| Visualization involves developing a rich picture of a | | | | building a picture of yourself as a successful tennis |
| successful tennis stroke and a positive outcome. For | | | | player. This contributes to your positive self-belief and |
| example, you can visualize yourself doing the perfect | | | | enables you to withstand self-doubts and self-criticism. |
| backhand that results in a winning tennis shot. | | | | The more frequently you visualize, the stronger your |
| The richer you can make the image of the successful | | | | self-belief becomes. You will find that without the |
| tennis stroke, the stronger will be the power of | | | | power of visualization, it is very easy for you to |
| visualization and its capacity to build your inner game | | | | entertain self-doubts and weaken your self-belief. |
| of tennis. | | | | Visualization builds self-belief because it replaces |
| Visualization derives its power from its capacity to | | | | self-doubts with a positive perception of yourself and |
| build your positive thinking, your self-belief and your | | | | your tennis ability. |
| self-efficacy. | | | | Visualization builds self-efficacy |
| Visualization builds your positive thinking | | | | Psychologists suggest that one of the central elements |
| To visualize you need to eliminate all negative thoughts | | | | of success is the ability of the successful person to |
| and focus only on the positives. You capture all that is | | | | develop self-efficacy. This is the belief that you are |
| good about a successful tennis stroke and shut out | | | | capable of successfully completing some specific act, |
| any negative images. Negative thoughts can weaken | | | | e.g. producing a winning top-spin lob. |
| your visualization and render it powerless. | | | | Self-efficacy differs from self-belief in that the former |
| When you visualize a successful tennis stroke you | | | | concentrates on a general belief in yourself and your |
| create a rich picture that captures the context, the | | | | tennis ability, whereas the latter focuses on your ability |
| positive aspects of your technique and the outcomes | | | | to perform a specific stroke in a specific situation. |
| of your tennis stroke. You try to hold that image in | | | | Self-belief builds as we build self-efficacy. |
| your mind as a permanent record that can be recalled | | | | Visualization builds self-efficacy because it requires |
| at any time. | | | | you to focus on a specific tennis stroke in a particular |
| Visualization builds positive thinking because it forces | | | | context and with a particular successful outcome. |
| you to concentrate on the positive and eliminate the | | | | Visualization, then, has a three-fold effect. It builds your |
| negative. | | | | positive thinking, your self-belief and your sense of |
| Visualization builds self-belief | | | | self-efficacy. Through these three benefits, visualization |
| When you visualize a successful tennis stroke you are | | | | helps you to develop the inner game of tennis. |