What Can a Tennis Player Learn from Watching Football?
Plenty! Tonight on the Sunday night football game, the Denver Broncos went into the halftime locker room with a 24 point lead. And then they lost the game 34-31 after playing a horrendous second half. I cringe every time Denver goes into the locker room with a large halftime lead! Because I know that it is almost humanly impossible to stay at the top of your game when you have a big lead. Tennis coach Ken Kresey talks about this phenomena in his book “Coaching Tennis”. And to make matter worse, your opponent almost can’t help playing better. What’s to lose?
How many times does a tennis player jump out to a big lead, only to see it evaporate and then a real struggle begins. And half the struggle is for the player who was ahead to get his “mojo” back. It’s easy to get discouraged and kick yourself when you let this happen to you. You blow a big lead, get nervous, then negative, and then the match that got you had the big lead in is no longer there. You are no longer having fun!
One of the most important things that I had to learn as a tennis player was how how to play with a lead.
For a long time, I would start out great, then get tentative, then negative as my opponent started playing better. I had to learn to not let the score influence how I played. It was only then that I was able to win consistently.
Kresey calls it managing the momentum of the match, and doing just hat will make all the difference in your tennis matches. Here’s a real easy trick: Next time you have a big lead, try to imagine that you are down a set, and that you have to play your very best just to stay in it. It’s a simple trick yet effective.
Here’s another strategy that Kresey also talks about – having to do with managing the momentum within a game. Try this some time. When you are up 40-15 or 30-0, get real stingy and make your opponent really work to earn a point. DON”T adopt the mentality that it’s okay to give him or her a point. Just the opposite. Make sure they really earn that point. When they see what they have to do to get that first point, and they’re still behind, they may very likely just start thinking that “ wow, that mountain is mighty high! May not be able to climb it! I had to work that hard and there’s still a long way to go….” When you adopt this stingy attitude it does a couple of things. First, it takes your mind off the score and gives you a goal! That alone is worth a lot! Players who have been there will understand what I’m talking about. Kresey calls this a “breakdown” point. You are breaking down your opponents will! And once you do that a few times, you just may have secured the match. But don’t think that, continue to be stingy. Remember, you are not just battling your opponent, you are battling your own inner self.
Good luck, let me know how it goes!
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