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

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.