Psychological Flexibility — SS #56

I’m a 4.5-level player and I usually do well sticking to my Plan A: being aggressive, taking the ball early, and playing close to the baseline. But when I face new opponents—especially big hitters—I get flustered. I either freeze, stick stubbornly to my original plan, or can’t think clearly enough to adjust. So I guess I could sum my struggle up as: what do I do when I’m in shock, can’t think straight, and analyze what my opponent is doing to me on court? And how do I know when to stop being stubborn and move to my plan B? — Jeremy

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I received the above message from a player in my DMs on Instagram (name has been changed for anonymity). As a reminder, feel free to message me on there or email me here (just hit reply) regarding your sport psychology and mental performance questions. I will gladly answer them if I think they’ll be useful to a wider audience

The player above is struggling with a few common issues, so let me address them point by point. If you’re having similar issues, I hope this helps.

Problem #1: Facing New Opponents, Resulting Shock, and Getting Flustered

You might be surprised to hear that this is an extremely common problem with tennis players—not just recreationally. I have worked with a high-level player who complained to me that the opponents they play are nothing like the opponents and training partners that they practice with… and because of this, they could not play their best tennis.

“The guy I play blasts and hits the ball so well… and this guy, he just dinks it in and slices it and then comes to the net. That’s not real tennis!”

You get the idea.

At the root of this approach is psychological flexibility—or lack of it.

(When I say psychological flexibility here, I’m talking less about the formal Acceptance-Commitment Therapy definition and more about the ability to stay open to different styles, adjust beliefs, and stay mentally agile mid-match.)

Building off last week’s issue, our beliefs—whether known to us or unknown—are usually the cause of our suffering or frustration.

Whether athletes who suffer like this know it or not, they usually have some rigid beliefs about what a tennis match should look like or what their opponent should play like.

For example, they might think that everyone who is a real tennis player has to hit the ball really well and that they can’t be dinkers or crafty. That’s not real tennis.

It would be no wonder that this hypothetical player would react with anger or frustration when they came up against the local “hacker.” I don’t mean that as a term of disrespect, by the way. Hacking or playing as a “defensive specialist” is a legitimate style of play, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Now, back to Jeremy.

He says he struggles or is in shock against big hitters or when he plays opponents who hit the ball well.

Jeremy should ask himself what his beliefs are that might be causing him such dysfunction when he plays a new or big-hitting opponent.

• Is it that he thinks he’s the best ball-striker around and that no one else should be striking as well as he is?

• Is it that he thinks at the 4.5 level no one should be hitting the ball that well and that these guys are clearly sandbagging?

Whatever it is, I would recommend that Jeremy spend some time figuring it out. And then I would recommend that he try to alter or modify his beliefs in different ways.

They are most likely maladaptive and causing him suffering on the tennis court.

But, for example, if he were to approach his matches with the belief below, that might give him some respite from his anger and frustration. Not only that, it might also prepare him to perform well regardless of his opponent’s playing style:

‘Tennis is such a variable and beautiful sport. Players can be at 4.5/5.0 with a variety of skillsets; there are so many ways to get that fuzzy yellow ball into the court and also make it challenging for your opponent to get it into there. If he’s hitting better than me I’ll back and give up the baseline… or maybe I’ll try to mess with his rhythm by coming to the net. In short, I’ll be flexible, engaged, and look forward to a good battle regardless of the game style of my opponent.’

By the way, changing beliefs can be incredibly challenging.

Which is where appropriately skilled mental performance professionals come in. We use techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, like collaborative empiricism and hypothesis testing, to help athletes adjust their maladaptive beliefs.

Problem #2: When Do I Switch to Plan B?

This is a more of a coaching problem because it’s more on the tennis coaching side as opposed to mental performance—but since I have a lot of experience coaching, too, I’ll share my take.

Normal advice on this front might advise you to make the switch to a different game plan after 6 service games. The thinking goes that gives you enough time to understand your opponent and how their game style and execution match up against yours.

I actually advocate for slightly longer, about 1 set. To me, this also factors in confounds such as your opponent starting the match super hot or perhaps your opponent getting tight and nervous in trying to close out the set.

What I don’t recommend is sticking to one game plan for the entirety of the match if you are losing.

That is, unless you have a booming serve or massive forehand, and you just feel that you started the match off a little rusty or not as sharp. If you truly believe that you can raise your level of play to where it needs to be to start dominating with your weapons, then stick with it. As the match goes on, you’ll probably start hitting more of a rhythm and find yourself settling into a higher level of play.

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Thanks for being here, and I hope this gave you some food for thought.

Keep in mind that I built my response off a single Instagram DM, so there’s a chance I could have misunderstood the player who asked for help.

Disclaimer: I am not an Association of Applied Sports Psychology CMPC, certified sports psychology practitioner, nor am I a licensed mental health counselor, PsyD, or clinical PhD. I am pursuing a master’s in sports, exercise, and performance psychology, and I am a sports psychology practitioner-in-training. I have over 20 years of experience in tennis, including playing, coaching collegiately and with professional players, along with club management experience as a director of programs. I am certified by the Professional Tennis Registry and am a member of Tennis Australia. My aim is to bring the best information to tennis players around the world so that you can apply it for long-term improvement—but sometimes I will make mistakes. If this is your area of research or expertise, and you feel I’ve misunderstood something, please get in touch with me and if required I will happily issue a correction.