How To Mentally Prepare for a Tennis Match: An Expert Guide

Why is a Mental Warm Up Important?

We can all agree on the importance of a proper physical warm-up before a match. Failure to do so could lead to injury or a lackluster performance. In a sport like tennis, your mind needs pre-match preparation as much as your body.

Your brain is your body’s mission control, after all. Tennis is a game that requires a high level of mental stamina and perseverance. If your mind isn’t ready, even someone in great shape might not perform their best.

How To Mentally Prepare for a Tennis Match

Step 1: Positive Mental Conditioning

Just like the rest of your body, your mind needs training too. To reach your goals, practice positive thinking off the court to train your brain.

To achieve this, try to think positively about everything, especially your tennis game. If you repeatedly say you’re a great player, your brain will start to believe it.

This is one of the easiest things to do. You can do it while going about your day, and it costs you $0 and very little time. You have nothing to lose so why not give it ago?

Step 2: Visualization

Visualization, also known as “mental rehearsal,” is a powerful process. It involves imagining yourself in certain situations to achieve desired outcomes.

Think of a time when you felt a bad match or loss affected you mentally. Perhaps you kept thinking about it and were afraid it would happen again.

Then you ended up losing your next game. Sometimes you may lose to weaker opponents!

It’s a perpetual cycle and that very first one, replaying in your mind on a loop, is the culprit. Many people go through this, so it’s crucial to learn how to avoid or redirect it. We will delve into the latter shortly; I first want to address the former by pointing out the silver lining.

How To Visualize Your Game of Tennis

Imagine yourself playing well, hitting strong serves, and winning matches with confidence. You can also imagine missing shots, losing, and your rating dropping. As rough as it can be to accept a loss, at least it’s over and done with. You cannot change it. But, you can try to prepare better for your next one.

To do this, start by imagining yourself winning. Then, aim to reach higher levels and give your best performance. You can imagine being in tough situations, like leading in a game but then your opponent catches up.

Feel the tension and nerves as the threat of losing the lead closes in on you. Practice the tactics you plan to use to help you stay calm.

To stay calm during matches, prepare your mind for stressful situations.

To increase your chances of repeating successful shots, picture hitting consistent winners. Add in making a comeback in a set and you begin to build a beneficial mindset.

The more you do this, the more likely you are to realize these positive events in real life. Like the previous tip, this is one to try for the sake of having nothing to lose otherwise. But what if you’re someone who keeps replaying that bad match in your mind, and you can’t escape it?

Defeatist Attitude Getting You Down?

Although it may seem unrelated, it is actually important. If you doubt yourself, you can’t mentally prepare. Sometimes, athletes set goals that are not realistic. For example, they might try to never make mistakes and always be perfect.

This can cause paralyzing self-doubt. And is a self-defeating mindset. Such expectations are impossible for any athlete, especially tennis players.

Not even the most skilled professional is capable of playing a perfect match.

Tennis has a good amount of fault tolerance due to its difficulty. So expecting even near perfection is counterproductive, and unnecessary. Instead, try to be consistent to gain respect from your peers and coaches.

Step 3: Recall your strengths

Think of all the best parts of your game and review them. Imagine using them against your opponent and visualize earning points by doing so.

Remind yourself that your strengths on the court are something to be proud of.

They are excellent resources that you can use to your advantage. For example, your backhand is one of your assets. You should always remind yourself of the huge advantage it offers.

Step 4: Box Breathing

Before a match, it’s common to feel nervous. You can use box breathing to calm your nerves. If this happens often, make sure to schedule extra time for yourself before the match. Find a calm spot to sit alone for about 10 minutes.

Close your eyes or fixate your gaze on a few feet in front of you and do about 10 counts of “box breathing.” This tool is also helpful for people who have trouble sleeping.

Box breathing, or square breathing, means creating a square pattern with your breath.

i) Inhale for 4 counts.

ii) Hold your breath for 4 counts.

iii) Exhale for 4 counts.

iv) Hold your breath for 4 counts.

As you can see from the above 4-step sequence, each full “box” requires a total of 16 counts.

If you can do this for 10 sequences or “boxes”, you will feel more relaxed and focused by the time you finish. Especially if you are able to also focus on the sound and feel of each breath as the air passes in and out of your body.

Engaging your senses helps calm your emotions and awaken your logical thinking. Here’s a helpful tip: Take deep breaths when you feel tense during a match. It can help you relax and feel less tight.

Step 5: Create a Routine!

Your mind is a creature of habit. If you follow these steps and add a routine and trigger, it will remind your brain to focus. Nadal is famous for his pre-match routines. He does an energetic warm-up before going onto the court. He places two water bottles at his bench. Then, he springs to the baseline after the coin toss. For a rec player, you could include things such as: 1) Eating a solid breakfast.

2) Packing your bag.

3) Listening to music that calms or motivates you.

To have a good match, get rid of distractions. Spend 10-20 minutes picturing success and recall what you’re good at.

Before playing doubles, think about how you will react to important situations. Share your plans with your partner.

6) Elevating your energy and body with a physical warm-up routine.

Taking Your Mental Warm-Up to The Next Level

Now that you know what a mental warm-up is and why it’s important, you can make a plan that suits you. Just doing this will improve your game, but to really excel, add it to your tactics.

If you know how tennis strategy and psychology are connected, you tend to win more matches.

You can also work on improving your mental toughness during your matches.

As you know, you can’t control the outcome of a tennis match. You also can’t control a previous match so once it’s behind you, it’s a waste of time to ruminate over it.

But one of the things you CAN control is your mind, which includes how well you prepare it!

Doing so will improve your game and your odds of winning. Before the match, spend 10-15 minutes preparing mentally with the exercises mentioned earlier.

Article by Sarah Cormier