The Most Difficult Thing to Do in Tennis

"So … does my child have talent?" I cringe when asked this all too frequent question for a few compelling reasons.

First, I defer to child development experts who agree that, at a very young age, it's virtually impossible to distinguish between real physical talent and precocious development. Most talent evaluations are misleading because a seemingly gifted child may have simply progressed early. Only time reveals the truth, and no tennis pro has a crystal ball.

Next, even if we could identify talent, it's a dangerous quality to focus on as study after study confirms that children who are told they have "talent" are less likely to tolerate failure constructively. Physical talent is largely a threshold for 99.9 percent of players and greater talent for anyone but one in 1,000 players is a weak indicator of the potential for more success. It’s too bad that science and common sense doesn't slow down unethical coaches who "sell the dream" to those eager to buy it. If the sales pitch "Your child has the talent to be a pro, and I'm the only one who can take them there" came with a money-back guarantee, I am sure it would be heard a lot less.

A more responsible way to evaluate the potential of young players is to look for signs of an aptitude to succeed, which is the most difficult thing to do in tennis. Here are a few hints … it's not a stroke, shot or tactic and it's so difficult that even some of the best players in the world are unable to master this skill.

The most challenging thing to do in tennis is to display the mindset to adeptly balance being a great self-conscious student with being an uninhibited performer. For psychology buffs out there, I'm not referring to a "fixed" versus "growth" mindset. I'm assuming that, as a motivated student, you already have a growth mindset and you believe that you will learn and develop. The art of having a mindset of optimal growth requires that you know when to focus on the growth part and when to quiet your mind and "just do it." For clarity, I'm also not referring to the valuable practice of "periodization" in which athletes will undergo dedicated periods or phases to focus on an aspect of their game or to gain recovery. The balance between growth-intensive play and performance-focused play is not a mutually exclusive choice, but an important quality at every step of the way.

The ability to be self-conscious promotes discovering that every mistake is a valuable learning opportunity. Great care must be taken because too much self-awareness undermines performance by causing "paralysis by analysis."

In contrast, great performances result from a reliance on what you know and not what you think.

The best players walk a constant tightrope, displaying efficient learning in practice with effective flow in competition. Therefore, students should hold themselves accountable and be held by coaches to the highest performance standards, while competing but it's important to risk poor performances to learn and grow in practice.

Great talent alone does not create great players. Optimal learning environments and immersion in cultures of success pave the path to achievement. The great champion Martina Navratilova, when asked about how her physical gifts helped her dominate women's tennis, responded, "A lot of players have the talent and the will to compete. Fewer are willing to prepare to win. I did that work."

Talent is the luck of the draw, but achievement is not an accident, it's a choice. Take confidence from your preparation. High purpose leads to high performance.