3 Characteristics of Mentally Tough Tennis Players

By Kyle Mollison, USPTA

Mental toughness is one of the most important attributes of a successful tennis player, however mental toughness is also one of the hardest things to teach. Check out 3 attributes that all mentally tough tennis players exhibit:

1 – Play to Win, instead of Playing to Not Lose

As soon as the idea of losing enters your mind on a tennis court you add another opponent to the equation that you need to beat: yourself. On those key points, don’t play to simply not lose that point, play to win that point. Will you win 100% of those points? Nope. But you if you lose that point your opponent had to earn it.

2 – Confidence is Key

If you walk onto a court thinking that you don’t deserve to be out there, to be frank you won’t play like you do. Whether you’re playing up a level, or just a particularly tough opponent, know that you belong out there with them and you will play like you do. It’s as simple as that.

3 – Positivity to a Fault

The most mentally tough players are optimists. There are very few players that can use negative emotions to focus themselves to a positive outcome. The great majority of players need to use positive emotions to bring themselves to a positive outcome. In short: find the positives during the match and you will always have a shot.