| It is well known that to be a great tennis player you | | | | Finally, now you have your plan, start working towards |
| have to use your mental as well as your physical skills. | | | | achieving it. |
| These tennis mental skills are as vital in terms of your | | | | SMART Goals |
| tennis training as hitting forehands and backhands. | | | | The best way to make goals more powerful is to use |
| Let's be honest, the more successful players are | | | | the SMART mnemonic. |
| mentally tougher than the others! | | | | SMART stands for: |
| Is it a fluke that Federer and Sampras have so many | | | | S Specific (e.g. I want to improve my tennis rating from |
| titles and Safin so few for a player of his ability? | | | | 6.2 to 5.2 NOT I want to improve my tennis. |
| What do people mean when they say Nadal is so | | | | M Measurable (you must be able to measure exactly |
| mentally tough? | | | | whether you are reaching your targets or not. |
| Can your mind game get you through matches? | | | | A Attainable (can you eally win all 4 Grand Slams this |
| Is your mental approach more important than than | | | | year?) |
| your technique? | | | | R Relevant (e.g. improving your 1st serve % WILL help |
| One of the most powerful tennis psychology skills is | | | | your game but mowing the lawn on a regular basis wil |
| that of goal setting. | | | | not!) |
| Goal setting is a powerful way to turn your tennis | | | | T Time-bound (Give yourself an exact date to do |
| vision of the future into reality. By knowing exactly | | | | things by as this will stop you wasting time!) |
| what you want to achieve you will be able to | | | | PLEASE NOTE - As you make progress please don't |
| concentrate all of your efforts in the right directions as | | | | react wrongly to any goals that you don't achieve. |
| well as being able to quickly spot any distractions that | | | | These are NOT failures! |
| may pop up. | | | | Because everything you do provides you with valuable |
| Also, you will find that well-set goals are very | | | | feedback, you just have to learn to use this feedback |
| motivating. | | | | you get to re-align your goals as necessary. You really |
| Your self-confidence will explode as you start setting | | | | need to realise that this is a normal process that you |
| and achieving goals and get nearer to your overall | | | | must follow. |
| target. | | | | By using the above system to set your goals followed |
| How To Do Goalsetting | | | | by regularly checking progress and making any |
| First create your "big picture" of what you want to do | | | | adjustments necessary you will find yourself hitting |
| with your tennis. | | | | your tennis targets and your tennis goals on a regular |
| Second, break these down into smaller and smaller | | | | basis - NO QUESTION! |
| chunks that become weekly goals. | | | | |