA. He owns and operates Sidestreet Performance Training based in San Francisco where he works with tennis players of all skill levels. Reach Damon at [email protected] or 415-515-9630.