To be a successful tennis player you must possess essential physical and mental skills. If you want to become a world class tennis player and be part of the offer of the best tennis betting sites on LBS.co.uk you definitely must have these skills.
In this article we will try to see what all world famous tennis players have in common and how a tennis beginner can come close to the professionals we see on TV.
Physical Skills
All world class tennis players possess great physical strength, flexibility, stamina, balance, are agile and are in great physical shape in general. But how can a beginner reach these levels of strength?
The obvious answer is through hard work. Doing off the court physical training which can include conventional working out methods as well as yoga or something as unconventional as T’ai Chi can do wonders for your balance and flexibility.
Breathing exercises, which are essential for aerobic fitness and proper work of the heart are also very important for tennis players. These can be done when swimming, running or cycling and can be of great use on the tennis court
Mental Skills
Being able to deal with the pressure during a tennis match is absolutely essential for tennis players. In football, basketball and other team sports the pressure is often divided amongst the individual players and that makes pressure in these sports more manageable.
In tennis however, you are all alone and all the pressure is on you. If you break under this pressure you have no place amongst the tennis elite. That’s why the best tennis players are relying more and more on psychology to manage these in-game situations.
Cognitive psychology and relying on past experiences to overcome new situation is currently the most popular psychological method for improving mental strength among tennis players.
This method implies that if you lost a match in which you could have performed better you should draw upon that experience and use it for future matches. In the meantime you should replay this match in your mind over and over again, but with the performance which would have won you the match. In this way you are going to create a winning scenario in your brain which you can draw upon when losing.
Emotional Skills
Tennis is an emotional game and being able to control your emotions during a match is crucial. Optimism, happiness and confidence are cited as the most important feelings that a tennis player should feel during a match if he wants to come out as the winner.
However, oftentimes tennis players are low on confidence and feel pessimistic of their chances because of a bad play they made. In these situations the worst thing that a tennis player can do is to let negative emotions take over and destroy his game plan.
Tennis coaches and sports psychologists recommend that you should always try to have empowering emotions, to control your breathing and to transfer emotions from your head to the court through visualization and simulation of positive feelings.
