Here is Sri Lanka Clay Court Nationals girls’ U-16 champion Ruvi Lewkebandara of Gateway International, Colombo who beat Hasali Gajaba of Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo in the event’s final last week at the SLTA, Colombo. The Clay Court Nationals is sponsored by HNB and Hutch Telecom. Photo Ishan Wanniarachchi[/caption]
What is mental toughness? What constitutes it and how can we develop it? Do you need to be born with it or can you learn it? These are all questions which are important considerations not just in tennis but in all the sports.
Mental toughness, in its most practical form, is the ability to perform under pressure.
Most players of any sport, given ideal conditions, will always perform well. But in adverse conditions their performance levels drop and they come up with plays which they would never do under normal circumstances. The ability to come up with the same plays that you come up with in ideal conditions, even under adverse conditions, is mental toughness.
Mental toughness is yet another learning aspect
The elite units in the Army do it all the time. For example, the marines in the US are always taught to perform under-pressure situations and to make the correct decisions.
But what should not happen is that the players should not treat this aspect as the “holy grail” and focus on this aspect to the detriment of everything else.
The aspect of mental toughness should be treated as another aspect which needs to be learnt for you to be a complete player.
Empathising with the player
Mental toughness stems from physical toughness. It means that the player should have the ability to endure physical drills by controlling that pain with their mind. For example, if a player can run down a ball in a tennis match even when the body is refusing to respond, but the player is forcing the legs to move to the ball, would be mental toughness. Most players as well as the coaches attribute this to only physical toughness. But it is not solely physical toughness but is mental toughness as well.
Mental toughness can be taught mostly by a person who is mentally tough but also has the ability to empathise with the player. This is an important distinction as, even if the person teaching mental toughness is tough but cannot empathise with the player, then that person might not succeed.
Understanding yourself
The ability to put himself in the shoes of the player and to understand the player’s insecurities is an important aspect of teaching a player to be mentally tough. When the player understands that the person teaching mental toughness can identify with the player, the process becomes quicker.
Mental toughness requires being able to endure physical and mental pain and continue to perform at a high level. It requires knowing yourself and especially knowing your own weaknesses, fears, misgivings, self doubts, and being able to control them under pressure. If a player knows himself or herself well enough as to what the player can do and cannot do, this is a form of mental toughness.
Self sufficient under duress
This way the player will not be drawn into playing a shot that the player knows that he or she is not able to execute well. While most consider this “playing within himself” is sometimes a “weakness”, it is actually a sign of strength that the player knows what the player is exactly able to do and not do.
Mental toughness requires being able to perform at a high level in the face of fear by controlling your emotions with your mind. Tennis requires that you be able to make your own decisions without regard to the opinions of others and be self sufficient under duress.
Dispelling others’ views
This is a huge limiting factor to the players. This focus and concern of how the player will be perceived by the others tends to play on the mind of a lot of the players. They are constantly looking around to gauge the reaction of the others or to seek their approval. This limits the player’s ability to perform to the best of the player’s ability and the moment the player eradicates this aspect, it will immediately lead to a tougher mind.
Mental toughness requires that you must be able to continue to fight hard when exhausted, discouraged or facing a vastly superior opponent. It also requires that you never show fear in the face of a superior opponent and that no opponent can intimidate you.
If the opponent cannot intimidate the player, immediately the opponent will feel a certain amount of pressure. This is because of the fact that the opponent can feel that the “fear factor” is not to his advantage. Under these circumstances, the player will feel confident in his own ability even though the player knows that the player is facing someone with superior skill.
This is because of the fact that the player will feel “sympathy” and will tend to take their pedal off the gas. This in turn can be construed as a weakness by the opponent.
All of the above-discussed points are important but not conclusive factors of being mentally tough. At the end of the day, it is the player who has to understand what works and what does not for the player him/herself. The ability to work that out successfully, and as early as possible, will certainly determine the success levels of the player.