Mental Skills Used By World Class Tennis Players
Lessons to be learned from James Blake
By Simon Grieve LTA Performance Coach and Procompare Co-Founder
Setting the scene: After back-to-back 1st RD indoor losses in San Jose and Memphis, James Blake rebounded with his fifth career ATP title in Las Vegas in March 2006, defeating No. 10 Hewitt in a three-set final. From here Blake competed in Indian Wells with the possibility of breaking into the top 10 for the first time.
These tennis video clips are taken from his press conference immediately after his first round match against American Wild Card Sam Querry. I was fortunate to sit courtside at this match and was amazed at the level of tennis Querry produced in the first set; equally I really enjoyed seeing Blake handle the pressure of losing the first set 6-1 in which he was thoroughly outplayed.
Blake eventually came back to win the match 1-6 6-1 6-1 and went on the reach the final, losing to Federer. He broke into the top ten and ended the year at a career high of No.4
James Blake Tennis Video Clip #1
In this tennis video clip James Blake shares experience and advice for juniors who lose the first set, panic and then struggle to keep their mind in the present.
Q. What happened in the first set, did you start slow?
Blake accepted that Querry had started at an incredible
level. He compliments his performance and realised that if Querry kept his
performance at such a high level it would be tough to beat him.
Blake understood that even though the rankings of the two players were not
close, Querry was a quality player, capable of playing great tennis. He has
a great ability of keeping his thoughts positive and rarely do you hear Blake
make negative remarks about his own game.
Blake believes he did a good job during the change
over after the first set. He did not get down on himself and did not panic.
Experience tells him that just because he lost a set to a wildcard, it doesn’t
mean it is the end of the world (wild cards can play well as well).
Blake guesses that Querry started thinking about what he was doing and how well he was playing, perhaps this future thinking took him away from concentrating on the process and staying in the present. Nevertheless, Blake shows true class and compliments Querry’s talent commenting that it is great for American tennis that there is a very talented up and coming junior on the scene.
Click here to watch James Blake 2
'What mental skills did you use when you went to the change over at 6-1 down'?
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