Play your BEST tennis under pressure! - Mental Toughness Lesson

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How would you like to play your BEST tennis in the BIGGEST moments instead of crumbling under pressure? That’s exactly what you’re going to learn how to do as I deconstruct the recent video by Karue Sell from @MyTennisHQ . He had an incredible result in a set against Taylor Fritz, the current world #12, and his reaction to that result speaks volumes about the difference between the mental toughness of world class players and regular, every day ones like you and me.
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#tennis #mental #sports

[@EssentialTennis]

HUGE congrats to Karue @MyTennisHQ for all his recent success on and off the court!

[@kdoublec973]

dat boy gud

[@-Munditimum-]

Special K!

[@39thstreetmedia]

Ian I’d love to hear if you have any thoughts on Karue’s posture/balance. It always sticks out to me that he seems so upright and balanced even when having to scramble.

[@Spiritualmanlet]

I saw karue at a public court several weeks ago. Crazy that guys that good play at the same spots as plebs

[@jonathanchen1026]

Definitely agree with what you said about the comfort zone and leaving it 10-20% of the time consistently to expand your zone.

[@MarcoSolidx]

That’s a good point. I improved a lot my mental toughness by playing more tourney matches but what’s really important is: I changed my mindset. I learned to forgive myself for the misses. Before it was: how can I miss this? Always got right on training Now it is: yes, i am missing every shot and I may miss more, it happens, now I’ll try to get the shot right and if I miss more, it also happens. Just changing this made me improve much more That’s the key point, learn to forgive yourself

[@EssentialTennis]

Marco, that's huuuuuge! Good for you, I'm super proud of you. Keep up the great work!

[@-Munditimum-]

Platinum topic. Karue is just a superbly talented guy with a great mindset even when resting normally. I can see how that calmness oozes into his performance settings. On the other hand you have someone like me, who is his own tough analytical critic. Even when my own camera is recording me (every practice) it can get me overthinking and tight, knowing that I'm going to decompound the footage and isolate the work needed for improvement. Thank you Ian and RT team for your continued delivery of amazing content and serving the tennis community for years. You're a huge part of why I've come back to tennis. Cheers, M

[@EssentialTennis]

❤

[@grimson]

Excellent topic and video Ian! I started USTA tennis 3 years ago at age 54, and I'm constantly amazed by the self-defeating, volatile, timid, and wildly unpredictable mental aproaches of most of my opponents. I was a D1 and then professional soccer player for seven years, and have been a college coach since then, so I have a lot more experience with mental performance and stress management than most recreational players. I'm only an average player, but this has proved to be a massive advantage, as at least 1/3 of my wins are due to the other guys freezing/panicking/choking.

[@Yfranoli]

You hit the nail on the head with this one Ian. Series on how to improve mental toughness. Close the gap between practice and match. This is something prevalent at rec level

[@gerrydc1317]

I follow Karue already and he’s the maaaaan!

[@bmanbusee3812]

Nice vid. But to be honest, Fritz looked like he just woke up and clearly wasn’t playing 100%.😅. Good experience for Karue nonetheless

[@EssentialTennis]

😆.....its possible. Always hard to say for sure if a performance like that is more due to the player themselves or the pressure from their competition.

[@Sinisterg60]

Karue literally said he came out to hit after a late night and hung over....

[@blbartlett2]

One area that interests me in this category is the mind-body connection. As a high school tennis coach, I observe that self-defeating body language and verbalizing (ie "I stink!") tends, more often than not, to lower the level of play. Some kids really struggle with mental toughness, and I'm experimenting with this question: What coaching pointers are most effective at putting them back on the path to positive body language, positive self talk, and smooth play? If I could crack that one I'd solve my number one coaching problem!

[@EssentialTennis]

That's a BIG question, coach! For me, the bottom line is it has to come from the inside - out, not the outside - in. In other words, I don't believe in a "fake it till you make it" approach where you force your players to ACT like they're confident and mentally tough when on the inside the player knows its a show. Instead, you need to enter that conversation that's happening on the inside and walk alongside that player to find out what's beneath the self-defeating beliefs and dialogues in their head. There's something deep and dark that you need to pinpoint and help them heal from before they can be free of the weight they're carrying around. You're going to have to be part psychiatrist to help those players forward, in my opinion. Hopefully that's a little helpful.

[@andresf1984]

I prefer playing with cameras or a crowd, because it forces me to focus and play better. I feel like sort of embarrassed of playing “badly” - if I lose, at least I want to be seen as someone who knows what he’s doing, even though I’m panicking inside 😂

[@GodKnowsITry45]

Same for me. I play better when there are people watching. Otherwise, sometimes I tend to get a little lazy.

[@EssentialTennis]

There's millions of players out there who wish they could say that!

[@andrelima629]

Only Karue and Fritz themselves can honestly say what was playing in their minds but I think this is a spot on topic that is not explored enough. I struggle myself from time to time and I definitely play better when things are going well in my life overall. I believe playing well under pressure comes down to having a healthy mental state, from either a loving childhood or a well managed healing process from the trauma that stems from that place.

[@EssentialTennis]

Dude, I think you're totally correct RE childhood environment. We absorb and embody the messages we were given as little kids and it impacts every part of life, positively or negatively. Being aware of that stuff and working through it is critical for happiness! I'm really curious to hear Karue's thoughts at some point.

[@cks2020693]

what I've leanred to do is everytime I make a mistake I allow myself to have one and only one comment to myself and after that I have to let it go

[@EssentialTennis]

Love it

[@cybergrail]

Ian, I have a question specifically about STRENGTH. Imagine that a tennis player has perfect strokes, footwork, all of it. Imagine that their serve, forehand and backhand look EXACTLY like Federer in his prime, BUT, this player has only 1/2 the muscle strength of Federer. How much would this player's serve speed and groundstroke speed be reduced?

[@DragonFly525]

completely on pace mate

[@EssentialTennis]

Thanks for watching!

[@sandrah3165]

I think that mental toughness is a key component of counterpuncher/pusher success. They are confident and believe that they are going to win. Nothing fazes them. And that why we’re frustrated playing them - “you shouldn’t be this confident with your janky technique!!!” Yet they get ball after ball after ball back patiently waiting for us to lose our patience and go for a winner.

[@EssentialTennis]

YES, you're 100% correct

[@architennis]

In the case of Karue, it helps that he has extremely unjanky technique. :)

[@MarkSansait]

Nice job @essentialtennis using Karue as a good 4.5 NTRP example of how to be mentally tough!

[@BriceBriceBabyy]

Why did you put a clip of mark when talking about high mental toughness? lol im just trolling

[@EssentialTennis]

😆

[@cybergrail]

I am a 30 player and most of my matches I’m pitted against players that are better than me, and I know their rankings, and I know they’re better than me and it scares me. My coach said I should be more relaxed because I have less on the line than a player that is higher rated, but that’s not how it works for me. I am more relaxed, when I am playing a person that I am ranked higher than. How can I get over my fear when I’m playing higher ranked players?

[@EssentialTennis]

Baby steps! Keep pushing yourself a little bit at a time. If EVERY match you play is against way higher ranked players then to be honest you're playing the wrong level/tournaments/whatever. Give yourself some relatively comfortable matches and sessions to build your confidence and then 30-50% of the time leave your comfort zone and play somebody stronger. View it as mental exercise each time you do.

[@cybergrail]

@@EssentialTennis Thank you. I'm going to give that a try. I lose 80% of my matches, but I'm having a bit of trouble finding people of lesser skill than me who are playing USTA or UTR matches. But I know I can.

[@haljam8828]

​@EssentialTennis you say baby steps. Have you watched the show baby steps, so goof?

[@Monsterenergy791]

Now I'm hoping to see Ian Vs. Tiafoe, should really really stretch that comfort zone for at least one player..

[@EssentialTennis]

That's all "panic" all day bro, lol

[@marcosvivoni1944]

why the repost?

[@EssentialTennis]

Different channel, different video, same topic.

[@marcosvivoni1944]

@@EssentialTennis yea, i noticed about 3 minutes in 😅. i liked this one

[@EssentialTennis]

The other one took 8 minutes to make. This one took 7 hours.

[@kdoublec973]

Hats off to Karue. He had pressure for sure but has resilience cause he's used to the presence of the cam and even Fritz more so. I'm sure they'd be comfortable pooping in front of a camera on Onlyfans at this point.

[@ferdinandbautista984]

For me, I have to stay with the game plan.

[@yourstruly2337]

I'd rather take an average player with great mental toughness over a great player with NO mental toughness. Example: Rublev - great serve, great forehand, great conditioning etc etc. Mental toughness: ZERO and thats WHY he cannot win anything at all. In fact, im worried about his overall mental state.

[@EssentialTennis]

Interesting take. Thanks for watching.

[@lyndseyandandrew5771]

Some strong language about a guy who is 6 in the world! He's incredibly consistent and an exceptional competitor. But I think I know what you're getting at. His lows are really low, and scary, and I worry about him too. I hope he can figure out his demons too. I heard a good burnout argument from an analyst. He plays 12 months a year, exhibitions in between tournaments, and may need a reset holiday as a starting point. But the issues seem to go deeper than that.

[@EssentialTennis]

"Making it" as a professional tennis player is waaaaay harder than most people realize.

[@-Munditimum-]

@@EssentialTennis Yeap. I can say that in my day was super tough. I can't imagine how difficult it must be today.

[@dl4703]

Calm down. It was just a casual practice points for Fritz. This guy always talk nonsense.

[@lyndseyandandrew5771]

I think you're missing the point. He's not saying Karue is better than Fritz. He's saying Karue wasn't hindered mentally in this environment, and played well, in a context that your average rec player like me would find terrifying.

[@dl4703]

@@lyndseyandandrew5771 Karue plays him on regular basis so there is no I"M TERRIFIED.....