"Tennis requires a thick skin regarding what others think about you" - Mental conditioning coach Badri Narayan Interview

Badri Narayan

Tennis is as much a game about the mind as it is of the body. How often in recent years have we seen players choke when the stakes are high or lose a match after building a huge lead in a match.

Several tennis stars are now paying attention to the importance of mental conditioning or coaching, and Sportskeeda caught up with one such expert, Badri Narayanan.

Narayanan is a Certified Mental Conditioning Coach, having done his Masters in Sports Psychology from Utah University. He currently works as a Sports Psychologist Consultant/Mental Conditioning coach for players on the ATP and WTA Tours as well as the USTA circuit.

He also works on a consulting basis with a few cricketers in the Indian national cricket team. Besides tennis and cricket, Badri also provides consulting services for some Indian clientele in sailing (Rohini Rau, Ajay Rau), racing (Alisha Abdullah, Armaan Ebrahim), squash (Shruti Settipalli) and table tennis (Sathiyan Gnanasekaran).

Badri Narayanan is also a certified Neurolinguistic practitioner, and his role is to use relaxation response and progressive relaxation methods to get the body and mind in the optimal state for performance.

So what do you call yourself? A mental conditioning coach? A motivational guru? Or a sports psychologist?

I am called both: Mental Conditioning (MC) Coach and Sports Psychologist. I have been in this field for the past 10 years or so. Motivation definitely is an intrinsic part of mental training.

Why did you choose to work in the field of tennis? I’m sure your skills could be used in just about any sport in the world?

Yes, it is. In addition to tennis, I also work with clients in cricket, basketball, squash, table tennis, racing and sailing. I have played and coached tennis for almost 20 years now. It was my primary passion for getting into sports.

Tennis, being a very individual sport, requires tremendous mental discipline. In a match, it is the work that a player does in both mental and physical training off court/on court, that gets him to where he needs to be.

Mental toughness – is it something ingrained or something that can be acquired over time? Are some people better equipped than others to absorb what you teach?

I have seen and worked with players who are, intrinsically, very competitive and don’t want to give an inch. There are also players who are new to this field, but are willing to learn and develop their mental skills.

I wouldn’t like to pass a judgement on whether some players are better equipped to understand and apply mental skills. As an MC coach, all I expect from the player is the eagerness to work mental skills with the same zeal as he/she would work on a backhand or a forehand.

A lot of tennis players have complained of late about cyber-bullying and the downright negative and hateful messages on social media networks. How are players supposed to deal with that?

With the advent of Twitter, Facebook and various other social networks, it gives a platform to the players to express their thoughts and also a way to connect with fans.

But in the newer fringe players that I see, there is also a tendency for players to overexpose themselves and make themselves too reachable.

Recently, we had a player from Canada (wouldn’t like to name) who quit the game due to cyber threats. I think the players need to take a very professional approach when it comes to the internet. Especially when preparing for an event, it is vital that players stay away from anything that distracts them.

One needs to be in control of his/her emotions and thoughts when it comes to social media.

Even after 15 years of playing weekend tennis at my club, I still get nervous every time a set goes close. My arms feel heavy, and I begin to push the ball rather than go for my shots. That’s a common problem a lot of club players I interact with seem to have. What advice would you give to people like us?

From childhood, we are all fed with the philosophy of winning and the end result. Subconsciously, we have trained our minds that winning is the most important thing.

But if you look at the history of elite players, though winning is important to them, the primary focus is on the process, being in the moment, staying in tune with the strategy, being aware of the most important things like footwork, balance, watching the ball, breathing. These elements to the mind appear uninteresting, but that is where true mental training comes into the picture.

Look at the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Winning is a result of simulating various scenarios that you have mentioned above in the practice court.

Imagery plays a very critical role for these players. They see these situations in their head and also visualize themselves responding appropriately to these challenges. It takes repetition, patience and practice till it becomes second nature for you.

One cannot just show up at an event and think they will be able to do it. One needs to simulate all these real time scenarios on the practice court. One needs to take practice points as serious as the real ones and make sure you are playing the ball and the strategy more than the score.

Besides the physical attributes required to make it big in tennis, any views on whether Indian tennis players lack the required self-belief on the international stage?

I hate to judge players based on which country they come from. It is not that the Swiss had a great tennis history before Roger came along. The same applies to Serbia.

India has a very good history in tennis. Look at the likes of Ramanathan Krishnan (former top 10 and competed tremendously in the Laver, Budge Era), Ramesh Krishnan, Amritraj brothers, Leander Paes (has completed a Career Grand Slam in doubles), Mahesh Bhupathi (12 Majors or so in doubles and mixed doubles), Sania Mirza and Nirupama Vaidyanathan, along with Shikha and Neha Uberoi (though born in America, they were as Indian as they can get).

Tennis, like anything in life, requires tremendous love and passion for the game, a lot of hard work, and a thick skin regarding what others think about you.

My two cents for Indian tennis players or any player, would be to not fall prey to what the general audience says about Indian tennis. [I have] Nothing against them, but if one subconsciously accepts that we don’t have the physical or mental attributes, the battle becomes even harder.

Tennis as such is a demanding sport and the last thing one needs is mental cobwebs of doubt and fighting others’ opinions.

“Don’t fall prey to what the general audience says about Indian tennis” – Badri Narayan’s advice to Indian tennis players

Any interesting tennis player related anecdotes that you could share with our readers?

A player (who I can’t name due to NDA agreement) I have been working with for the past four years was having hard time beating a living legend despite being close many times.

We looked at various videos from the first meeting till his sixth or seventh meeting. We found that he had mentally lost the match or didn’t have the belief even before he stepped on the court.

So we had to change everything from the handshake and the body language, to the energy he displayed on the court.

We worked on changing the result oriented focus to a process oriented focus which is very difficult to do, especially during a match. We made sure he truly lived in the moment and played the match one point at a time and ensure that he is giving his best for the point.

We devised certain methods for keeping his attention in the present and also forget what happened in the previous point (positive or negative), so that his mind was fresh and clear for the next [point].

After repeated trials and errors, he was able to conquer not only his inner demons, but also was able to reverse the trend against this particular player.