The Mental Conditioning of Tomas Berdych

“What I’ve been really trying to work on is mental strength and preparation for every single match. They are very important aspects of today’s game. Especially now. Everybody can play a good forehand and backhand. There is no difference at all. It’s really just about the small details and one of them is the mental preparation, which I’ve been trying to improve. I believe I did so, but you can improve these aspects a lot. I hope this is something that can take me higher.

“There’s a lot you can say about that really. It’s concentration in the match. It’s also what you do around: how you deal with the situations on court and off court. It’s not only about once you step on the court. It’s been the work of my team. Part of it has definitely been my tennis coach. He can help me with that as well. I’ve also been working with one guy, not a sports psychologist as such, but a mental coach, which is a little bit different than a psychologist. It works, quite well. I’ve been working with him for two or three years.” 

--Tomas Berdych, tennis pro, who is improving ever year and becoming a force on the professional tour. 

Berdych beat Roger Federer and Roger Federer en route to the 2010 Wimbledon final, only to lose to Rafael Nadal. Since then, Berdych has become a Top 10 tennis player. This year, in 2013, he has reached back-to-back ATP World Tour finals at the Open 13 in Marseille (in which he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga) and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, (in which he lost to Novak Djokovic). He has won 14 of his 18 matches. His goal is to continue to close the gap on the likes of the big 4, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal.

Can he do it?  Will mental conditioning help?

Let's look at the general techniques often used in mental conditioning:

Autogenic Relaxation – autogenic also known as self-generated training has the power to actually alter your neural pathways as you change your behavior. Autogenic relaxation is a kind of self-hypnosis that enables you to root positive phrases and mental images in your unconscious. It brings your mind and feelings into harmony with your body as you take on and adjust to new behaviors.

Visualization – visualization is your ability to imagine in your mind certain situations. It not only includes visually seeing the events happening but also allows you to feel like you are almost in the situation. All five senses are present in the visualization including sound, smell, touch, etc. Visualization is a powerful tool when used in a positive matter. However, in many cases athletes replay negative events causing a negative effect on performance. The more vivid the visualization the more it attaches to your memory.

Affirmations and Positive Self-Talk – Affirmations are positive statements that you can use to replace your negative mind-chatter. Using affirmations can be a powerful way to transform many of your old attitudes and expectations into positive and vibrant ones.  These affirmations will allow you to take control of your self-talk and internal dialogue that can contribute to your performance.

Neuromuscular Coordination – muscle/brain imprinting through controlled plyometrics, body and motor control training helps "train the brain" to react naturally and unconsciously when brought into a real playing situation. Slow motions that imprint movements that are consistent with the sport will improve overall efficiency.

Do you do any of these techniques regularly?  There are more and more studies that suggest that these techniques are very valuable to the young athlete.  

For more information, contact us now.  404-357-7335. 

Excerpt from "Tomas Berdych:  The Mental Game,"  by Robert Davis," ATPworldtour.com (February 5, 2013).

Newly Confident Sloane Stephens Upsets Serena Williams

“Last night I was thinking about it. And someone asked me, ‘Do you think you can win?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I think so.’ But I wasn’t too clear about it, and this morning when I got up I was like, ‘Dude, you can do this. Go out and play and do your best.’ ”

 --Sloane Stephens, female professional tennis player, after upsetting Serena Williams in the 2013 Australian Open.

Stephens snapped Williams' 20-win streak 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 17 minutes. Stephens has never won a title of any kind. She beat the best player in the world to reach the semi-finals in Melbourne. She will meet Victoria Azarenka. She is the first American teenager to reach a semi-final of a grand slam event since Serena at the U.S. Open in 2001.

Excerpts from nytimes.com and theguardian.com (1/23/2013).

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sharapova Recovers to Get into U.S. Open Quarters

"I always think that, no matter how you start the match, it's always how you finish. Whether it's an hour or whether it's three hours that you're out there, I don't want to give up until the last point. That's pretty much the mentality I try to have going into a third set."

--Maria Sharapova, discussing her return to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open for the first time since her championship year of 2006.

Excerpt from The Associated Press, Howard Fendrich, "Sharapova gets past Petrova in 3 sets at US Open." (9/3/12).

Roger Federer Gets in the Zone in Comeback Win

“I do go into a trance-like state I guess at times. I did feel that midway through the third set on Friday, things were clicking for me.  And I knew that it was going to be hard for him to come through."

 
--Roger Federer, talking about his ability to get in the zone during a match against Julien Bennetaur at Wimbledon last week.  

Federer came back from two sets down in the match to stay alive at Wimbledon in this second round match.  He went on to win two more matches to set up a rematch with Novak Djokovic in one of the semifinals.  Federer has won Wimbledon six times.   



Excerpt from http://www.thesun.co.uk (July 1, 2012).

The Wimbledon Diary: Novak Djokovic, A Peak Performance Case Study

"When my streak ended in Paris it was kind of a relief as well, because it's been a very successful five, six months, but it's also been long and exhausting. I needed some time to relax and I'm happy to see that I'm playing well again and I'm mentally really fresh to have more success."

--Novak Djokovic, whose streak of 43 matches won recently came to an end.

Over the past year, Djokovic has been playing his best tennis:  in addition to "The Streak," three consecutive wins over Roger Federer, a Grand Slam win at the Australian Open, a first-ever win for Serbia in the Davis Cup, and back-to-back wins over Nadal and Federer to win the BNP Paribas Open.  


Is Novak Djokovic positioned to win at Wimbledon?  Let's look at various aspects of a winning mentality.   




Realistic Confidence

"Rafa [Nadal] and Roger [Federer] are the two biggest favourites," he said, "because they've been so dominant the last couple years, especially on grass. They are the only two players who have been winning this tournament for quite some time. Obviously, there is Andy Murray, who is home favourite. He's playing really well on grass courts and Wimbledon last couple years.

"It's true there is a different approach to this year's Wimbledon from my side because I'm playing, I think, the best tennis of my life in the last six months. That's why I believe in myself much more on the court and I know I can perform well, equally well, on this surface as I do on the other ones."

Maturity and Perspective

""We grew up in the worst time for our country (war-torn Serbia).  But it made us stronger, made us fight for what we want to achieve, made us people who appreciate life more.  We have been through difficult things in our career, and we appreciate success much more, even though we are still young."

"This is a difficult sport. It just depends where you grow up. It's a matter of luck in the end, but that's life. But probably this hunger for the success which we all have and still have, you can see it in the girls like [Maria] Sharapova and the Williams sisters and the girls and guys from Serbia.
"You see how much they appreciate to be in that position and how much energy and emotions they put on the court. It's quite amazing. I know for myself I play with a lot of emotions, positive emotions, negative emotions. But this is how I feel and how I am. I'm a guy with alot of temperment, becuase I know how much it means to me to be in that position."



--Novak Djokovic, discussing the new wave of young players whose desire to succeed is born of economic hardship and cultural upheaval, particularly in Eastern Europe.



Focus:  Competition, Learning and a Continuous Improvement Mentality


When discussing his toughest competition, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Djokovic says that they help him focus and develop.


"They're always lifting the limits.  In each event--literally each event you're playing--you have to play at least semifinals or finals. It's ridiculous how successful and how consistent they are, how mentally strong.  It's a big challenge, something that makes you grow up.


"When I step on the court, especially with Federer and Nadal, I believe I can win against them.  That's what's different about me.  Before I was just trying to play my best tennis, but now I want to win."


Mindset


Djokovic has been more emotionally balanced this year.  In the past, his performance was a source of frustration.


"He was more up-and-down, and physically, he wan't ready--he'd get more aggravated.  Emotionally , he's settled down," says his coach of the last five years, Marian Vajda.

"Think positive.  LIfe is too short to think otherwise" says Djokovic.


From a mental standpoint, it appears Djokovic could go deep into the Wimbledon draw, perhaps come out with the title.  He seems mentally prepared.


Are you mentally prepared for the challenge, unknowns, turbulence and competition of the future?  






Excerpts from the New York Times 1/29/08, Tennis magazine (June 2011) and Reuters (June 21, 2011).

A Very Focused and Grounded Rafael Nadal Wins 6th French Open

"A big personal satisfaction, especially when you started [the tournament] without playing your best.  Finally, I was able to play my best when I needed my best.

"[The French Open] always is the tournament where I feel that I have more chances to win. This is my biggest chance of the year [to win a Grand Slam]. I know if I win this tournament, my season is fantastic. I then can play with more confidence and less pressure." 

--Rafael Nadal, after winning the 2011 French Open over Roger Federer.  

Nadal beat Federer without playing his best tennis throughout the tournament.  So, he had to deal with it and accept his less than stellar playing.   

"The real Rafa is both the Rafa who wins and the Rafa who plays well, and the Rafa who suffers and doesn't play that well," Nadal said. "You have to face this situation."

Typically, Nadal is exceptional at Roland Garros in Paris -- 45-1 for his career, and the same number of titles there as Bjorn Borg -- but the Spaniard already also has shown that he is much more than the King of Clay. And Sunday's victory only will raise more questions about whether Federer truly deserves to be called the Greatest of All Time if he is not even the Greatest of Right Now.

Nadal leads their head-to-head series 17-8. That includes a 6-2 advantage in Grand Slam finals and a 5-0 edge at the French Open (in the 2005 semifinals, and the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011 finals).

Nevertheless, this is not what drives him.  

"When you talk about these statistics, when you try and make these comparisons, really it's not very interesting to me," continued Nadal, who would have ceded the No. 1 ranking to Novak Djokovic with a loss Sunday. "I'm very happy with what I have, with who I am. I'm not the best player in the history of tennis. I think I'm among the best. That's true. That's enough for me."

But, does Nadal have Federer's number?  Toni Nadal, Rafael's uncle and coach, spoke plainly after Sunday's match.

"The game of Rafael is not too good for Roger," Toni said, adding that Federer's "mentality against Rafael is not the best."

On Sunday, Federer raced to a 5-2 at the outset, but blew a set point by missing a drop shot that landed barely wide.  That seemed to unnerve Federer and open the door for Nadal. 

Nadal then won seven games in a row. Later, when Nadal went up a break in the third and led 4-2, the match appeared over, until Federer charged back to force a fourth set.

But Nadal once more assumed control, winning the last five games, then dropping to his knees and leaning forward with his hands covering his eyes.

"I was able to play my best when I needed my best," Nadal repeated. "For that reason, today I am here with the trophy." 

Excerpts from ESPN.com (June 5 & 6, 2011).

What Victory Means to A Champion

“It’s special because you’ve been practicing since you were young. It’s what you dreamed of, what you see on TV, those big trophies. And it’s just a moment. The first thing that comes to mind are all those days that were so hard when you had to push through them…[when] you never knew if you were going to have a chance to hold a trophy. But you did [everything to do it]…and you’re not regretting…It’s a really cool, incredible feeling.”

--Maria Sharapova, who captured the 2011 Italian Open, talking about what winning means to her.  

Sharapova beat Sam Stosur 6-2, 6-4 in the Italian Open final last Sunday for the biggest clay-court title of her career.  This tournament is a key warm-up for the French Open, that begins next week.  Sharapova will now clearly be one of the favorites at Roland Garros in Paris, also a clay court.

After a three-hour rain delay, the seventh-seeded Sharapova won the opening four games, then cruised easily in a total of 1 hour and 23 minutes to follow up her victory over number-one ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the tournament semifinals.  A former No. 1 herself, Sharapova had been struggling to regain her top form since undergoing right shoulder surgery in October 2008 -- which caused her to miss 10 months of tennis.  

Excerpts from InsideTennis.com (May 2011) and ESPN.com (May 15, 2011).

Confidence: How Important Is It?

"I didn't have any doubts, but I wasn't sure I was going to win."  

 --Gabriella Sabatini, a former professional Aregentine tennis player, who was one of the top players on the women's circuit in the late-1980s and early-1990s. She won a women's singles title at the U. S. Open in 1990, the women's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1988, two WTA Tour Championships in 1988 and 1994, and a silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games. 

Despite considerable athletic talent, strong popularity and the beauty of a screen star, Sabatini seemed to consistently conflicted about her ability to win.  Many critics and experts had expected much more from Sabatini and felt that her overall career performance had left something to be desired.  

"Confidence isn't optimism or pessimism and it's not a character attribute. It's the expectation of a positive outcome. It is essential" - Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of the book, Confidence.

Framing and optimism are everything, as Andre Agassi demonstrates in this great quote from a panel (with Lance Armstrong) at the Milken conference in April 2006:

After wrist surgery, Agassi was ranked number 141 in the world in 1998. As Agassi said, he tried to look on the bright side, "only 140 people in the world could beat me."

A lack of confidence effects capability and reduces all-round ability. When confidence is high, real breakthroughs are possible.

It's possible to affect and, thus, manufacture confidence. Indeed it is a vital process to avoid the kind of expectation trap described below.

According to psychologist Albert Bandura, performers' situational-specific confidence, or 'self-efficacy', is based on four primary sources of information.

The first and most important factor is past performance accomplishments. What we have achieved in training and competition forms the basis of future expectations of success or failure. Repeated success naturally leads to positive expectations of further success, higher motivation and enhanced self-belief.

Unfortunately, the drawback of this principle is that failure can give rise to a downward performance spiral and a 'snowball effect' whereby a performer starts to believe that success is unattainable.

Of course, such an athlete does not mysteriously lose his or her physical skills and talents, but without confidence in these abilities high-level performance is rarely achieved. This is the 'expectation trap', which has put many a gifted athlete into permanent decline.

In research, confidence has been shown to consistently distinguish between highly successful and less successful athletes. Although many people mistakenly assume that confidence reflects performance - i.e. we become confident once we have performed consistently well - it is becoming increasingly evident that confidence can be established, or 'manufactured' beforehand.


Several assumptions that can interfere with self-confidence and positive ways of thinking are:

ASSUMPTION: I must always be successful at every challenge that I undertake. This assumption is a totally unrealistic assumption. In life each person has his strengths and his weaknesses. While it is important to learn to do the best that one can, it is more important to learn to accept yourself as being human, and deficient. Let yourself feel good about what you are good at, and accept the fact that you don’t know everything and you don’t need to.

ASSUMPTION: I must be perfect, and loved by everyone, and satisfy everyone. Again, this assumption is a totally unrealistic assumption. All human beings are less than perfect. It’s well advised to develop personal standards and values that are not very dependent on the approval of other people.

ASSUMPTION: Everything that happened to me in the past remains in control of my feelings and behaviors in the present.

ALTERNATIVE: While it is true that your confidence was especially vulnerable to external influences when you were a child as you gain maturity appreciation and point of view on what those influences have been. In doing so, you can choose which influences you will continue to allow to have an effect on your life. You don’t have to be helpless based on what happened in the past.

HERE ARE SOME STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING CONFIDENCE 

Emphasize Your Strengths. Grant yourself credit for everything that you can do. And bestow upon yourself credit for every new experience you are willing to try.

Take risks. Adopt the attitude of: I never fail, because there are NO failures. However, sometimes I find out what doesn’t work and once I’ve learned what doesn’t work in a given situation, I can test something else.

Use Self-Talk: Use self-talk as a tool to counter harmful assumptions. Then, tell yourself to stop. Substitute more reasonable assumptions. For example, when you catch yourself expecting yourself to be perfect, remind yourself that it is impossible to do everything perfectly, and that it’s only possible to do things to the best of your ability. This allows you to accept yourself as you are working towards improvement.

VISUALIZATION (Make mental movies): Picture yourself in scenes that you currently have low levels of self confidence in. But see yourself behaving in the way that a person who has tremendous confidence  would. There are powerful Self-hypnosis and NLP processes that you can use to instill a sizable amount of self-confidence from within your subconscious mind. There are even NLP techniques that will let you take confidence that you do have in areas of your life, and then transplant that confidence to areas of your life that require more self-confidence!

Excerpts from Inside Tennis (April 2011) and the Peak Performance eCoach.  

Jimmy Connors Comments on Pro Tennis Player, Rafael Nadal

"I look at Nadal and the way he goes about his business, the way he trains, the way he looks every time he walks out on court -- what he gives and expects of himself.  If anybody's going win, it's going to be him.  He's not afraid to do whatever it takes.  Tennis is one part of it -- the desire, the sacrifice, the willingness to learn, to train, to take your knocks to be better.  Even when he lost at Wimbledon and the French, he comes back stronger and better to the point where he wants to prove to himself that he's the best. He's only 24.  He hasn't even reached his prime. That's scary.

"He brings more than just the tennis.  He brings that excitement, that electricity and the feel of walking into a stadium and having more than just a tennis match going on.  I'm not saying anything disrespectful about the other guys.  I'm just saying that he might have a little big more of that, just by his enthusiasm and passion.

"You don't see guys like him jumping around and running out to the baseline and diving and trying after every ball.  That's a long lost art.  Nadal grinds it point to point, and shows his passion when he wins a big point and isn't afraid to let you know how he's feeling.  That's old school attitude.  Today, being cool is probably more important.  He might be a one-of-kind, and any time you're a one-of -a-kind, it's not a bad thing."      

Number-one-ranked Rafael Nadal is currently competing in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. He appears headed toward a potential semifinal round showdown with rival and friend Roger Federer.

Do you bring a Nadal-like intensity, desire, and determination to whatever you do? No, what if you did? Would it make a difference? Are you willing to do what it takes to win?

Excerpts from Inside Tennis (March 2011).

Caroline Wozniacki: New Star in Women's Tennis

"Pressure is when you're put on the spot and you don't feel like you belong there, don't think you deserve to be there. I think I deserve to be where I am, and I think that I'm feeling comfortable there."

--Caroline Wozniacki, finalist in last year's U.S. Open and #1 ranked woman in this year's Open.

Wozniacki breezed through the first set in her quarterfinal match with Dominika Cibulkova, as she has in every one of her matches so far in New York, winning 6-2, 7-5. Cilbulkova and Wozniacki had to suffer through a windy evening that affected both of their games. It was the first time in five matches that a player has taken more than four games in a set from Wozniacki in this Open. This was her 13th straight match win and she is 18-1 since Wimbledon.

"It felt like we were playing in a hurricane or something," Wozniacki said. "But it was the same for both players. I'm happy to get through."

The Dane is aggressive and one of the best defensive players. She is known for her "counter-punches." She wins points by forcing opponent errors and energetically running down balls. Her speed and athleticism allow her to retrieve most balls hit by her opponent. On Wednesday, the top-seeded played an aggressive game and controlled many of the points.

Wozniacki was a surprise runner-up to Kim Clijsters at last year's Open. This year she defeated former champion Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-4 Monday to reach the quarter-finals.

"I definitely think I've improved a lot, not only physically, but also I believe in myself more. I believe I can do it," she said. "Also I think I can mix up my game a little bit more than I could last year."

Boxing is one of Wozniacki's off-court interests and the 20-year-old's training includes boxing for conditioning.

"Boxing, it's just a different way for me to work out," she told reporters after her 6-2 7-5 quarter-final victory. "I'm really competitive. I really don't like losing."

Excerpts taken from www.nypost.com (8/29/2010) and Reuters.com.

For more on performance psychology, click on The Handbook of Peak Performance.

Notes from the U.S. Open: Andy Roddick Learns Confidence

"I think I used to get more up and down on an individual results or two. I maybe used to be convinced after two bad weeks that it was going to fall apart forever or after two good weeks that I'd probably never play a bad match again. I think maybe I have a little more confidence in the process than I used to."

--Andy Roddick, discussing his past problems with confidence and self-criticism.

Andy Roddick, who Roger Federer has beaten in 19 or their 21 meetings, comes to this year's U.S. Open seeded fifth. His classic five-set loss to Federer at Wimbledon has rejuvenated his career and increased his fan support.

"I would be lying if I sat here and said I totally understood it. But it definitely made it easier to get motivated to get back on the court," says Roddick about his fans' reaction.

Roddick also hired Larry Stefanki last year as his coach. Stefanski has helped him with confidence, his self-criticism and internal dialogue. Roddick has also seemingly benefitted from his marriage to model Brooklyn Decker.

Will Roddick be confident and play well this year at the U.S. Open?

Excerpts from the New York Times (August 30, 2009)

For more on Peak Performance, go to The Handbook of Peak Performance.

To request access to my mental conditioning coaching tool, click on Peak Performance eCoach.

Gisela Dulko: Relaxes and Wins at Wimbledon

"I definitely got a bit nervous at 5-4. I could feel my legs shaking, and I just said to myself, 'Tranquila'. I knew that it was a vital game."

--Gisela Dulko, upset winner at Wimbledon, against former champion Maria Sharapova.

.

WIMBLEDON, England — Unseeded Argentine Gisela Dulko upset former champion Maria Sharapova in a suspenseful 6-2 3-6 6-4 victory in the second round at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

Sharapova, ranked 60, was still suffering with a shoulder injury. Gisela Dulko, ranked 45th, a slender 24-year-old Argentine veteran, was the latest second-tier player to seize the opportunity and beat Sharapova.

In her first match on Centre Court, Dulko jumped out to a 6-2, 3-0 lead. To her credit, she then managed to shake off the loss of seven straight games and recover early in the third set and then hold on through the final game, finally managing to serve out the victory on her fifth match point.

Dulko called the victory, the most important of her career.

"It's the biggest win of my career because she's a great champion and on Centre Court in the most important tournament in the world. It's a dream day. I played a poor second set but I kept fighting in the third. I was really nervous at the end. I didn't want it to go to 5-5 because she competes right to the very end."

Rivalry or Respect: Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal

"People forget it's not only about forehands and backhands. Both these guys display character you don't always see in big-time athletes. Look at Michael Vick and the steroid-users in baseball to see how poorly some represent their sports. Tennis is lucky to have this duo at the top."

--Chris Evert, publisher of Tennis magazine and former championship woman tennis player, discussing the significance of the mutual respect within the rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Excerpt taken from Tennis.com (April 2009).

Venus Williams on Mental Mindset: Relaxing the Need to Be Perfect

"I think I'm definitely at my best now.

"I think I understand the game more. Trying different kind of shots, too, lately. Trying to add some variety.

"I think the Wimbledon win helped me a lot to change my mentality, to realize not everything had to be perfect all the time.

"That's helped me -- if I don't have a perfect practice, I don't get really upset about the whole tournament. I think that helps me to relax."

--Venus Williams, five-time Wimbledon champion and Olympic gold medal womens' doubles winner in Beijing, discussing the importance of confidence and relaxation after her third round victory at the U.S. Open on Saturday, August 30, 2008.

Excerpt from Reuters.com 8/30/2008.

Trying to Improve by Overcoming Emotions

At the Australian Open in January of 2008, Janko Tipsarevic extended Roger Federer, then the No. 1 player in the world, to the brink of defeat before losing, 10-8, in the fifth and last set.

In the process, he was able to reveal weaknesses in Federer’s game that other players, included Novak Djokovic, who defeated Federer in Melbourne, and others have since gone on to further expose and fully exploit.

“I would like to think that that match helped some of the players see this guy is vulnerable. Even though I lost, it helped me realize I can beat anybody. My first problem is myself. I’m not blaming anybody else.

“I’d love for my progress to go a little bit faster. I’m in my prime. There are no excuses that I’m young or something like that.

"You will have good results when you see these top players are not as good as you think they are in your head.”

--Janko Tipsarevic, who after finishing 2007 ranked #52, rose to a career-high #33 in May of 2008.

Nonetheless, thus far, Tipsarevic has not yet mastered the skill of "mind over matter." He sustained an injury in the first round of the 2008 U.S. Open and had to retire.

Excerpts from the New York Times, 8/28/2008.

Professional Tennis: Pressure to Stay on Top

"In tennis, they don't consider anyone ranked 10. If you're the 10th-best baseball player or pro football player, you're considered pretty special. If you're the 10th-best tennis player, you're nothing."

--Gardnar Mulloy, member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, referring to the talk about Roger Federer and the chances of him "coming back."

Excerpts from the New York Times 8/25/08.