Mind Over Tennis: Mastering the Mental Game

Jörgen Jensen

Description

Why did Roger Federer challenge his coach Peter Lundgren to a wrestling match?


And how did Lundgren manage to help transform him from an ill-tempered youth to the consummate professional we have come to know? Mind over Tennis answers this and many other questions.


The book thoroughly covers all aspects how to master the mental game of tennis including such topics as:

•Managing nervousness

•Reaching the zone

•Achieving consistency

•Effective training and drills

•Controlling emotions



Along with this we get real-life examples and stories from Peter Lundgren’s unique experience of coaching three players who all reached world number one rankings.


How did they do it? What was special about them? How did Peter coach them?

Sujets

• Racket Sports
• Sports
• Training
• Recreation
• Tennis
• Survêtement
• Peter Lundgren
• Roger Federer

Informations

• Publié par: 4 Horsemen Publications, Inc.
• Date de parution: 24 janvier 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781644504512
• Langue: English

Extrait

Table o f Contents
Preface
Chapter 1
Playing I n The Zone
Chapter 2
The Importance of Preparation and Knowledge
Chapter 3
Bapti sm By Fire
Chapter 4
Rais ing Genius
Part Two
Chapter 5
Effective Training: Quantity O r Quality?
Chapter 6
Understanding The Principles O f Training
Chapter 7
Structure An d Planning
Chapter 8
A Fiery Time With A Fi ery Player
Chapter 9
Match Analysis An d Planning
Chapter 10
The Master Coach And The Angel In The Marble
Chapter 11
The Importance Of C onsistency
Chapter 12
Consistenc y Training
Chapter 13
A bout Feeds
Chapter 14
Neglec ted Skills
Chapter 15
The Impenetra ble Castle
PART THREE
Chapter 16
Understandin g Emotions
Chapter 17
Menta l Meltdown
Chapter 18
Review Of Methods For Dealing With Unwante d Emotions
Chapter 19
Change Your Attitude T o Yourself
Chapter 20
Re-framing
Chapter 21
Deep Analysis— Getting To The Source
Chapter 22
Willpowe r Training
Chapter 23
Pete r’s Method
Chapter 24
Be Prepared To Double Up
Chapter 25
Concentra tion Drill
Chapter 26
Vis ualization
Chapter 27
Converting Negative Energy T o Positive
Chapter 28
Bad Days
Chapter 29
Wawrinka Vs Federer
Chapter 30
Reachin g The Zone
Ackno wledgments



Mind Over Tennis: Mastering the Men tal Game
Copyright © 2021 Jörgen Jensen with Peter Lundgren. All rights r eserved.
Address
Sickla Sjöväg 4
131 3 3 Nacka,
Sweden
www.mindoverte nnis.com


Accomplishing Innovati on Press
1497 Main St. S uite 169
Dunedin, FL 34698
4horsemenpublicat ions.com
AccomplishingInnovationPress@g mail.com
Cover by: Jen n Kotick
Typesetti ng by MC
Editor Shel ley Sand
All rights to the work within are reserved to the author and publisher. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 International Copyright Act, without prior written permission except in brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Please contact either the Publisher or Author to gain per mission.
This book is meant as a reference guide. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. All brands, quotes, and cited work respectfully belong to the original rights holders and bear no affiliation to the authors or pu blisher.
Library of Congress Control Number: 20 21951200
Paperback ISBN-13: 978-1-644 50-452-9
Ebook ISBN-13: 978-1-644 50-451-2
Preface
Before diving into the heat of the action, I would like to briefly introduce the authors and explain a bit about how the book came about, how the content is organized, what subjects are covered and also acknowledge people who have helped with the book .
P eter Lundgren is a name familiar to most people in the tennis world. A brief introduction might nonetheless be in order. Peter, an accomplished tennis player in his own right (reached as high as 25 in the world rankings), is perhaps best known for his role as coach and mentor of Roger Federer in the beginning of Roger’s incredible career, and before he became the one and only ROGER FEDERER. Prior to taking on Federer, Peter had worked with Marcelo Rios, who was known by all as a most formidable—if not impossible—challenge to coach. Other coaches had given up, but Lundgren kept at it for close to a year (after which he is reported to have said “What R í os needs is not a coach, but a psychologist”). Still, Ríos reached as far as world number one, and this in no small measure thanks to the efforts of Lundgren. Despite splitting up with Ríos, Lundgren had apparently impressed the tennis world enough with his coaching skills that the Swiss Federation asked for his help. They particularly wanted help with a 16-year-old player, who on one hand was very talented, but on the other hand risked wasting his talent due to his hot temper and bad behavior. His name? Roge r Federer.
As we all know, the partnership turned out pretty successful, and Peter managed to help Federer grow, from an ill-tempered teen to the consummate professional we have come to love. This is what Roger had to say in an interview in 2003, about his transformation under Lundgren’s mentorship. “Before, I would throw my racquet, curse and I did not like to train. Max one and a half hour, and then I had enough.” A few years later Federer had won his first Wimbledon and become the number one ranked player in the world.
After splitting up with Federer, Lundgren continued coaching and took on Marat Safin. In the 2005 Australian Open Safin and Federer met in the singles semi-finals. Federer was the defending champion and the number one player in the world. This is what one newspaper in Sweden had to say about it:
“Rios, Federer and Marat Safin are all players who have needed both a coach and a psychologist, and with Lundgren they have encountered both. He makes his players feel well and happy, and a player who feels good plays good. Like Safin yesterday. The Russian, who previously should have been made to wear a straight jacket at side change, kept his composure in the nail-biter match against Federer, and if he had not succeeded with this he would never have beaten him. When Safin in the spring of 2004 hired Peter Lundgren as a coach he was off balance as a player, and had fallen to a ranking of 23. After beating Federer in the semis he will now be playing in the finals in Australian Open on Sunday. Probably the only one who believed Safin could pull this off was Lundgren.”
(Aftonbladet 28 Jan 2005)
I personally met Peter for the first time in the summer of 2017. I was coaching a young Swedish talent, Mikael Ymer, at the time, and we had decided to add some more coaching expertise to our team. Peter and I immediately hit it off. But then again, who would not get along well with Peter? We thought very similarly about the game, coaching and the mental aspects. I was therefore very happy when Peter generously agreed to partake in this book project. Peter possesses, in my opinion, many of the very key characteristics that define a good coach. Additionally, he is a virtual treasure chest of interesting and informative stories and anecdotes from his own career as a coach and player. And, incidentally, when he was young he was a training partner with Bjorn Borg, and got to see close-up how Bjorn trained, thought, and approached the game. What better source of learning the mental game could you possibl y ask for?
And how about myself? I do not have a career as a player on the ATP tour. What I do have is about a 40-year record coaching and teaching. My experience has mostly involved mental coaching in various forms, both in tennis and in other activities. In addition to that I have worked in the school world as a teacher and principal, where I learned a lot about dealing with parents and how to speed up learning in various ways. One research project that I conducted dealt with the subject of acquiring physical skills in the fastest, most effective way (this proved very workable in tennis, especially when it came to building consistency). I have coached tennis players of all levels, from the very top ATP level all the way down to rec reational.
So why another book on the mental game of tennis?
Mental coaching and sports psychology in general tend to focus mostly on handling the various difficulties players run into when competing (such as nervousness or anger issues, etc.). My view is that this is quite a limited perspective of what it takes to be a top performer. To give just a few examples: goal setting and structure affect mental performance. Strategy and tactics are certainly mental abilities, too, but are rarely covered within the constraints of the traditional approach to sports psychology. Training and practice routines also have a lot to do with mental factors. Last but not least: the aspect of how to rise to the very highest levels of performance, sometimes called “The Zone,” is a most important subject only sparingly covered elsewhere.
My purpose with this book is to fill t hese gaps.
While working on this book I have met with many of the best coaches and players in the world. It turns out that they often have figured out workable approaches to improve on their players’ mental game (or their own, during the time when they were actively competing). I worked in close association with Good to Great tennis academy in Stockholm for several years, and the coaches and players there were kind enough to let me interview them about their own experiences and successful methods in the field of mental tennis. I am especially grateful for the participation of Magnus Norman, who was named best coach in the w orld 2016.
The book is organized so that the content of some chapters is of a more “technical” nature, while others are real-life examples and anecdotes, mostly from the illustrious career of Peter Lundgren. When trying to improve the mental game there are two approaches that work, and both of them are necessary for success. One is practical advice (“so how do I actually do this?”). The other is a theoretical understanding of how things work “under the hood” so to speak. Without the understanding, the practical drills become less effective. Conversely, with only theory and no drills little to nothing practical ever co mes about.
I hope this book will help the reader become more proficient in the mental ga