How we prepare for Wimbledon
Good morning. Good day. Good evening, wherever in the world you are. I'm back this week. I hope you enjoyed my ATP podcast from last week. I didn't send out a nugget because I'd already done a podcast with ATPmedia and sent that out instead. But back to the nuggets this week.
This week I'm going to talk about how to prepare for something huge, like Wimbledon. Obviously, this is the pinnacle of the sport and if you're good enough to be here, that already in itself is a huge achievement. But how do you prepare to play well, in this tournament?
Well firstly, stick to your routines.
When the nerves hit, accept them without suddenly panicking and feeling like you have to do things differently.
Trust yourself and your team.
Be yourself and don't feel like you suddenly have to do more to win. If you're good enough, you will give yourself the best chance to win.
By doing what you do all through the year, you don't have to suddenly become a much better player in order to win. Put your game on the court and see where it takes you just like any other tournament.
Go into every match with no thought of losing. no possibility of losing. The only time you accept a loss is if you have lost the last point and you're actually out of the tournament. Until that last point is lost, you have to believe that even the slimmest chance can still be turned into a victory. Sometimes to win from the edge of losing.
Try everything in your power to convert the chance.
What in the world would prevent anyone from not enjoying playing at Wimbledon, a dream achieved something that people who get there have worked for all of their lives. This is a privilege that you've earned to try and win the biggest tournament in the world.
No one imagines as a child that they would play Wimbledon one day full of fear and playing really badly. Protect your mind from a thought of failure and instead focus on delivering and expressing yourself and your level of expertise in the way that you saw you would in this position.
The closest you can come to feeling this huge desire to succeed in life at a tournament like Wimbledon, outside of sport, like a World Cup, or whatever the pinnacle of a sport is; the Olympics is a job interview for a job that you really, really want or an exam that you must pass or a huge deal that you want to pull off. And similarly, you have to approach these situations relaxed and calm, focused on what you need to say or do with a body language that reflects confidence that you're the right person in the right place. I hope whatever you trying and striving to achieve that some of these thoughts resonate with you and can help you get possibly a little more clarity in how you approach a difficult yet wonderful opportunity. If you entertainers enjoy Wimbledon because it's fantastic to watch. And if you're lucky enough to be there in person even better. And I hope you spare a small thought to wish myself and Liam all the best so that he can perform to the best of his ability in this tournament and see where that takes us speak to you next week