I’ve heard it said a thousand different ways, in many different degrees of loudness and in a hundred different whiny or sarcastic voices, “Why can’t I hit that shot?” My favorite one of all time is when I was watching a professional men’s match in Delray Beach and heard a veteran player cry up to his coach who was sitting next to me, “What’s wrong with my backhand?”

Every player has that one stroke or shot that at times can be a weakness and cause them to lose a few points in a match but it’s those players who, from the very first miss, let that weak shot or stroke affect the rest of their games. They are the ones who need to do some fixing. Are you one of those players? Does missing a certain shot cause anger, fear or any other emotion to start entering your game causing you to lose it mentally? You see it even at the pro level, players who are full of fear about a certain shot or stroke. Just look on the women’s side of the draw at the recent French Open. You have players like Dementieva, Safina, and Ivanovic, just to name a few, whose serve is their biggest nightmare. After their very first double fault they lose total confidence in their serve and that fear or anger that is hidden deep inside quickly comes to the surface and they start missing it more and more or just try to spin it in to avoid double faulting. This reaction is usually accompanied by a lot of whining or yelling at themselves or at their box which at times is quite entertaining but mostly embarrassing.

Sometimes it’s a technical problem that can be fixed on the practice court with a lot of disciplined drilling but other times it’s mental. Some players are so mental about a stroke or shot that they even get emotional about it in practice which is detrimental to fixing it. I mean isn’t practice the one place where you are allowed to make mistakes as long as you’re trying to do the right thing? I had a junior player once who’d completely shut down mentally if she missed two or three of the same shot or stroke we were working on. I’d have to constantly change to another shot or stroke just to get her through an entire practice session. Fear that causes nerves which trigger emotions is a recipe for disaster. So how is it you can get over your fear of a shot or stroke?

The good news is that it is fixable as long as you are open-minded and disciplined. The first thing you have to do is go to the practice court and fix any technical issues that may be causing you to miss. Learn everything there is to know about executing the shot properly so you’ll have no doubt in your mind that you are trying to do the right thing. Once you know you are executing everything properly then you must train your mind to be more lenient on yourself when you do miss. There is no reason to beat yourself up especially when you are trying your best. Next you must change your attitude about the shot or stroke and accept the fact that you still will make mistakes from time to time. To help speed along your attitude change, start recording in your memory all the times you execute perfectly or win points off of the shot or stroke. Successful execution in practice and winning points in matches will quickly change that fear you have always had about that certain shot or stroke and turn it into courage. And with courage no shot or stroke in tennis is impossible. Good Luck!