The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s NEW Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.
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“It’s not my strokes that fail me; it’s my mental toughness.
I just freak out!”
“Mental toughness is often confused with
emotional toughness.”
My definition of mental toughness in the tennis world is the understanding of strategies, tactics, and patterns. It also includes opponent profiling and problem-solving skills. My definition of emotional toughness is the ability to overcome the onslaught of performance anxieties and outcome-oriented emotional thoughts.
Solutions to match issues begin with understanding the actual cause of the problem. Is the athlete’s above statement: “I just freak-out!” A mental issue or an emotional issue? I would say it is an emotional issue. Because the correct solution is customized to the cause of the problem. I recommend digging deeper into why this particular athlete “freaks out.” Does it involve the above mental categories, emotional categories, or a combination of the two?
It’s important to note that a seemingly unrelated component may be the root of the athletes break down. For example, if an athlete is physically unfit for serious competition, that lack of fitness can cause stroke mechanics to break down, reckless choices in shot selection, and manifest negative emotional outbursts.
Preparing for pressure involves knowing the difference between the mental and emotional components.
