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Almost universally, coaches and parents report to me their advice to players regarding competing effectively includes the aim to control uninvited match related thoughts and feelings like nerves, frustration, and helplessness. For example, statements like: "Believe in yourself", "Stay calm", "Don't worry about the outcome", "Accept errors", Don't get frustrated at the wind", etc, etc.

While this is well-intentioned and sensible on the surface, a crucial question to reflect on in trying to help players improve is this:

How well does it work?

For example, when Roger Federer went down a break in the third set against Hurkacz, do you think his dominant thoughts and feelings were more reflective of self-belief or helplessness.

He let us know in the press conference that he was feeling helpless: "Well, in the last few games I could feel that I wasn't going to come back".

And I strongly suspect that based on the situation he was in, and the point he is currently at in...

What an incredibly sad day for tennis.

How good one last slam run would have been. But alas its not to be…

With Roger Federer’s retirement announcement it got me reflecting on his greatest career mental traits.

And from there I actually found myself thinking about what tennis parents can learn from this…As parents of course are the greatest influences on whether we might be blessed enough to see another Federer like person and player in the future…

First, I believe he has 3 mental traits that stand out:

1.) Resilience

If 2 statistics characterise Federer's resilience, it is these…

i.) He came back from 2 sets down 10 times, and all-time record and more than Rafa and Novak combined.

ii.) And he never retired from a match that he started. When we consider the amount of niggling injuries he played with, and that Rafa and Novak have retired from matches about a combined 20 times, this is an amazing achievement.

2.) Performing his Best...

The Great Escape!

To give himself a chance to survive Roger Federer followed one of the golden rules of mental toughness:

Compete Your Hardest When Your Opponent Is Trying to Finish the Match, As This Is When It's Most Likely They'll Play Their Worst.

A huge thank you to Dan Kiernan and Soto Academy in Spain for allowing us to share this video from our coach professional development workshop last night. We had a great discussion regarding Roger Federer's coaching advice for Fabio Fognini and why part of Federer's advice was likey not helpful. Particularly when he said "If he hits a good forehand you respect it, ok maybe he was lucky it doesn't matter. believe in the good thing, you cannot be frustrated". I also mention how I advise coaches to approach situations where a player is experiencing difficult unintentional thoughts and feelings during matches... Check out the clip below.

It goes without saying that this was one of the greatest mental battles in tennis history.

So much amazing tennis...

So many swings…

So many roundabouts…

So much pressure…

And ultimately once again the great game of tennis was able to dig to the core of the matter and reward the player who believed most that they were the better player (as painful as that is for Federer fan like me)…

For Djokovic this deep belief has developed over many years. Twice before he has come from 2 match points down to beat Federer at the US Open. In the 2014 Wimbledon final Djokovic won after Federer had a break point early in the 5^th set. In the 2015 Wimbledon final, Federer converted 1 of 7 break chances, whereas Djokovic converted 4 of 10 to win a tight affair. And in the 2015 US Open final with the match tied at a set all Federer had 2 break points when leading 3-4 in the 3^rd set.

All in all, Djokovic has been steadily establishing his...

And a classic case study for how in vital ways the field of sport psychology has set coaches, parents, and players up for failure when it comes to developing long-term mental toughness. But to understand why this is so, I need first to summarize the match and Federer’s experience of it.

Part 1- Federer’s Pre-Match Jitters

It was refreshing to hear Federer talk about how difficult he found the build up to the final.

He said, “Well I think my thoughts were all over the place all day, I was thinking what if I lost how horrible it would be to lose it, what if I won, it’s a late match start so I thought about this all day, I was so nervous going into this match.”

Part 2- Federer Looks To Make It An Early Night

With Federer off to a flyer as Cilic struggled to find his range in the cooler closed roof conditions, the 1^stset was over in a flash. And early in the 2^ndFederer looked like he was going to cruise to victory as he...

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...

What a match!

With the 1^st set in the bag Federer stepped it up to play a sublime 2^ndset and looked like he had Wawrinka’s measure.

But early in the 3^rdtwo things happened in quick succession that conspired to trigger Federer to tighten…

He found himself on the doorstep of a highly unexpected Slam final at the same time as Wawrinka was struggling with a tweaked knee and looked on the edge of folding.

In next to no time the comfort of a 2 sets to 0 lead and having Wawrinka down 0-30 on serve early in the third, switched to high pressure after missing that chance plus playing a loose game to lose serve and go down a break.

Suddenly Wawrinka was free-wheeling it and Federer had the huge pressure of trying to finish a match that he had in his control just a few minutes earlier along with the added pressure of playing an injured opponent.

And With This Came The Nerves…

Federer reported in his post match interview with Jim Courier, “What can I...

Before this match, I was curious to see many good judges predicting a Federer victory. And with Djokovic looking below par in the 3rd set, Federer had his chances to grab the match by the throat earning 2 break points at 3-4. But why did I feel, that even in these moments, Djokovic was a heavy favourite to go on and win the match? To answer this question, it’s important to first reflect on the dynamics of that commonly used word: CONFIDENCE.

 What is Confidence?

Confidence is simply the triggering of implicit memories of past outcomes in similar circumstances.

Implicit memories? What?

Implicit memories are memories that are created without us knowing we're remembering something (as opposed to explicit memories where we are aware that we are 'remembering' something).

For example, one type of implicit memory is called ‘procedural’ memory that relates to skill development...

An example of procedural implicit memory is learning...