Listen to the Voices

A Personal Journey to Mental Toughness

By Simon Grieve B.Sc.

LTA performance Coach and Procompare Joint Founder

No, you are not going mad, we all have conversations going on in our minds, discussions about past, present and future events. These conversations can be very powerful and may have positive or negative connotations that can really affect the way we act or perform in certain situations.

How does this affect us on the tennis court?

As a tennis coach who USED to play competitively (at an American university and on the satellite tour) I USED to have great awareness of the pressures felt during matches (unfortunately the mental side proved to be my greatest hurdle). For the past 10 years I have coached full time and have lived on the memory of what it felt like to be under pressure and how it affects technique. Subsequently, I delivered my advice to the players I have coached, nevertheless, as the years have gone by, my memory of the emotions felt under pressure have faded. I have realised that in order to maintain and improve my coaching ability, I MUST feel these emotions again!

Over the past four months I have started to compete again and the effect it has had on my coaching has been dramatic.

What I have learnt

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