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April 2001 Article Wild Cards Archives:
Tennis Server
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You will join 13,000 other subscribers in receiving news of updates to the Tennis Server along with monthly tennis tips from tennis pro Tom Veneziano. 
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by Tom Veneziano
A phrase I use often is - recovering from a mistake is more important than
the mistake itself. Forgetting mistakes and moving on is one of the keys to
playing more relaxed, automatic, and instinctive tennis. You must
constantly practice forgetting your mistakes and moving on. The reason you
must practice constantly is because human nature has trouble moving on from
their failures. It is universal! Yet, everyone knows to succeed you must
make mistakes. Odd, isn't it? We all know this, but have a difficult time
applying it when we are failing.
Here is a plan to help you practice recovering from your failures when you
are playing. The next time you make a mistake do not attempt to make any
correction or
analyze what you have done wrong. Just forget your mistake and move on to
the next point. If you begin thinking, "if I had done this or that I would
have made that shot," ignore it and move on to the next point. Do you think
you can do that? What did you say? How are you going to make corrections
and improve if you do not analyze your failures? Good question!
Let me refer back to the phrase I stated in the beginning of this lesson.
Recovering from the mistake is more important than the mistake itself.
Since recovering from the mistake is more important than the mistake itself
you should spend a lot of time practicing recovering without analyzing.
Many times players analyze to come up with a reason why they failed, which
makes them feel better about their failure. This makes it easier for them
to now move on. How about trying to move on from your failures without a
reason why you failed. Just accept it as part of the game and move on to
the next point.
After you have mastered the art of forgetting your mistakes and moving on,
then you can analyze. At this point you will begin to analyze without over
thinking every failure. I believe they call it paralysis by analysis! Most
players over think their failures instead of accepting them as part of the
journey toward success. Now, please do not misunderstand me. I am not
saying you should never analyze. What I am saying is most players analyze
too much and recover much too slowly. They want reasons for every failure.
How about this reason - you just missed!!! This is my challenge to you.
For one month, do not, and I repeat, do not analyze any of
your mistakes - just move on to the next point. Play like most pros play.
Most pros quickly move on from their failures and are ready for the next
point. They realize this is crucial for their long term success. I
challenge you for one month to do what most pros do automatically and you
too will think like a pro!
Keep practicing this concept and you will begin to see many new mental
options open up that you did not even know existed. You will have a
glimpse into a mental arena where few dare to journey. The question is,
are YOU ready for the trip? I think you are, but remember not much baggage
is allowed!
Tom Veneziano has been a tennis pro teaching in Houston, Texas for over twenty-five years. He has taught thousands of players to think like a pro with his Tennis Warrior System, which is described on his web site at www.tenniswarrior.com. If you wish to provide a comment to the author of this Wild Cards column, please use this form. Tennis Server will forward the comment to the author.
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