The 3 Mental Keys to Iga Swiatek's Brave Roland Garros Victory

What an incredible rollercoaster that was!

A perfect example of why tennis is the ultimate sporting mental test. Tough circumstances…Massive momentum shifts…And ultimately an incredibly brave effort from Iga Swiatek to win her 3rd French Open...

There’s a lot we can learn from such a great battle. Because tennis is so challenging it never has been and never will be about perfection. Instead it will always be about dealing with frequent challenges just a little better than the person down the other end. And beneath massive momentum swings that are so common in matches usually lies the same predictable psychological processes for all players who are willing to put it on the line as these 2 ladies did.

Here’s my most important takeaways:

1.) Compete Your Hardest When Your Opponent Is Ahead, As This Is When It's Most Likely They'll Play Their Worst

The moment that a player realises they are in reach of winning a set or match, but have thoughts to do with the possibility of losing it from that winning position (which is common) is among the most common times they will play their worst.

In this match for Swiatek it occurred when cruising at 6-2 3-0, then again when playing a poor game serving at 6-2, 4-4 and closing in on victory. 

And for Muchova, she stumbled as soon as she hit the lead serving for the 2nd set at 5-4, then again when she led in the third set and her chances of winning were rising.

The key here is that as much as people talk about ‘not thinking about the outcome’ even the best players in the world have unintentional thoughts popping up about potential outcomes regularly throughout matches. So, it’s vital that we recognise the difficult thoughts that will surely arise when our opponents seem likely to finish us and commit to taking actions that increase the chance of success on just the next point (and practice repeating these steps over and over.)

2.) Players Often Get Rattled After Losing the Lead…

When Swiatek lost the lead she had a a completely different challenge to face. Choking is normal and it happens commonly at even the highest levels of our game. But as a choke subsides it is almost always followed by difficult thoughts about the event- “You idiot, you’ve messed it up” , etc, etc…

It’s very common, from the point of losing the lead to get rattled. When players are in the grip of this post-choke mental storm, rather than expecting that they shouldn’t be experiencing the frustration of blowing the lead and the regret of poor choices, the mentally toughest competitors ‘unhook’ themselves from the almost inevitable self-degradation. They recognize the fact that soon enough, as their opponent begins to consider possible victory, that they will probably become vulnerable. Good competitors follow this by returning attention to a helpful process that increases the chance of success and committing to actions that achieve that.

This is exactly where Swiatek did so incredibly well...

3.) Choking, and Even the Post-Choke Storm is Rarely Fatal, How Brave Players Are In Responding to these Challenges Is Often the Difference Between Winning and Losing…

All players tend to get tight at least occasionally when finishing sets and matches...And most players become shaken initially after they choke.

But the main reason that Swiatek is the now the Roland Garros champion for a 3rd time is her bravery.

Quite simply, having blown a lead and being 2-0 down in the 3rd would have had many players looking for the exit gate.

But Swiatek was able to recalibrate just when Muchova likely started considering winning…

She was willing to make room for the self-judgements that she would have had about blowing the lead…

She was also willing to make room for the predicted pain of losing one of the biggest matches of her life from a dominant position…

And she was able to, one point at a time, continue to per herself on the line, problem solve, and find a path to the finish line.

As she said in her post-match press conference: “I’m just so happy that I survived and I guess I'm never going to doubt my strength again".

Enjoy the men's final!

Anthony