In an episode of Going Pro by ATA, Dane Sweeney, ATP 181, opened up to the host about how he had changed his perspectives on tennis and competing.

Sweeney: “The biggest shift—if I could put it as one thing—is that I’m seeing tennis as my vehicle on the journey to self-mastery; on my spiritual journey. In the past, I used to try to convince myself of these heady things, like money, fame, and that’s what I wanted to play for, but none of that really resonated with me. What resonates now is using tennis to try and conquer my inner world. Those are things like the discipline that’s required, the day-in-day-out repetitions, having to control your anger, or having to deal with fear on the court, or even working with my dad now and really trying to listen to him and not just get angry at him. All this just comes along with the journey. It’s just more grist for the mill.”

There are a few things to note here in what Sweeney said about how he used to think versus how he thinks now. And, importantly, there are major areas of sport psychology research that match up with how Sweeney is thinking now and why it could potentially be working for him. Keep in mind that at the start of the year Sweeney was ranked about 680.

The first thing I want to point out to you is how Sweeney used to think. He talks about wanting money, fame, and heady things. But how these didn’t really work for him. This is classic extrinsic motivation. Wanting to partake or compete for acknowledgement from peers, acknowledgement from society, fame, monetary reward, social status, and so on. These are all material and social standings that one gets from achieving certain things.

Here’s the problem. Extrinsic motivation is fickle. And only having outcome goals and being extrinsically motivated is defined as having an ego-orientation. We know that having this kind of orientation—as opposed to mastery—is associated with higher rates of burnout, performance anxiety, and generally sub-par performance.

This is because if your only motivation is extrinsic, if you stop achieving the results or the outcomes that you want, you’re really going to struggle. If that’s the only metric by which you measure yourself—”Did I win, and did this win help me to achieve my external goals”—then yeah, no shit, if you can’t get that win or walk away with that trophy, I hope you can see how it could be problematic to your motivation. It could absolutely drain it.

Now, of course, you might be asking: “Wait, is Malhar telling me that I shouldn’t want those things from pursuing my craft or my sport?” Absolutely not. I think if we’re being honest, this is a part of the human experience and how we’re built and wired.

Whether you’re a professional player reading this or you’re a local club player, I think we’d be lying to ourselves if we didn’t acknowledge that, yes, there is part of us who wants to gain social status, recognition, and respect by winning or proving our level. But, here’s the big but, it’s about how much that drives you.

If you find that this is making up a big part of your motivation pie-chart—or, in other words, if it’s making a big part of the reason that you play, then I think you’re going to run into some major problems.

Let’s move on to what Sweeney mentioned next, which is so important to understand. I’ll just quote it for you again: “The biggest shift—if I could put it as one thing—is that I’m seeing tennis as my vehicle on the journey to self-mastery; on my spiritual journey […] What resonates now is using tennis to try and conquer my inner world. Those are things like the discipline that’s required, the day-in-day-out repetitions, having to control your anger, or having to deal with fear on the court, or even working with my dad now and really trying to listen to him and not just get angry at him. All this just comes along with the journey.”

From a sport psychology perspective, Sweeney is basically communicating, from the horses’ mouth, that he’s shifted his orientation towards mastery over ego. Having a mastery orientation is about building personal skills, building mastery over yourself and performance, and being long-term, development oriented.

Another way to think about it is that he now values mastery and self-mastery over the external rewards that he would get from improving his ranking. It’s all about being better; better in specific domains, and always striving for improvement. When someone switches toward a mastery orientation—you all of a sudden start judging yourself on how you performed, how you managed your emotions, how you navigated difficulties. Sure, winning and losing are still important… but it truly becomes about having a mastery mindset. This research area is quite old now in sport psychology, but I truly believe it’s one of the most powerful. (Achievement Goal Theory, under which ego versus mastery fits in, was pioneered by names like Glyn Nicholls and Carol Dweck.)

Pretty powerful—right?

The challenge is that this is easier said than done. You have to first understand that the way you’re viewing things might be a problem. That only wanting extrinsic rewards is a recipe for fragile motivation. That only caring about social status and approval, or playing for someone else rather than yourself, is a recipe for major disaster.

Once you understand this… it becomes easier to shift toward a mastery mindset. But you still have to break down the domains you want to improve in. And you still have to know how to navigate this massive shift in your mindset. This is usually where athletes and performers lean on sport psychologists and mental performance consultants.

Time to open up a little bit: over the various periods of time in my life where I tried to play tennis—where I was training “full-time,”— if I were to look back upon them, I was definitely extrinsically motivated.

There was nothing personal there for me in terms of viewing tennis as a vehicle to my growth. To be honest, I thought I had just reached the end of my road with my tennis and the only thing that was worth playing for were these extrinsic rewards.

I was playing for recognition, because of pressure from others, and for external factors instead of for myself, my own self-mastery, or my own self-improvement. I do wonder how many tennis players and athletes are stuck in destructive cycles like this.

Knowing what I know now from sport and performance psychology and the knowledge areas around motivation, it’s no wonder that I really struggled.

The new year is upon us and many times athletes and performers make grand goals for what’s to come. I invite you to partake in it this… but from a more measured perspective.

The first thing I’d recommend is to write down your outcome goals. Things you want to achieve in terms of rankings and external rewards and results. Then, break these down further into performance domains, in which mastery is possible.

Here’s an example: “I want to get to a UTR 12. To do so, I need to really work on my mental skills and emotional regulation. I’ve been up a few times against players with higher UTRs but I’ve been unable to close out the match because I get ‘nervous’ and I stop playing well. I have to really understand what’s happening in my mind and then learn how to navigate these scenarios with mental skills and mental tools.”

That’s just one idea… I think you get the general gist. Until next time.

Reference

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed psychologist, mental health counselor, PsyD, or clinical PhD. I am currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology and am a sport psychology practitioner-in-training, working toward the Certified Mental Performance Consultant® (CMPC®) credential provided by the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). My work focuses on applied, non-clinical mental performance consulting, using evidence-based techniques grounded in psychology, sport science, and applied sport psychology to help athletes enhance focus, manage pressure, build confidence, and improve performance. I do not provide mental health counseling or clinical therapy. When needed, I will always refer clients to licensed mental health professionals for concerns beyond the scope of performance consulting. I have over 20 years of experience in tennis, including as a player, collegiate and professional coach, and director of programs. I am certified by the Professional Tennis Registry and am a member of Tennis Australia. My goal is to bring athletes the best research-backed insights to support long-term development and performance. If you are a researcher or practitioner and feel I’ve misunderstood or misrepresented any concept, I welcome you to reach out, and I will gladly review and issue corrections if appropriate.