Looking forwards….onward and upwards!
The Australian Open feels a long
time ago already, although it’s only been just over a couple of weeks! I was
pleased Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova did so well. Kvitova was runner-up
(taking her to world number 2) and Pliskova was a semi-finalist (taking her to world
number 5).
Pliskova is playing great tennis
with her new all-female coaching team. She has hit upon an important aspect of
being on the tour: it’s not enough to be great in practice, it’s about taking
your form in practice into your matches1. How does one do that? I can
identify with her description of the frustrations you can feel in matches. It’s
not experience-based because even Pliskova has suffered from it and I think it’s
something we all suffer from at every level of the tour. Two main problems,
which Pliskova talks about in her AO QF post-match press conference, are
negative thinking and playing less aggressively as a result. When tennis
players talk about playing aggressively, they don’t mean what is usually meant in
common usage. It doesn’t convert into an equivalent approach in daily life or
non-sporting activities. It’s a technical term in sport for an approach to
match play which maybe is not practised enough, which is perhaps where the
problem lies. Excellent examples of aggressive play this year are the AO SF between
Nadal and Tsitsipas and the AO final between Nadal and Djokovic. In his
semi-final, Nadal did a masterclass on aggressive play leaving Tsitsipas
bemused and confused. Unfortunately, in the final, Nadal was on the receiving
end of aggressive play from Djokovic who was sublime in how he defeated Nadal. Both
Nadal and Djokovic had the same aggressive game plan, but Nadal being a clay-courter
can slip into a more defensive style of play giving Djokovic the edge on the AO
hard court. If men’s matches were played like these two superb matches, I might
even tune into men’s tennis occasionally!
I did practise how to do match
play and did practice-matches but once in a match, it feels very different. I don’t
suffer from nerves, so that wasn’t the reason. I’m an all-court player, so it
takes longer to achieve a polished performance under match conditions. So it
was partly because I have a wide variety of shots to choose from, including ‘creative’
winners which even take me by surprise! And partly because I caught myself
having big discussions with myself in my head between points, for instance,
about my racquet grip: Should I change how open or closed my racquet face is to
reduce unforced errors? When it comes to a practical skill, such as sport, over-thinking
isn’t helpful! Although, even so, how much to debate with yourself mid-game varies
between sports. For instance, in golf, you can stand, think, prepare before all
shots. Negative thinking, however, is something everyone suffers from and for
tennis players, it can spread out beyond the match into tennis practice and
off-court preparation. I discovered that staying positive during tennis matches
was a demanding skill (quite different from staying positive in daily life)
even though I was taught not to get down on myself during practice right from
the start. So once I started on the tour, I built on it, going up a gear by
reading some advanced sport psychology for players. Having already studied pure
Psychology at A level it was something I already had an interest in and enjoy. It’s
very common for all tennis players to attempt to implement sport psychology for
matches but it’s more effective if internalized at an early age ie as a child. I
wonder whether playing the junior circuit disrupts the natural positive outlook
children possess, impacting on their sport psychology early on. It’s
interesting that Osaka and the Williams sisters didn’t play the ITF junior
circuit and are tougher as a result. However, it may be due to individual personality
differences too. Sharapova was a very successful junior player and I think is
possibly the most positive thinking player on tour. She holds the key to playing
aggressive tennis regardless of the score and to staying positive both during
and after the match, win or lose. It’s something I’ve always admired about her
ever since I came across her at her first Birmingham Classic WTA tournament in Edgbaston,
UK.
Talking of positivity, only a few
months ago, Kvitova had given up hope of regaining her previous Grand Slam
form. Yet here she was, suddenly runner up at the first Grand Slam of the year!
Despite this, in her post-match press conference, she was down on herself,
thinking she hadn’t played aggressively enough in the final even though the
score shows there was hardly a hair’s breadth between them. Kvitova said it
would take her time to get over the loss. I can understand that, especially straight
after a match, it’s a natural reaction to losing after psyching yourself up to
win. However, the positives of how brilliantly she played far outweigh the
negative of losing. So, going into her next Grand Slam, she would ideally
harness some additional sport psychology ideas to help her bounce back faster.
That way, the AO final won’t play negatively on her mind but, instead, she can
draw inspiration from her outstanding play to look forward to ‘going for it’
again in the rest of the Slams!
Fingers crossed both Kvitova and
Pliskova win a Grand Slam this year!
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