Improving Your Tennis Mental Toughness
Is 17 year old Melanie Oudin the real deal? Most experts, such as Brad Gilbert think so. Read on to discover her biggest weapon…
I’m sure you’ve heard about Melanie Oudin’s remarkable 3-set wins in which she made big-time comebacks against a few top players in the world.
How is she’s pulling out those matches? Is she that talented or skilled? Or is it sheer grit and determination?
To beat the top players, it’s all of the above. But I left out her most important weapon–and it’s not her ability to run down balls consistently–it’s her mental toughness!
“I think the biggest weapon can be mental toughness. It doesn’t have to be a stroke or a shot or anything like that. If you’re mentally tough out there, then you can beat anyone. I think that’s what I really did well today and I’ve done in my past matches. I’m so focused and I fight super hard. So it’s not going to be easy to beat me or I’m not going to back down at all,” said Oudin.
What is mental toughness in tennis?
Mental toughness includes the mental skills that help you stay focused, confident, and composed under adversity or pressure. Mental toughness allows you to realize your talent in matches.
I saw the opposite of mental toughness when Oudin beat Petrova in the 4th round of the US Open. Petrova was inconsistent. She wavered from moments of brilliance to plain choking.
Oudin definitely showed more mental toughness. Mental toughness can help you win when you and your opponent have the same skills or talent level.
Are tennis players born with mental toughness?
According to Oudin, it’s a leaded skill…
“I don’t think I was born with mental toughness. But I’ve learned to do that. I mean, that’s how I’ve been for a long time. You know, all the years of training, my coach pushing me so hard, just getting through years of ups and downs and everything. I’ve learned to fight super hard,” said Oudin.
What mental game skills do you have to master to gain more mental toughness?
- The ability to be proactive with you confidence and keep it under adversity
- The ability to focus in the present and not get sidetracked by distractions
- The ability to play freely with expectation or pressure
- The ability to let go of mistakes and stay confident, composed after errors
- The ability to accept that you are human and can’t perform perfectly
- Playing for yourself and not paying attention to what others think
If you want to learn these critical mental skills to improve your on-court mental toughness and many more, I suggest you grab a copy of my new Tennis Confidence CD program.
Tennis Confidence CD and Workbook Program
Related Tennis Psychology Articles
- Why Improve Your Mental Toughness Skills
- Mental Toughness Over Mistakes
- Vasilis Mazarakis on Mental Toughness in Tennis
- Download our a FREE Tennis Psychology Report
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Perhaps we should wait until she wins even one tournament before continuing the hype? She caught some players on bad days. Since the Open her results have not been good.