All tennis players have at least once experienced a situation where they had to play under pressure. It might be blowing a 5-4 lead and serve in an important final when all skills suddenly disappear. The athlete freezes and cannot find his way back, cannot find the way to do something right, and his thoughts are shifting between present and future. But why does that really happen? This phenomenon is called choking, which is a name for any situation that athletes start to perform worse than they should because of some kind of stress or pressure during the match. Dealing with psychological effects when playing tennis is an issue for every athlete in amateur, college, and professional leagues. However, tennis players can be helped if basic questions
…show more content…
This subject is one of the most researched subjects within sport psychologist, and its exact definition has not been found yet. However, theories about why athletes choke under pressure give an idea of what can cause this phenomenon that is feared by tennis players of all standards. According to Dr. G, a once college tennis players, the first cause of choking is the switch of their focus away from what is important. For example, the athlete’s concentration leaves the present of the performance and gives a step ahead to the future, which leads his thoughts to the results—winning or losing—instead of focusing on “now”. To support this statement, the question “Do you think about the presents results (0-30 in a game) or future results (final result, win or lose) when you are playing a match” was asked to 5 tennis athletes at Upper Iowa …show more content…
In other words, tennis players start to pay more attention in their opponent’s characteristics than to their own. For instance, the athlete starts to think about on the opponent’s size, strength, skills, and speed, which leads him/her to get psychologically and physically tied and choke. When athletes think about what their opponent can do, their anxiety level increase and distract their concentration, which will eventually lead to a big drop in their performance level. According to the article “All about Choking,” athletes always perform their best when their “play their game” or “stay inside themselves.” (2) To reinforce that, Upper Iowa tennis players answered the following question: “Do you think about your opponent’s strengths before and during the match or you focus on your
This subject is one of the most researched subjects within sport psychologist, and its exact definition has not been found yet. However, theories about why athletes choke under pressure give an idea of what can cause this phenomenon that is feared by tennis players of all standards. According to Dr. G, a once college tennis players, the first cause of choking is the switch of their focus away from what is important. For example, the athlete’s concentration leaves the present of the performance and gives a step ahead to the future, which leads his thoughts to the results—winning or losing—instead of focusing on “now”. To support this statement, the question “Do you think about the presents results (0-30 in a game) or future results (final result, win or lose) when you are playing a match” was asked to 5 tennis athletes at Upper Iowa …show more content…
In other words, tennis players start to pay more attention in their opponent’s characteristics than to their own. For instance, the athlete starts to think about on the opponent’s size, strength, skills, and speed, which leads him/her to get psychologically and physically tied and choke. When athletes think about what their opponent can do, their anxiety level increase and distract their concentration, which will eventually lead to a big drop in their performance level. According to the article “All about Choking,” athletes always perform their best when their “play their game” or “stay inside themselves.” (2) To reinforce that, Upper Iowa tennis players answered the following question: “Do you think about your opponent’s strengths before and during the match or you focus on your