Someone once told me that “tennis is only 20% physical, the rest is all mental.” Honestly, I disagree with this statement, and here’s why: based on what I have learned from playing tennis for a decade and a half, there is no way of separating the physical from the mental. The physical and mental aspects of the game are certainly unique from one another, but they cannot be put into separate, independent categories. We must understand the interaction between the physical and the mental, as well as the effects that they have on one other, in order to fully grasp the experience of a tennis player.
The complexity of the brain is what makes humans such advanced organisms. A significant feature of the brain that defines human behavior is the effect that past experiences have on how we act in the present. Everything that we do is connected. In a sense, how we behave is a physical manifestation of what goes on in our brain, and every action that we take is heavily influenced by our brain activity. This basic psychological idea is highly applicable to sports performance. In my opinion, not only does the mental game play an important role in performance; it dictates it. Nowhere is this more clear than in a phenomenon that I call the cycle of confidence.
Before we get into what I mean by the cycle of confidence, let’s first define our terms: what is confidence? This may sound like a silly question, but it is something that I have thought about for a long time now. Everyone knows what confidence feels like, but how exactly can you define or quantify it?
Do you ever realize a pattern with athletes’ performance? Have you ever heard sports commentators say things like “wow, this player is on fire” or “this player has been in a slump for a while now”? Did these players just happen to perform very well or very poorly for long periods of time? Or are there other factors that we need to consider? This is where the cycle of confidence comes into play.
When a player is “on a roll” (meaning that they are playing at peak performance for an extended period of time), it may seem from the outside that their physical capabilities are driving them to success. While physical factors are certainly making an important contribution, it is the mental game that is allowing them to perform to the best of their ability. You can think of it like a snowball rolling down a hill. Once they have gained confidence in their game, they feel unstoppable. In this case, their past experiences have made them feel good about their game, which is why they are able to reproduce that high level of performance. Due to this heightened level of confidence, they are able to transfer their quality play on the practice court to the match court, which propels them to win more and more matches. Winning leads to more confidence, and more confidence leads to more winning. This is what I call the positive cycle of confidence, which is where every tennis player (and every athlete) wants to be.
Now, let’s look at it from the other side: when a player is “in a slump” (meaning that they are playing poorly for an extended period of time). Perhaps from the viewpoint of a spectator, the player seems to be struggling with their physical performance. In reality, however, it is their mental state that is holding them back and letting them down. A mental block is preventing them from performing at the highest level and reaching their full potential. The same snowball analogy applies here. Once that snowball gains ground, it takes a lot of time and effort to turn the tide and get back on track. A lack of confidence can cause mediocre performance on the practice court. Even if the player manages to still play decently in training, it is much more difficult for them to translate that performance into quality match play. A lack of confidence can lead to losing, which in turn can lead to decreased confidence. This is what I call the negative cycle of confidence, which is where no athlete ever wants to be. But unfortunately, even the greatest athletes at some point in their careers find themselves in these difficult situations, where they struggle to get out of these negative cycles of confidence. But what makes the Big Three (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic) so great is their ability to have fought their way out of their negative cycles of confidence. They always find their way back into the positive cycles, which is why they have managed to stay at the top of the game for so long.
The positive and negative cycles of confidence represent the best and worst of a tennis player’s mental game, respectively. Based on my experience, it is hard to articulate the difference between feeling a high level of confidence and feeling a lack of confidence. When I am confident on the court, I feel like my effort is rewarded with great results. Essentially, I get a great bang for my buck. Things just happen naturally. My movement is strong, my strokes are clean, my shot selection is sharp, my execution is immaculate, my timing is on point, and I do whatever it takes to win important points. On the other hand, when my confidence is a bit shaky, all of these things can be off, which can make my game plan difficult to execute. These ups and downs are a part of an athlete’s journey, which is what makes sports such a special experience.
As always, I cannot write a tennis article without connecting it to life away from the court. The cycles of confidence are an integral part of our mindset in every aspect of life. But as I mentioned earlier, neither of these cycles last forever. Unfortunately, positive cycles of confidence can get interrupted. The good news is that negative cycles can be broken as well. But it takes hard work, discipline, and perseverance to make your way out of the negative cycle and back into the positive cycle, which can be applied both on and off the tennis court.
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