The Players’ Box

With the structure of this sport is really easy to fall into a result-oriented way of thinking and that could hurt the self-esteem and mental health of a player causing depression, anxiety, losing motivation, etc. This is one reason why is so important to take care of your mind if you want to have a long term and healthy career.

"Be happy. If you're successful but unhappy, that's emptiness.” McEnroe

I have seen and lived closely how stressful can be playing on the ITF circuit, week after week trying to get through every filter with the primary goal of breaking into the top 100. And to be honest, being a student athlete has some similarity to it in some aspects, just with a lot more material benefits and human resources behind the athletes, which yes for sure it can help to ease some pressure off their shoulders, definitely. But student-athletes also have a lot in their plates to take care of, and what I’ve learned this past season is that managing time and guiding people is way more important than teaching the athlete a new skill on the court. It takes patience, empathy and compassion to help players get through their own challenges. Despite having a rough first season, I kind of grateful because it taught me what should be done and what shouldn’t, so I’m excited to face a new season with that experience in my pocket.

Dealing with failure is never easy but it just depends on how you look at the situation. Mindfulness might be a good way to handle the pressure and take advantage of the moment, start your daily practice. 

Guided meditation by Mashable.com

Follow along

This Sunday's episode includes a little bit of art, a little bit of science and logic, and a little bit of history. A combination of life and tennis. 

Here are the links to read full articles:

Like most things we enjoy, especially ones that take a certain amount of energy, sooner or later our batteries run low. Mentally or physically, the well runs dry. We get to the point where not looking forward to playing, quality of play, the possibility of fatigue injuries and burnout rise to the surface.

So our discussion today is why and when is it a good time to step back a little from the game and recharge our batteries. This isn’t a black and white moment. What’s good for you might not work for someone else. However, for your overall map of player development and continuity, it is vital to know when these moments come into play for you.

If you are going to a match and the odds aren't in your favor, what do you lose by changing tactics? 

Try something unexpected if you are not feeling confident. 

Maria Fernanda Alvarez is a former tennis player from Bolivia

Álvarez was ranked No. 15 in ITF junior rankings in 2007. She won tournaments including doubles at the Copa Gatorade, Copa Milo in singles, Méditerranée Avenir in doubles Raquette D'Or, Riad 21, both in singles, and 21st Copa Gerdau and Condor de Plata, both in doubles.

Conversation with Maria Lopez, women's tennis coach at Boise State University. 

Being on a Pro Tennis Tour Means Accepting Failure.

According to data provided by ATPWorldTour.com, 567 men have played at least 200 matches in its 45-year history, and only 277 of them have a positive win-loss record. According to the WTA Tour, 320 women have played at least 200 matches, and only 169 have a winning record. If you reduce the criteria to 100-plus matches, then only 291 of 819 men have a better than .500 percentage, while on the women’s tour, it is 186 of 563.

So where do you put your focus if you know you are going to lose more that you will win? 

Tennis players go through massive time of isolation during their careers. Sometimes it could become a very lonely journey. And that's why many time players fall in the wrong environments and/or wrong hands. ⁠

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🎧In this podcast, I share from my point of view what factors are important to be aware of in the environment where you are or you choose to be at and factors that also depend on your decisions. ⁠

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The clearer you are in what you want to achieve or why you play the sport is one of the keys, from there you are more likely to recognise if you are in a good environment or not, if you are surrounded with good people or not. So define that first.⁠

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Listen to this episode and let me know what are your thoughts about this topic!!⁠

This month and the next month we will be running webinars with different experts, talking about any aspect of the game. Stay tuned to find out more about this!

How will you describe a good coach? Which qualities he or she needs to have?

A little taste from the E-Book of Alexander Alvarez - Sport Mental Coach.  For the purpose of the manual, these features have been divided into four factors - such as the four legs of a table. The model designed in this manual is based on 4 factors:

1. A coach's work philosophy
   
2. His type of leadership
   
3. His communicational and conflict resolution style
   
4. The way in which motivates the player.
   

These four factors are interconnected, in such a way that they work as a system. If any of them have a fault, the complete system reports the fault.

Shot selection can be explained really simple. It's our ability to hit the right shot at the right time, directing the tennis ball to the right place on the opponents court. We use the court geometry in our favor.

“Losses at the intermediate to advanced levels of the game are not solely due to stroke technique, but most often poor shot selection, which leads to unforced errors. ”

Click this link to read our new blog post about Shot Selection. 

FOR ENGLISH SPEAKERS GO ON YOUTUBE TO LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE WITH SUBTITLES

Together with sports psychologist Alexander Alvarez, we discussed how a tennis player can maintain a stable level of confidence. Knowing that the thing that increases confidence is winning, and that sports science has not yet achieved anything that increases the confidence of an athlete, we enter into a debate between factors that, if it is demonstrated that they can provide a solid basis to maintain player with a high confidence level even when he loses.

Junto con el psicólogo deportivo Alexander Alvarez, hablamos de cómo un jugador de tenis puede mantener un nivel de confianza estable. Sabiendo que lo que más eleva la confianza es ganar, y que la ciencia del deporte aun no ha conseguido algo más que aumente la confianza de un atleta, entramos en un debate entre factores que si está demostrado que pueden proporcionar una base solida para mantener al jugador con un nivel de confianza alto aún cuando pierde.

Instagram Live con Milagros Sequera. Ícono del tenis venezolano. 26.04.2020

Sequera se unió al WTA Tour en 1999 y ocupó el puesto 48 del mundo en julio de 2007. Su entrenador fue Larry Willens. Fue introducida al juego a la edad de siete años. Su superficie favorita era la pista dura.

Ganó su primer título en Fez, Marruecos, en mayo de 2007, derrotando a Aleksandra Wozniak en la final.

Sequera ganó la medalla de oro en los Juegos Panamericanos 2003 en Santo Domingo, República Dominicana, ganando la final 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 contra Sarah Taylor, y nuevamente en los Juegos Panamericanos 2007 en Río de Janeiro, Brasil. , ganando la final 3-6, 7-6, 6-1 contra Mariana Duque Marino.

Sequera se retiró del tenis profesional 2009.