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June 2010 Article
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Tennis Server
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Often it takes time to make subtle connections between two principles that seem unrelated, especially in the realm of the mind. For instance, you have momentum in a match and you have self-discipline in your practice sessions. How does one affect the other? What impact does self-discipline have in establishing momentum in a match?
Since you take your mind with you wherever you go, the self-discipline you develop in your weekly practice will become a mental habit that you bring into your matches. How can this help your match play? In your practice sessions you were self-disciplined to continue practicing week after week regardless of the failures, frustrations, and obstacles. This self-discipline you enforce on yourself in practice begins improving your concentration. The key to consistency in tennis is concentration; therefore, when your concentration improves so does your consistency! You become more consistent not only in your practice sessions, but through the failures, frustrations, and obstacles of a match. As a direct result of self-discipline in your practice sessions you become more consistent in your match play. Remember, you bring your mind with you wherever you go! Now, where does momentum in a match fit into this scenario? Well, if you have not yet figured it out, consistency establishes momentum. The consistency you have established in your practice sessions through self-discipline now helps you establish momentum through the ups and downs of match play. You learn that when you are in trouble in a match you must exert self-discipline and reestablish your consistency to get the momentum back. Consistency establishes momentum! As a bonus in your match play you will begin thinking automatically and instinctively from the habits you formed in your practice sessions. But listen carefully, if you have not developed self-discipline through the ups and downs in your practice sessions, then in your match play your only focus will be on the failures, frustrations, and obstacles. You have not conditioned your thinking properly and gaining back momentum will be impossible. THUS THE SELF-DISCIPLINE YOU HAVE DEVELOPED IN YOUR PRACTICE SESSIONS HAS A MAJOR IMPACT ON MOMENTUM IN YOUR MATCH PLAY. Have you ever noticed that the best athletes in the world are the most self-disciplined? Make no mistake about it, the best athletes have not only developed their physical talents through self-discipline, but they have simultaneously molded their thought process right along with it. You can and must do the same! Although your week-to-week practice with repetition may seem insignificant relative to the big picture, this consistent practice has far-reaching mental implications that WILL be the difference between winning and losing a match.
This column is copyrighted by Tom Veneziano, all rights
reserved.
Tom is a tennis pro teaching
at the Piney Point Racquet Club in Houston, Texas. Tom
has taught thousands of players to think like a pro with
his Tennis Warrior System.
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