Big moment nerves

John: The mental side of tennis from my perspective as a fan, if you like, the two things that strike me in tennis compared to lots of other sports that I think make it a bigger mental challenge. First of all, it's an individual sport. But secondly, so there's nowhere to hide, like in football, when a team sport you can just give the ball to another teammate. You can call for it if you like, but there's nowhere to hide. The other thing that in tennis is, again, in something like football, you can be really nervous, but you can get a bit lucky. And of course, that can be the case in tennis, but basically, you know your body could be shaking when you're about to take a penalty, okay, and you can still score because you can just put your foot through it right,  and actually probably you will still score because the odds on that are high whereas in sports such as darts, snooker, tennis, where you need to be pretty calm, and you need to have a pretty steady hand. There's just nowhere to hide. Is there anything I'm missing? Or am I underplaying something, or not?

David: No, I think you're 100% Correct. I think the really tough thing about sport and in tennis in particular, because of how physical it is, as well, is the relentlessness of effort point after point. And if you're nervous, you must fight through those nerves sometimes for an hour. And, and they might disappear for a while, but then suddenly you're five all, and it's tight again, and you are feeling very tight. And you have to manage it over and over again. And I think you know, the best players in the world, use their tools and remember to use that tools in the big moments. Because once you get to pro level, it's not like any player doesn't kind of know what they must do. But it's in the heat of that moment that they either don't remember because the brain is frying a little bit, or they don't have the courage to use them. For us sitting here, remember Roger Federer's two match points serving for the match against Novak at Wimbledon. I’m thinking he must serve and volley both points. Surely Novak's not gonna make a great return on both. Now, I don't know whether that’s what Roger was thinking or maybe he knew something more than me but that was my thinking. But he didn't, and they slipped through his hands. Now, you know, to do that, though, at that moment, takes a huge amount of courage. First to make the decision, and then secondly, to follow through with the decision like that. But then you've always got, and this is what is so tough for players the other thought, "its match point, so just make the person play. Don't serve and give them a quick point and a target to beat." And that's another school of thought. But I think deep down, players get to a place where they have an instinct and have to choose whether to be brave enough to follow it.

David: I say this repeatedly, the best players in the world are the most relaxed and the bravest. Because in those moments, when their instinct is telling them something, they are brave enough to follow it which is why they are great. Again, it doesn't guarantee you're going to win but I do think it starts to push the odds more in your favour. I just say one other thing "I don't know if anybody's ever been go-karting or any kind of motor racing or watches motor racing. But when a driver gets in the groove, they lap, within point one of a second, every lap in this unbelievable groove. When they're in that groove, it seems so easy. Just do it. No hassle. But if they lose that groove, if they go a little too fast, then you know that they slide out of a corner, they lose time, they go a little too slow, then that's not effective."

And the margins are so small to stay on that groove and for tennis players as well. When you go into something like the French Open or any tournament, but especially the big ones you hope that you can get through that first match and find a groove and if you get in that groove, then that gives you your best chances of winning because then most stuff is happening automatically, which is the most effective. As you know, everybody has a problem when they start to think on the court. Operating automatically is the fastest and easiest way to play because you trust how to do things. And it's not like you don't register anything when you're playing very well, you are aware of everything. But nothing distracts you. When you start to think and your thoughts start to distract you that's very difficult to manage. And if you can learn how to manage that and get yourself back in the groove a little faster than other players that obviously helps with ranking and why certain players are more consistent than others, because they tend to manage that better. I hope that makes sense.

John: Yeah, it does make sense.