“Hard-fought, dragged out tennis matches often become stressful. We want to win but fear we might not. One means of escaping the pressure to win is by making excuses. As bad as losing is, it doesn’t seem so bad if it’s not our fault.
If you feel an excuse coming on, bite your lip, and resist talking about it. And by all means resist thinking about it during play or feeling sorry for yourself. Put it out of your mind or work around it. If you want to win the match you will need all your mental faculties focused on playing better. Lamenting your problems will simply distract and weaken you.
Sigmund Freud pointed out that defense mechanisms like rationalization (in this case, excuses) are normal and often serve useful and protective purposes. Unfortunately, competitive tennis is not a normal situation, and the useful purposes they provide do not include winning matches or engendering respect from opponents or bystanders. Successful players resist making excuses by consciously recognizing the real issues on court and using the rational, practical parts of their brains to keep themselves on track.”
Allen Fox
To read the fulle article, visit Allen Fox’s website at allenfoxtennis.net. He is a noted tennis author, former top 10 player, and ex coach of Pepperdine University.
His books are extraordinary and you’d love the one pictured here and the classic…If I’m The Better Player, Why Can’t I Win?
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