Federer Uses Mind Tennis to Make His Age Just a Number

March 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Federer Uses Mind Tennis to Make His Age Just a Number. Wikimedia by ForsterFoto

When Roger Federer turned 30 years of age last August his tennis game seemed to be slowing down and the talk was that maybe he was going to retire. But Federer uses mind tennis to make his age just a number. After he turned 30, one of Federer’s best winning runs began. It up to 15 winning matches in a row at this point, and his mental confidence seems to be at an almost all-time high.

Negative talk and banter can affect an athlete’s mental state, his state of mind. Our state of mind is important in all areas of life, not just tennis or other sports. Our mental state and level of mental confidence affect our relationships at home, school, or work. They are also very important in determining our success in life.

Have you ever wondered why so many successful athletes are also successful in careers after sports? I’ve notice that many retired NBA and NFL players have very successful careers after sports. We may not have the opportunity to play sports at a professional level, but we can still use the principles of the mental game, mind tennis in our daily lives to greatly increase our chances of success in anything we want to tackle.

The indiatimes.com in reporting on Roger Federer’s unconcern about his age had this to say:

Federer Uses Mind Tennis to Make His Age Just a Number

Swiss superstar Roger Federer is setting his sights on more Grand Slams, after winning his third-straight tournament on Sunday in Indian Wells.

The 16-time Grand Slam winner had to fight off a cold and a strong field to capture his fourth Indian Wells title.

That last sentence is just another example of using the principles of mind tennis to stay in a winning mental state. Other players did not do as well as Federer, but Roger fought back hard enough to come out a winner. When you are not feeling good physically, it is harder to feel good mentally. But Roger did it and he came out the winner.

Federer has won 15 straight matches, three consecutive tournaments and six of his last eight. His last lost this year was to Isner in Davis Cup in February but he avenged that by beating 11th seeded American on Sunday.

“It’s nice taking it all the way and getting the victories,” he said. “I was just extremely proud of my performance.” [...]

Many people were starting to write Federer off last season when he turned 30 and his game dropped off a bit. Last year was the first time since 2002 that Federer did not win at least one Grand Slam title.

But age is just a number for Federer.

“Some people don’t understand how you can play tennis at 30 years old which is shocking to me because normally that’s still when you’re young enough to play some of your best tennis,” Federer said.

“I think I’m showing that since I turned 30 in August last year. That’s basically when my run began.

“But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what people say.” Original here.

Read the last sentence above – “But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what people say.” In real life, there will be many who are negative, who will try to pull you down to their level. Some of these people will even be in your family. They probably don’t know what they are doing, they are just trying to be helpful.

However, their negative comments can rob you of your dreams if you let them. Remember, Federer uses mind tennis to make his age just a number. You can make the negative comments you hear that are about you of no-effect. Just keep focused and persevere.

Filed Under: Mental Tennis, Mind Tennis, Roger Federer, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Federer Used Mental Confidence to Advance in the Tennis Standings

March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Federer Used Mental Confidence to Advance in the Tennis Standings

Federer used mental confidence to advance in standings at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells with his win over Isner. Times in the past, there has been speculation regarding Federer’s age and whether or not his tennis career is done and over with. But with his convincing win over Isner in two straight sets, Roger is showing the results of his new found mental confidence.

In a post, on February 27, 2012, titled,  Loss of Mental Confidence Cost Federer Majors, I reported that Roger didn’t think he was losing form but that his mental confidence had been lacking over the last months. He thought that he was getting his confidence back and it has been showing the last 6 months or so.

Anders H writing for the bleacherreport.com says that if he can stay the present course and continue as he is, he will definitely be a contender for the No. 1 spot.

Federer Used Mental Confidence to Advance in Standings

The man himself seems to have unfettered belief in his own abilities on a tennis court—and why shouldn’t he? Though he didn’t win the most important tournament over the past six months, he has been the best player in this period winning pretty much everything else.

Federer publicly stated—before winning Dubai and Indian Wells—that he thinks he has a shot at getting back to No. 1 after the US Open. With his three recent wins, a Novak Djokovic who’s looking human again and a Rafael Nadal, who hasn’t won a tournament since last year’s French Open, that shot is no longer a complete long shot.

If we break down the points the top four players have won since the US Open, Federer has a clear lead: [...] Original here.

The four top players, of course, that Anders is talking about are Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Murray.

The other story coming out of Indian Wells, is Victoria Azarenka, claiming her $1 million in prize money for being the winner. Azarenka’s mental confidence seems to be at a high beating Maria Sharapova again.The guardian.co.uk reported:

She broke Sharapova six times on her way to picking up a winner’s cheque of $1m (£630,000) and securing a fourth WTA Tour title of the year.

“Last year was a learning experience for me,” she said. “Every loss I analysed and step by step just built on everything, just daily hard work.

“I had a lot of tough losses last year and so now I’m really trying to turn it around in my favour. I just try to be consistent and professional every day. I never dreamed this would happen.”

After losing another major final to Azarenka, Sharapova was honest in her assessment of both of their performances.

“She’s extremely solid and she makes you work for every point,” she said. “Ultimately I think maybe she forces you to want to do a little bit more than either you should or would want to.”

She added: “I still feel like I just made too many unforced errors at the wrong time and wasn’t solid enough.” Original here.

Azarenka is using not only her tennis skill but is also using mental tennis. Whenever your mind allows it, more of your physical potential is released. In your tennis game, remember how Federer used mental confidence to advance in the tennis standings.

Filed Under: Indian Wells, mental confidence, Roger Federer, Victoria Azarenka Tagged With: , , ,

Isner Uses Mind Tennis to Topple Djokovic at Indian Wells

March 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Isner Uses Mind Tennis To Topple Djokovic At Indian Wells. WikimediaCommons. Emmett Hume

What a surprise for me to learn that John Isner beat Novak Djodovic in a semi-final match at Indian Wells on Saturday. Isner, up to that point had only been ranked at No. 11 in the world.  It looks like the momentum and mental confidence of his Davis Cup win over Federer in Switzerland has continued to propel Isner forward in his matches at the BNP Paribas Open. A big part of winning has to do with your mind, as Isner uses mind tennis to topple Djokovic at Indian Wells.

John Isner is big at 6 ft 9 in tall, and that can give him an advantage, in addition to his powerful serves, some as high as 144 mph. It looks as though Isner is getting a hold on his mental game and as a result, he is doing significantly better. Richard Evans, writing for foxsports.com noted that Isner is not to be “messed with from now on.”

It would be interesting to know what has been going on in Isner’s head these last few month’s. But I bet it has to do with a growing belief that he can beat the big names in men’s pro tennis.

Isner Uses Mind Tennis to Topple Djokovic at Indian Wells

John Isner exploded into the top 10 with a fantastic 7-6 (7), 3-6, 7-6 (5) victory Saturday over world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, lighting up a cloudy day in Indian Wells, Calif., with a truly memorable performance at the BNP Paribas Open to reach his first ATP Masters Series final.

He’ll face Roger Federer, who beat Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-4 in Saturday’s other semifinal. Sunday’s final will be a rematch of last month’s Davis Cup duel in Switzerland — won by Isner.

This time last year, Isner, the 6-foot-9 giant out of the University of Georgia was struggling for form and confidence. Even just a couple of weeks ago in Delray Beach, Fla., where he lost to Kevin Anderson, Isner was bemoaning the fact he had not brought the confidence boost of that Davis Cup victory over Federer back onto the tour with him. [...]

Isner agreed that the 5-4 game in the first set was critical. “It gave me momentum. The first set was really key. I knew I could win after that.”

Djokovic looked like his usual self in the second set, eliminating all the errors and taking it with ominously calm authority on one break. But Isner was not impressed. He continued to believe as he kept stepping up his ace count (it ended at 21, his highest count of the tournament) and answered the crisis of a break point against him in the seventh game with a delivery clocked at 143 mph, the fastest of the match. How’s that for cool? [...]

For Djokovic, it was all a matter of belief on Isner’s part.

“It’s a belief that you can be in the top 10,” Djokovic said. “In the match, he started believing when I played a poor game at 5-4 in the first set. He came up with some great groundstrokes, too. In the end, it could have gone either way, but I thought I played a good match.”

Isner’s attitude had been bullish from the start.

“Going in I knew I had to stay loose and go for my shots,” he said. “I knew I was going to make a lot of mistakes, but I also knew I was going to hit some winners. It was very special when the last ball went by him and I knew I had won the match. It was a weird feeling, a very nice feeling. It’s something you don’t experience every day. So I was trying to take it all in.” Original here.

Everyone has potential. How far that potential will carry them is dependent on their belief, their mental confidence. I am sure that Isner visualized that moment when the winning ball went past Djokovic. How far will Isner’s belief in himself and in his game carry him? We won’t have long to wait.

When Isner plays Roger Federer in the final’s match, we’ll get to see the next step unfold. But note, that Isner used mind tennis to topple Djokovic at Indian Wells.

Filed Under: Indian Wells, John Isner, mental confidence, Mind Tennis, Novak Djokovic Tagged With: , , , , ,

Using Visual Illusions and Perception in Mind Tennis

March 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Using Visual Illusions and Perception in Mind Tennis

Wanting to improve the mental aspect of your tennis game? Have you ever wondered what kinds of things to focus on? Learn to Use visual illusions and perception in mind tennis. Well, some research is being done in that area. Even though most of the application right now involves basketball, there is definitely a way to apply the principles to tennis.

Jessica K. Witt and her coauthors, Sally Linkenauger and Dennis Proffitt have been studying the effects of visual illusions and perception on sports performance and coming up with some findings that you might find helpful in your mind tennis game. Their study was reported in healthcanal.com.

Using Visual Illusions and Perception in Mind Tennis

With the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament set to begin, college basketball fans around the United States are in the throes of March Madness. Anyone who has seen a game knows that the fans are like extra players on the court, and this is especially true during critical free throws.

Fans of the opposing team will wave anything they can, from giant inflatable noodles to big heads, to make it difficult for players to focus on the basket.

But one way a player might be able to improve his chances at making that free throw is by tricking himself into thinking the basket is bigger than it really is. That’s the surprising conclusion of a study forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Psychological scientist Jessi Witt of Purdue University has played sports her whole life. In 2005, she even played on the U.S. National Ultimate Frisbee team, which won the gold medal at the World Games. In graduate school, she started studying how perception relates to sports performance. “You hear about athletes making these comments like, oh, I was playing so well, everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion,” she says. Much of her research has examined this effect—how people who are doing well at a sport seem to see the world differently. Softball and tennis players who are hitting well think the balls look bigger, for example. Original article here.

Notice the last sentence, “Softball and tennis players who are hitting well think the balls look bigger….” and then notice the sentence, “You hear about athletes making these comments like, oh, I was playing so well, everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion,” a little further up.

I think those statements can illustrate principles that could be used in mind tennis. I am sure that top-notch tennis players must consistently use some kind of technique(s) similar to those mentioned to help them with their game, to make it more consistent. Of course, it would be different for each player, whatever they had found worked for them during their play. Using Visual Illusions and Perception in Mind Tennis seems like a valuable skill.

Filed Under: mental strength, Mind Tennis, Visual Illusions and Perception Tagged With: ,

Mind Tennis Helps Azarenka Advance at Indian Wells

March 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Mind Tennis Helps Azarenka Advance at Indian Wells. Wikimedia by ataelw

Mind Tennis Helps Azarenka Advance at Indian Wells when she downed Germany’s Mona Barthel in three sets 6-4 6-7 7-6.  It was a tough one for Azarenka, one she just had to grind out slowly, since the match took three hours. Sports.yahoo.com reported that:

World number one Victoria Azarenka survived an opening-match scare to beat Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6) in a three-hour marathon at the BNP Paribas Open.

The 22-year-old Azarenka appeared headed for disaster, trailing 4-1 in the third set but the unseeded German Barthel could not close the deal.

“It was a survival,” Azarenka said. “She had nothing to lose and I wanted to go for my shots but I hesitated.

“Today my game was not at its best but the most important thing is I won.”

Azarenka arrived in Indian Wells riding a 17-0 match win streak which has taken her to the final of her last five tournaments, but the Barthel made her work to extend her winning run.

It was the third time Azarenka and Barthel have locked horns this season, with the top ranked player beating Barthel 6-2, 6-4 en route to the Australian Open title in January and again 6-1, 6-0 last month in Doha.

“Mona was real motivated to beat me. She played great,” Azarenka said.

Azarenka clinched victory on her second match point of the tie-breaker after coming back from the brink in the third set.

Earlier in the tie-breaker Azarenka allowed Barthel to level it at 4-4 when the top seed delivered her 12th double fault of the match.

The win means Azarenka, who claimed her first Grand Slam title in Melbourne, will face SvetlanaKuznetsova in the third round, who advanced after Swiss Timea Bacsinszky pulled out of their match with a wrist injury. Original here.

Every player has days when they don’t feel great physically, or their body just doesn’t seem to work like it should. On those days especially, you have to rely more on mind tennis to get the end result you want. Those are the days when you have to stay focused on every play, and take advantage of opportunities that present themselves to you during the play.

That’s where training in mind tennis, the mental aspects of competition, comes in. Knowing how to use your mind to improve your game, even though physically you don’t feel up to par (to use a golfing term). Mind tennis helps Azarenka advance at Indian Wells, and stay alive in the tournament.

Filed Under: Indian Wells, mental strength, Mind Tennis, Victoria Azarenka Tagged With: , , ,

Djokovic Uses Mind Tennis to Deal With Pressures On and Off Court

March 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Djokovic Uses Mind Tennis to Deal With Pressures On and Off Court. Wikimedia Commons by Eklektekuria

Novak Djokovic tells reporters that he isn’t unbeatable in men’s professional tennis. Speaking to the press at Indian Wells, CA during the BNP Paribas Open, Djokovic said that he doesn’t consider himself unbeatable even though he is the world No. 1 at the moment. He went on to say that that kind of attitude is out of the question, because he is well aware that one’s winning streak can change very quickly. But Djokovic uses mind tennis to deal with pressures on and off court.

However, he still approaches every practice for an event with a positive mindset, and he tries not to pay any attention to all the speculation as to what his chance are for a calendar year grand slam. As for the talk off court, he doesn’t feel he can influence that at all.

Novak stated that there will always be pressures and speculation regarding the top players and how well they will do, but he said he just tries to ignore it. His focus is on his game and preparing for his next event. The pressure is always there and you just have to make the best of it – stay focused, and committed, and keep your feet on the ground.

Djokovic uses mind tennis to deal with pressures on and off court while competing against the best tennis players in the world at Indian Wells.

Filed Under: Indian Wells, Mind Tennis, Novak Djokovic Tagged With: , , ,

Nadal’s Approach to Mind Tennis

March 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Nadal's Approach to Mind Tennis. Wikimedia Commons by Christopher Johnson

Rafael Nadal’s approach to mind tennis is this. “I don’t think about Novak, I think about myself.” He goes on to say that he isn’t obsessing about beating Novak out of revenge. He said that he has been focusing on getting himself ready for his next tournament and raising the level of his game. Nadal doesn’t live in the past – concentrating on his past tennis failures. That is the way it has to be to maximize the full potential of mind tennis.

If a player focuses on the missed games, the missed matches and tournaments he will find it very difficult to progress beyond these and the level of his / her play will definitely suffer.

The tournament at Indian Wells is underway. In Nadal’s mind there is nothing permanent in tennis, or in life. That means though there may have been missed opportunities in the past, there is always another day. Indian Wells provides the next opportunity for Nadal.

A staff writer for thehindu.com reported on Rafa’s mental approach to tennis by saying that he is eager to get back into competition following his announced vacation after the Australian Open.

Nadal’s Approach to Mind Tennis

But the Spaniard refused to live in the past after his six-hour, five-set defeat by Djokovic. He is buoyed by the fact that nothing is permanent in tennis — and life. “Djokovic has brought tennis to another level,” said Nadal, who last beat number one Djokovic in November 2010, in London. “But no one is forever.

“One player is there for while, then comes one who is better,” said the ten-time Grand Slam champion.

“In two years, five years, it’s gonna’ happen to him, that is history and that is nature. It’s a beautiful part of the game. The victories for everyone have an end.” He added that trying to beat Djokovic again does not drive his career.

“I want to improve for me, not to beat someone. I want to improve my level. If that’s enough to beat Djokovic, fantastic. If not I’ll keep working.

“I don’t think about Novak, I think about myself. I don’t have a spirit of revenge or obsession.” Nadal said he spent his down time at home on Mallorca, training as usual in between relaxing and visiting family and friends in the close-knit island community.

“It’s important to have periods off to work, but you still (have) time to see the results,” said the Spaniard. “The most important part of the season is coming up for me right through Wimbledon. And this is also an Olympic year.

“This is the moment when I have to be ready. Hopefully my work helped me mentally and physically for this tough part of the season.” Original article here.

Nadal, like a true professional has not been moping around following his defeat in Australia but has been using the time to regroup and to work on his level of play. It sounds as though he has also been using the time to refresh and rebuild (if it needed rebuilding at all) his mental confidence, his mental game.

I like Nadal’s approach to mind tennis. It sounds to me like the result of a balanced outlook on life and tennis.  He realizes that if you work hard and have the level of talent needed, that you may get your day in the sun. But the sun will not shine on your forever. Tennis player greats come and go – that’s the nature of life.

Filed Under: mental confidence, Mind Tennis, Rafael Nadal Tagged With: , , ,

Murray Is Still Up Mentally With Mind Tennis

March 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Murray Is Still Up Mentally With Mind Tennis. Wikimedia Commons by Charlie Cowins

From Murray’s comments after the Dubai Open is sounds as though the time he has spent with Ivan Lendl is paying off. Especially when you compare the start he has made in 2012 with the last couple of years. From what he said and how he expressed himself Murray is still up mentally with mind tennis.

Murray feels the next few months will be an important testing time for his mental tennis. Coming up are tournaments in the U. S. He will be playing in the PNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California and the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida. In fact the tournament in Indian Wells started Saturday, March 3. The Sony Ericsson will begin March 21. A lot of eyes will be on Murray to see how he does.

Writing for the telegraph.co.uk about Murray’s performance at the Dubai Open, Simon Briggs poses the question, when is Murray going to do as well in a grand slam? Here’s what Simon had to say:

Murray Is Still Up Mentally With Mind Tennis

Nobody knows the answer, but what we can say is that he is continuing to work on his weaknesses. His start to 2012 probably represents his best start to any season, even if he has still fallen short of that ultimate goal.

“It’s not that often where guys beat top players on back-to-back days,” said Murray afterwards. “It’s not an easy thing to do. But overall it was a good week, perfect preparation for the stretch coming up in America.

“I worked on some things with Ivan Lendl before coming here [and have] just been trying to put them into the matches little by little. This week was a good start.”

Continuing, Murray had this to say regarding his playing in Dubai:

Murray was out, but he wasn’t down, because he remembers how bleak things had been in the early springtime of his last two seasons.

As he said afterwards: “I’m just happy with the week, because at this stage last year I was in a very different position, a different frame of mind.

“It’s a very important period for me, this one coming up,” he added, “because I struggled there [in Indian Wells and Miami] the last couple of years. I’m going to get over there early, get some good practice in.” And off he went, straight to the airport for a night flight to Los Angeles. Original here.

I think men’s professional tennis is exciting right now, with Murray, Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic right there close to the top, all vying for that top spot. It looks as though the time Murray spends with Lendl is beginning to pay off. I am sure there will be ups and downs as the 2012 season moves along, but for now Murray is still up mentally with mind tennis.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Federer Uses Mind Tennis to Win Dubai Open

March 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Federer Uses Mind Tennis to Win Dubai Open

What a turn of events at the Dubai Open this weekend! First of all Andy Murray of Britain beat Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals and then Roger Federer uses mind tennis to win the Dubai Open.

On February 27, 2012, I wrote a post about Federer’s loss of confidence in himself and his game over the last year or so. Some commentators even had Federer over the hill with his game and his career waning. They were speculating when he was going to retire and what he was going to do with his time.

But, Federer said he had suffered some tough fought losses since losing the Australian Open, 2011. However, he doesn’t think he is losing his form. He says he hasn’t been doing well because of a lack of confidence on his part. He said that winning the three titles he has in the last four months has given him a lot of confidence. He said he doesn’t even regret not being able to break Pete Sampras record of being world No.1 for 286 weeks.

Well, his win in Dubai shows that he has his old form and his old confidence, at least for now. Richard Eaton and Michael Casey writing for smh.com.au report that this is Federer’s 72nd career tennis title.

Federer Uses Mind Tennis to Win Dubai Open

Roger Federer treasured the 72nd title of his career after completing a near-perfect week with a victory over Andy Murray in the Dubai Open final.

The 16-time grand slam champion was overjoyed with his 7-5 6-4 win over Murray, who was unable to back up his semi-final defeat of world No.1 Novak Djokovic.

“This is perfect. This is great. Any title is a good one, I’ll tell you that,” Federer said after adding a record fifth Dubai trophy to his collection.

“I have a losing record against Murray, I do believe, and not against Novak … I don’t want to say (beating Murray) means more to me but it’s a beautiful victory.

“It’s such a difficult tournament with so many top-10 players, and Andy having such a huge victory getting to the final.” [...]

In fact, 30-year-old [Federer] has now won five of his past seven tournaments on the ATP Tour, dating back to his indoor triumph at home in Basel last November. Original here.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for men’s professional tennis. Andy Murray now has Ivan Lendl to coach him in his tennis skills but in addition to help him develop his mind tennis game. And Federer is also on a run, having regained confidence in his game. I’m sure that Djokovic is not going to let his game slide, but is going to do all he can to keep his game going at its best. But the news for the day is that Federer uses mind tennis to win the Dubai Open.

Filed Under: Andy Murray, Dubai Open 2012, Ivan Lendl, mental confidence, Mental Tennis, Mind Tennis, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Djokovic’s Mind Tennis Creed: I Am The Hunter

March 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Djokovic's Mind Tennis Creed: I Am The Hunter. Wikimedia Commons by Eklektekuria

Djokovic’s Mind Tennis Creed is I Am The Hunter. Novak Djokovic has declared, “I don’t want to believe that I am the hunted one. I am the hunter.” When you hear a statement like that you have to ask yourself what kind of thinking, what kind of though patterns and experiences went into developing that kind of mental confidence, that kind of attitude about oneself? How did Novak get to that point in his thinking?

You have to consider that you can’t just plant yourself on top of the mountain, so to speak. You get there by practice, by hard work, by focus, by appropriate self-talk, and by more practice. Until you reach the goals you have set for yourself, you will have to dwell at a lower level.

One thing I like about the principles of mental tennis is that so much of it can apply to other areas of our lives, and benefit our live as a result. I think there is a lot we as individuals can learn, not only to improve our tennis game, but also to our lives as a whole.

Even though Djokovic is at the top of the tennis world, he realizes there is more to life than tennis and so he has cultivated interests in other areas beside tennis.

Robin Chatterjee writing in gulfnews.com has some interesting insight into what makes Novak Djokovic who he is. Below are some excerpts from that article.

Djokovic’s Mind Tennis Creed: I Am The Hunter

Djokovic and his family stayed indoors…, at their family home in Serbia, and waited for the Nato jets to finish unloading tonnes of explosives in and around Belgrade during daily sorties — at the height of the conflict in the 1990s. When there was a welcome, but troubled silence outside someone, usually his mother, or father queried, ‘Tennis anyone?” and then they stepped out to practice. They don’t teach you that at Harry Hopman, or Nick Bollettieri.

How can you win against someone who, after facing this kind of pressure in his formative years, has steeled his mind and body into believing that he has everything to win and nothing to lose. Who believes that his success is pre-ordained?

“I always had the highest goals,” said Djokovic, his hands still folded as though he was in confession. “I want to be the best in whatever I do. I wanted to win many Grand Slams, especially Wimbledon which was always in my dreams, and I achieved it in a year’s time. So I am grateful for this and I feel blessed that I had the opportunity and grabbed it when it was presented….

“I don’t want to believe that I am the hunted one. I am the hunter,” he declared. “That’s my attitude: to always be one of the players who is hunting for the trophy. I take every tournament as a new one and I refuse to allow it to be compared to the past ones. That’s the mindset that allows me to perform at my best. It allows me to play in the aggressive style that is characteristic of me. This way I never feel the pressure of defending a title.”

Being resolute for long periods is not always possible, especially for an ascending star. Djokovic constantly tries to fortify his mind by upgrading it with mental security systems that no opponent can penetrate. He becomes the Tour’s definition of Darth Vader revelling in walks on the dark side. Original here.

How does your mind set compare with the little we have learned about Novak’s? If you want to play better in tennis, or do better in any area of life, try to absorb some of the attitude toward yourself, toward your game, or whatever it is that you have goals to achieve. It will stand you in good stead to remember Djokovic’s mind tennis creed: I am the hunter.

Filed Under: mental confidence, mental strength, Mind Tennis, Novak Djokovic Tagged With: , , , , ,
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