Devotion to improvement and accomplishment in tennis occasionally runs into a tricky obstacle: flagging motivation. Excessive practice can lead to stale feelings toward the game, while lack of success in competition sometimes saps desire. Whatever the cause, players need proper motivation to get value from their practice time and the best results in tournament play.
Fun Practice
Repetitive practice sessions can be a grind for players. Vic Braden, in his book, "How to Psyche Yourself to a Winning Game," proposes that introducing variety and little games into practice time increases motivation. Practice playing points with a partner in predetermined scenarios: serving a game beginning with a score of love-40 or allowing yourself only one serve to get the point started. This approach will help keep things fresh and engage your competitive instincts, keys to motivation on court.
Goal Setting
John Murray, writing on the website The Tennis Server, touts the motivational value of goal-setting. He describes the most productive goals as being those focused on improving skill level, regardless of competitive outcomes. Such an approach can be applied in practice by instituting manageable targets such as hitting at least 75 forehands in the court before stopping. Accomplishing these kinds of goals will provide you with a sense of progress in your overall pursuit of improvement.
Reinforcing Strengths
If you are like most players, you enjoy hitting the kinds of shots at which you excel. A lot of practice time, however, revolves around working on those things that you don't do particularly well. Braden advocates using part of practice or warmup time to focus on the things that you do well to keep confidence high and remind yourself of what makes tennis fun for you.
Rewards
The USTA Mental Skills and Drill Handbook recommends attaching rewards to productive practice sessions as a means of motivating yourself when you don't feel all that inclined to put forth your best effort. Allow yourself to shorten time spent on practicing forehand volleys, for example, if you hit a certain percentage of them in court -- a reward for making the most of practice time.
References
- "Vic Braden's Mental Tennis: How to Psych Yourself to a Winning Game"; Vic Braden & Robert Wool; 1994
- "USTA Mental Skills and Drills Handbook"; Larry Lauer, Daniel Gould, Paul Lubbers and Mark Kovacs; 2010
- Mental Equipment: The Art of Goal Setting; John F. Murray, Ph.D.; May 1996
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