Adam Blicher

It’s oftentimes said by spectators of tennis matches, coaches, parents and I’m by all means also guilty of having said this myself, that now a player “has lost his/her focus”. But what if you in reality can’t loose your focus, but only turn it towards something else.

Our focus can easily be compared to a shining torch. What oftentimes happens in matches is that players will shine their torch on something that are without their control e.g. the result of the match.

What is then important is to shine back that torch to something within your control that will give the players the biggest opportunity of executing their game plan and their shots to the best of their ability. Here it’s essential to help the players find what I call their Lead Domino’s.

A Lead Domino is the one thing that players focus on that will either make the rest of the cues in the specific situation irrelevant or less relevant. A Lead Domino could e.g. be in the second serve to push the ground away from yourself, using the butt cap to “film” the opponent on the finish of a groundstroke or hitting 1,5 meters above the net on defensive forehands.

Lead Domino’s are highly individual and can change over time. If the players are not aware and curious on what they need to redirect the shining torch to when they are disturbed during tennis matches, then they can seem mentally weak. Therefor we as tennis coaches needs to encourage the players to be curious on and help them find their Lead Domino’s in each specific situation so they have the best possible chance to be mentally resilient and maximize their performance on the match court.

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