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 Choking is prominent in all areas of competitive tennis from club standard to the professional circuit.
The lowdown
The subject of choking is very interesting and I hope to shed some
light on an experience that happens to every person on the planet when
confronted with taking action to get something they really want and
definitely don’t want to lose.
Moving feels heavy, like the beginning of a freeze, breathing gets shallower and the desire to go into a shell is high.
Dave on the choking basics
It will always target your weaknesses and exaggerate your insecurities.
For instance if you tend to miss forehands under pressure this will
generally show up when you are tight and can possibly fall apart.
The
finest antidote is competence. If a player is secure in their game they
can still perform well when choking. Practice does not make perfect
under pressure (no human is) but it can go a long way to producing
quality under stress.
A fine example: Andy Murray
Andy Murray used to get very uptight on court especially during longer
matches or when he felt he ought to be winning easily but was not,
which meant he had to be out there longer so was afraid of the knock on
effect and being tired in later rounds.
If
he felt he was being overpowered he stressed because he was weaker than
many pros. He did not trust his physical abilities enough and this was
where stress hit hardest until he took it upon himself to do the extra
work and get the right help to attack this weakness and turn it into
strength.
He can now focus on playing without a nagging
doubt in the background, and therefore no longer chokes because of a
weakness. He thus moves and performs better under pressure.
Dave on mentality
Mentally there are two major factors in tackling a choke. Firstly, you
need discipline to bring aggression to the table, and secondly the
discipline to move and bring energy to the court is crucial.
Dave on Rafa
Here is what Novak Djokovic had to say about Rafael Nadal after their
2009 Monte Carlo final: “You could see him at 5-1 up in the third set,
he played like it was 5-all. He really doesn’t care about the result.
He just wants to give his best every point.”
Rafa
has worked out that aggression and work rate on every point is the best
antidote to choking. It is a way of life for him, when he is tight he
still has most of this at his disposal. He also continually works hard
to improve so his competence is growing all the time.
Dave on discipline
A great competitor is a normal person having the discipline to live in
a special way. Nowhere is this mental control more obvious than in the
‘choke moments’. There is no use in being competent if your mind does
not order you to be brave.
Dave on belief
A lot is made of BELIEF.
Competence is a major foundation of belief. Perhaps Federer is not
working as hard as before so his belief – although extremely high in
his talent – may not be quite as rock solid in key moments when he has
not got the grooved practice hours under the belt. Or the total belief
in his fitness as before and this stress often manifests itself on a
short forehand where he chokes as he feels he has to finish the point
quicker and miss-fires more often than before.
In summary
The key is not to try and not choke – everyone does so. The solution is
doing things that improve your ability to perform when you are choking.
Plan the way you will face up to the choke and have the discipline to
carry out your plan. Strategies are infinite from breathing techniques,
visualising, meditation, self-affirmation, and trigger points to
religion. The idea is to cope better not to see the plan as a
guaranteed win! The objective is to win more often, as even Nadal still
chokes and loses occasionally.
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