Social support is needed to succeed in tennis. There is a huge amount of pressure on successful players and often they can be challenged with setbacks and misfortune.
Social support involves maintaining a connection with other people and creating a social relationship with them. Emotional and helpful support, as well as help and direct support, are two forms of social support. Players look for help when they are under mental pressure. It is a good idea to get help from friends and get the required social support.
Some suggestions to get the social support you need follows:
■ Sensitive issues should be shared with close friends or expert counselors.
■ Other problems may be shared with your social group or team.
■ Offer support to other people in your life by listening and they will gladly return the favor when you are in need at another time.
■ Alternative social networks away from your activity can provide huge stability and can help ease away from sport into another career. Many athletes become severely distressed when departing from their sport.
Tennis players have the highest sociability. Tennis players develop positive personalities due to this social support. This is one reason they are so dearly loved and respected by tennis lovers.
Mental Fitness in Tennis
If you do not concentrate on your game in tennis, you will lose the game. It does not matter how fast or strong you are, whether you are a beginner or experienced, the same applies.
To be successful at tennis you have to be physically and mentally fit. To be physically and mentally fit, you will have to strive for strength, flexibility, speed, and quickness.
Strength is purely a physical concept although it will also help to be strong when you are put under emotional pressure.
Flexibility allows the player to be in the correct position to return a shot being sent their way. A player that has mental flexibility allows his mind to be stretched similarly to how the body is stretched in physical flexibility. This mental flexibility allows the player to anticipate the return from his opposition quicker thereby allowing him to position his body for his shot quicker.
Speed is another part of mental fitness that allows the player to react to each shot timorously. Mental speed allows the players’ minds to keep up with the speed of the game.
Quickness is a physical trait of mental fitness that refers to the player’s ability to change direction speedily without losing control. In conclusion, the mental fitness of the player plays a key role in the game irrespective of how physically fit or physically expert the player is. To improve their game, players must “get their head in the game”.
