WTA « Alberto Cei

Iga Swiatek, tennis No. 1, 20 yrs, undefeated since February, said:

“I remember a time when I was only able to focus for like 40 minutes and suddenly my head was like a pigeon … I was looking everywhere but where I should have been looking.”

We can consider this as the starting point from which she started to improve and become a champion.

It is very important for her not to burn out:“You have to remind yourself that you want to do this for many years on tour,”

Swiatek, a self-described perfectionist, and she and her team are aware that this attitude is certainly helpful but can also become very harmful. Perfection does not exist, and with this approach you risk blaming yourself for every mistake you make and destroying your tennis.

For this reason, she started working mentally with psychologist Daria Abramowicz, who follows her full-time, because sports psychology is most effective when applied during everyday life and not during visits to the Warsaw studio. “For me it is much, much easier to trust someone who is close to me all the time.”

An important goal is to maintain a work-life balance. For this reason, he has cut back on doubles matches and allows himself more time for tourism in the cities he visits.

His routine is his support system. “No matter how much storm there is going on around, there’s always an eye of the hurricane that has to be calm; this core that has to be always the same.”

He also uses visualization and breathing exercises, which he performs during changes with a towel over his head.

For her 20th birthday, her team gave her 20 books, all in Polish, and the topics of the 20 books vary widely: from books about talent to literary classics. “I feel weird sometimes when I don’t read for a few days … Because I feel like, Oh, that’s a signal I don’t have the balance in my life I should have.”

Swiatek analyzes defeats to learn from her mistakes. He insisted on also looking at victories to focus on his strengths. “This kind of attitude has helped me believe that I can be more aggressive on the court and take advantage of my strengths.”

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In Italy we have a problem in Female tennis, because we not players among the top 50 in the world ranking and only y2 two among the top 100. A disaster and, above all, the inability to build a winning movement starting from the successes of the gold cycle of Pennetta and company. Beyond organizational matters and the early introduction of young in the tournament circuits, I am convinced that one of the aspects limiting the development of tennis players is the lack of integration of psychological component in training and in physical preparation.

Tennis is a complex sport in which physical reactivity protracted in time, mental readiness and determination and technical-tactical skills are used during each point. I wonder, too, because there are no data about but only personal experience, if these components are trained by coaches with the same determination that is then asked the players. In my opinion, this approach is flawed, the girls (but this is also true for males)pay much more attenzione to hit the ball and to win the game rather than being tough and determined.

My question is: how much time is dedicated in training to build the toughness and determination compared to the time devoted to the development of the technique and game?

I remember the words that Roberta Vinci was repeated while playing the game, then won, against Serena Williams: “run and throw it in there.” In other words, she continually motivated to be focused on the present. How many training sessions are conducted with this approach?

The winning mentality is not formed at a table but through a coordinated training on these aspects. The same is true for the physical preparation of the tennis player how much care is given to stimulate attention, motivation and toughness during the sessions? In my opinion, there is not attention at these aspects, except maybe one that spontaneously the coach and the athlete can take.

This approach to training requires close collaboration between physical coach, psychologist and coach. There are people with this kind of interest?

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