¶ Introduction and Tiebreaker Challenges
Hi, welcome to another episode of the Tennis Psychology Podcast. I'm joined with Jacqueline Ellis, one of our mental performance coaches at Peak Performance Sports. Today we're talking about unique challenges for tennis players. In this episode, we're going to talk about your mindset for tiebreakers, which is often a big challenge for tennis players. This is the Tennis Psychology Podcast.
So, Jacqueline, a lot of players get freaked out, for lack of a better term, about playing tiebreakers because obviously tiebreakers are very important.
Whether it's a first set tiebreaker or maybe it's a super tiebreaker where they go to 10 points. The finality of it becomes a real challenge. What have you seen with tennis players and tiebreakers and how do they tend to... choke on those yes i think that is a great word to describe a lot of tennis players and what's going on in the tiebreakers they do tend to choke and underperform they think that it's over
And because they know the tiebreaker goes by so fast, it's like they either don't come up with a game plan or they freeze or they're too focused on what the opponent is doing in the tiebreaker instead of their own game plan. Yeah, I've been watching a little of the Australian Open that's started recently, and much different mindset, I think, for a seven-point.
versus for a 10 point, which would be a third set for the women's, which I was watching. If you get off to a good start, like that is huge in the tiebreaker world, right? Especially for a seven point tiebreaker. Yes, big difference in the 7-point versus the 10-point. And that could go either way. They could start the tiebreaker doing really well, winning those first few points, and then get comfortable. Or... they or they might take off with that.
¶ Mindsets: Safe vs. Aggressive Play
But a lot of times they get comfortable and they get too excited and they think about the finish line before they're there. So we probably have players that are going to play too safe. Then we have players that maybe are, as you said, overexcited and playing too aggressive. Have you seen those mindsets with your tennis players? And then ultimately, what's going to happen when they're in that frame of mind?
So the players who are going to play it too safe, you really don't have that luxury to play it safe in a tiebreaker. Okay, there aren't a lot of points and more times than not your opponent is going to be coming at you aggressively in that tiebreaker You don't have the luxury to play it safe now the players who are playing overly aggressively they're gonna be hitting balls out. Balls are gonna be flying. It's not going to be controlled enough.
to win you points. You're going to lose your game plan, you're going to be distracted, you're going to get frustrated when the balls are flying out, and that's not helpful either. Well, in the junior tennis world, they get instruction. You know, they can get instruction before they go into that tiebreaker. Let's say it's a third set tiebreaker, for example. If you were there on court and you were able to instruct your tennis player about...
their mindset for that tiebreaker, where would you start? First thing I would encourage them to do is assess what's been going on in the match. What is working for you and what has not been working? Do a quick little assessment. You know, maybe one or two points. And then I might remind them, you know, hey, points are going to go by fast. Start the tiebreaker aggressively and stay aggressive point by point. Stick with the game plan that's been working. So you want them more in...
an aggressive mindset than in just like a play it safe mindset. Yes. I find that most players are tempted to play it safe because they don't want to lose points and they don't want to lose the tiebreaker so if we can get them in a more aggressive mindset i think that would better benefit them in that situation so what's changing then do you think, from the match?
to the tiebreaker. I'm specifically referring to this aggressive mindset. What does it mean to be aggressive and are they being more aggressive or are they just continuing the style they had before the tiebreaker? So how would you define that? So most tennis players in a tiebreaker are going to want to, quote, just get the ball back. Just get the ball in.
So I'm encouraging them, you can continue to build your point, but I want you looking for the moment where you want to attack or go for your winner. So there's an added element of attack here. It's not just... getting the ball back. Yeah, and you're not trying to hit a winner off the first ball, right? Right, right. So you're being patient. And I tell my athletes, you can be patient and be aggressive at the same time.
You can do both. And I would imagine it's going to be that the strategy is going to be around the opponent as well, whether they're more of a pusher or they like to hit winners on you.
¶ Treat Each Point Equally
really quickly. I assume that's going to be a big part of it, how you're going to play it as well. So what other general mindset? One of the things that I talk about with tennis players is, look, a point is a point is a point. Just like we talk about when it's deuce, add in, add out, don't label it as add in, add out, deuce. I mean, that doesn't do you any good. Just play the point.
I think tennis players make those points more important for them and then leads to that choking response or that over-aggressive or playing too safe, as we talked about. Right. So I like my tennis players to do the same thing is treat it as a point, as a point, as a point. If you get to six, six. It's not like, shoot, you know, it's 6-6. All of a sudden, whoever wins the next couple of points is going to win. It's just play the next point. Treat each point with equal...
importance. I know very hard if you're in a tiebreaker or if you're add in or add out. Certainly. Yeah, I agree, especially because they're calling the scores. So sometimes it is difficult to forget that and simply play the point. But if you can get focused on how you want to play out that point. then that will better benefit you as well. Yes, great. This is the Tennis Psychology Podcast. If you want more information, more podcast videos, tons of articles, jump over to Sports Psychology Tennis.
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