3 Ways Tennis Players Can Improve Their Concentration

Since it’s typically just you out on there on a tennis court, holding your concentration from start to finish for a match is very important when it comes to finding success. Being as strong mentally as you are physically becomes crucial because any lapses can cause a snowball effect, essentially putting you behind the eight-ball when it comes to the particular competition you’re participating in.

There are going to be days when it just seems really hard to concentrate on the task at hand. How can you do your best to stay focused? Here are three ways you can make that happen.

Practice With Distractions Around You

It doesn’t matter what level of tennis you play at, there will almost always be some sort of distraction present during a particular match you’re playing in. If you’re having a hard time ignoring those distractions and focusing on the task at hand, then it’s important for you to focus on building up this skill at practice.

Try your best to re-create different kinds of distractions while you’re practicing. The only way to figure out how you can move past these things that are stealing your concentration is by putting yourself in that situation over and over again until it happens.

Stay Present in the Moment

Thinking about the past and future are typically two of the biggest stealers of your concentration.

It’s so easy to get caught up in what mistakes you made on past points, or a certain situation you wish was handled better. This is the same for the future, as it’s also easy to worry about what you’ll do when confronted in a specific situation.

You know the best way to handle all this? Staying in the moment! You can’t change those past mistakes, so learn from them and let them go. You can’t change what’ll happen in the future, but if you focus on the current point you’re playing, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to positive impact it.

Use Verbal Cues

Having particular words and/or phrases on hand that can snap you back into being focused are great ways to also stay present in the moment. It could be something that’s instructive — like a reminder on how to approach a certain shot – or something that plays more into your emotions – like remembering to relax and take a breath. If you go the instructive route for this strategy, be sure not to over-analyze anything in the midst of a match, because that’ll certainly take away from your concentration.

Not executing a shot properly isn’t very fun, but it’s also not fun or useful to keep thinking about it later on in a match and putting even more pressure on yourself to get it right next time. So make sure you’re keeping things simple here to help you get back in the zone.

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