How is it possible that a young tennis player aged 16–18, who trains 50 hours of tennis per month, 25 hours of physical preparation, and 5 hours of mental training – totaling around 800 hours over 10 months – is not fully aware of this investment and fails to turn it into performance on the court?

• Insecurity?

• Poor understanding of the value of training?

• Coaches not doing enough to raise awareness and reflect with them?

• Too much pressure on winning distracts from deeper thinking?

• Too much focus on fixing flaws and too little on recognizing strengths?

Emotional Immaturity and Lack of Confidence

At this age, athletic identity is still under construction. Constant comparison with peers or external expectations (family, coach, rankings) can undermine self-confidence.

• Despite the workload, self-efficacy (the inner sense of “I can do this”) may not solidify.

• Losses feel heavier than hours invested, because the athletic ego is fragile.

Distorted Focus: Winning vs. Improving

Often, the implicit message is: “Winning is what matters.” This leads to:

• Disconnection from the process: the athlete doesn’t think “I’ve trained 800 hours,” but rather “I lost in the first round.”

• Progress becomes invisible, because feedback is based solely on results.

Coaches: Not Enough Focus on Awareness

Many coaches focus heavily on what to do, but rarely on what it means:

• Little or no shared reflection on the athlete’s identity, progress, or accumulated experience.

• Errors are corrected, but acquired competencies aren’t celebrated enough.

Low Mental Literacy

Five hours of mental training per month is often not enough to:

• Build true awareness of one’s journey.

• Learn tools for self-reflection, self-assessment, and emotional regulation.

• Deepen key mindsets like work ethic, resilience, and long-term vision.

Over-Correction: The Athlete Doesn’t “See” What They Can Do

When the spotlight is always on what to fix:

• The athlete doesn’t internalize what they already do well.

• They feel never “ready enough” to express themselves, stuck in a constant “work in progress” mindset that chokes confidence during competition.

Final Note: Awareness Must Be Trained — It Doesn’t Happen by Itself

To turn 800 hours into solid performance, we need:

• A multidisciplinary educational approach (coach, mental trainer, parents).

• A clear internal narrative: “Who am I? How far have I come? What am I building?”

• Less obsession with short-term results.

• More value placed on experience, effort, and developed skills.

In the last days, we’ve witnessed some great tennis matches at the Internazionali d’Italia and the outstanding performances of Jasmine Paolini, Sara Errani, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Let’s try to identify the key traits that set these serial winners apart from other equally talented but less successful players.

The difference between serial winners in tennis and talented players who win less frequently lies primarily in mindset. While technical and physical skills are fundamental, it’s the psychological aspect that often makes the real difference in crucial moments.

Characteristics of the Serial Winner’s Mindset

• Handling pressure and emotions – Champions like Novak Djokovic have emphasized the importance of mental stability. Djokovic has stated that his turning point came when he learned to manage his emotions better and quickly bounce back after difficult moments.
• Focus on the process – Tennis players must concentrate on giving their best effort in every point, rather than obsessing over the final outcome. This process-focused approach helps maintain concentration and reduces performance anxiety.
• Positive self-talk – The ability to maintain constructive internal dialogue is essential. “Self-talk” techniques help athletes stay focused and confident during matches.
• Growth-oriented mindset – Champions see every challenge as an opportunity to improve. They develop a mentality that pushes them to exceed their limits through commitment and perseverance.

A study showed that the difference between top players and those ranked around 150 is often minimal: top players win about 51% of points, while the lower-ranked win around 45%. This indicates that small margins can lead to significant differences in results, and mindset can be the decisive factor.

Therefore, while natural talent is important, it’s a winning mindset that allows champions to consistently excel. Through emotional management, process focus, positive self-talk, and a growth-driven mentality, serial winners manage to stand out even in the most critical moments.

In youth sports, both in team and individual disciplines, the dominant approach is still heavily instructional: the coach speaks, and the young athletes execute.
You still see a lot of mechanical repetitions, isolated drills, and very few situations in which the athlete is required to think, choose, and adapt.

But why does this happen, despite modern research and sports pedagogy pointing in the opposite direction?

Traditional Coaching Culture

Many coaches have grown up in a system based on top-down knowledge transmission. This model:

• prioritizes technical repetition;

• is perceived as “orderly” and controllable;

• ignores the cognitive complexity of the game.

Pressure for Short-Term Results

Coaches, managers, and parents often aim for immediate outcomes: winning games, seeing “organized play,” avoiding mistakes. This leads to:

• simplifying instruction into rigid, standardized patterns;

• reducing the athlete’s autonomy;

• excluding or penalizing those who don’t lead to immediate victories;

• stifling creativity.

The focus on results replaces the care for long-term developmental processes.

Lack of Coach Education

Many youth coaches:

• lack in-depth training in active methodologies;

• are unfamiliar with tools like the ecological model, the constraints-led approach, or Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU);

• rely on “successful” adult-level models, which don’t work the same way with young people.

Difficulty Handling Complex Learning

A path that develops game understanding requires:

• time and patience;

• accepting mistakes as part of the process;

• the ability to ask thought-provoking questions, not just give instructions.

Many coaches fear losing control if they open the game to players’ initiative, because active learning can appear chaotic from the outside.

Stereotypes and Misguided Models

In sports media, authoritarian coaches, rigid systems, and “chalkboard” solutions are often glorified. This reinforces the idea that youth sports should follow the same approach, even though children and adolescents don’t need to execute patterns—they need to understand and decide.