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Melanie Oudin’s Secret Weapon: Mental Toughness

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Is 17-year-old Melanie Oudin the real deal? Most experts, such as Brad Gilbert think so. Read on to discover her biggest weapon…

If you have seen Melanie Oudin’s remarkable 3-set wins, you have witnessed her big-time comebacks against top players in the world.

How is she’s pulling out those matches come-from-behind victories? Is she that talented or skilled? Or is it sheer grit and determination?

To beat the top players, it’s all of the above. But I left out her most important weapon–and it’s not her ability to run down balls consistently–it’s her mental toughness!

“I think the biggest weapon can be mental toughness. It doesn’t have to be a stroke or a shot or anything like that. If you’re mentally tough out there, then you can beat anyone. I think that’s what I really did well today and I’ve done in my past matches. I’m so focused and I fight super hard. So it’s not going to be easy to beat me or I’m not going to back down at all,” said Oudin.

What is mental toughness in tennis?

Read Melanie Oudin’s Secret Weapon: Mental Toughness at Sports Psychology for Tennis

Tennis Mind Games: Early US Open Exits, Is This Mental or Physical?

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Have you watched the action at the U.S. Open? A lot of surprises this year. We’ve seen some early exits by top seeded players…Are these early exits caused by a poor mental game or physical game?

For example, Ana Ivanovic lost to Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the opening round of the US Open. In this case, her first round exit was caused by a poor mental game, as she confessed…

“I think I’ve been thinking about everything too much and trying to address lots of issues with my game,” Ivanovic said.

“My fitness is at one level, mind at another, my game is at another level. I think these all these things have to marry to get into the right direction and have to fit.”

What’s the culprit? Ivanovic has lost trust in her game. She got sidetracked with too many methods or solutions…

Even Roger Federer Loses His Focus

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Roger Federer demoralized Novak Djokovic at the Cincinnati Masters Tournament recently winning easily 6-1, 7-5.

“It looks convincing, 6-1, 7-5, but a few points here or there, your focus is not right on break point, maybe you are the better man, but you end up losing because you lost focus on the biggest points,” Federer said. “That’s why you’ve always got to push yourself.”

No matter what the score is, maintaining your focus is important to your performance. Some players lose points or games because they lose focus for just a game or two.

Federer was down 0-3 in the second after winning the first easily. He lost his mental edge for just one moment. He coasted on his talent. He forgot to focus to the max. Was he distracted? No. I think he let up for just a moment and found himself down 0-3.

Read how Federer lost his focus but still won…