Federer vs Tiafoe US Open: 2 Vital Lessons

What a see-sawing affair that was to begin Roger Federer's US Open campaign...Federer was slow out of the blocks as he looked hesitant with his recent back problems and Tiafoe, to his credit took advantage.

In the 2nd and 3rd sets Federer gave the impression that he had slipper right back into his consistent 2017 groove totally dominating and having Tiafoe looking overwhelmed and appearing to look like he was headed for a comfortable 4 set victory.

Then, surprisingly, Federer's momentary drop in form had Tiafoe back in the match as we headed for a 5th. But when Federer got the break and held comfortably for the remainder he was on the doorstep of victory as he came to serve for the match.

This is where your child can learn 2 vital mental toughness lessons...

1.) Even The Greatest Of All Time Choke

Naturally, having only played 5 matches since Wimbledon and none in the last couple of weeks, Federer was a little edgy throughout the match. But to see him tighten so obviously when trying to serve out the match spraying a couple of forehands and not committing fully on a couple of short balls making himself vulnerable on the net is another timely reminder that even the best of all time can get caught up in nerves...This opened the door for Tiafoe and he walked through it with 2 blistering forehands in a row and get the match back on a knife's edge...

The Lesson: So the 1st important lesson is that everyone get's tight sometimes, it's normal and even admirable as it means the player is willing to put it on the line and wants to win badly...And as long as your child is in this position he/she is a good chance of winning because the choke only lasts as long as the lead does, and once the match is back on level terms (or nearly in this case) the nerves tend to subside.

2.) But Federer Didn't Get Caught Up In The Self-Judgements About Choking

And this is where the 2nd vital lesson emerges. The biggest issue players usually have with choking is that they get down on themselves for choking, and then get caught up in those self judgements which can easily dominate their play for the next few games. And when there are only a few games left in the match, this commonly costs us matches.

Would Federer have had difficult thoughts about blowing his chance to finish the match? For sure...

But during the change of ends, he was assumably able to unhook himself from the slavery that these thoughts can bring, and shift his attention onto the fact that he was one game from winning and commit to doing enough to get across the finish line.

The Lesson: As I mentioned above choking is far from fatal and the much more important thing to work on than overcoming choking itself is how your child responds to a choke. What he/she must do urgently at the point of choking is become aware of the inevitable, unintentional "you're messing this up" thoughts and rather than playing the next game (or several games) dominated by these thoughts, work hard to shift his/her attention back into the present and onto just the next point and the process he/she is going to absolutely commit to that increases his/her chance of winning it...