Sports Psychology

Sports are supposed to be fun. They are a recreational activity and they give a person the chance to use their body, and find zest and excitement in life. When the young tennis player starts out, they fall in love with the game and can’t get enough of it. But after a period of time, they become...Read more

I hear it all the time...a parent, coach, friend, or even the athlete themselves explain away poor behavior because “they are so competitive”. Or, “they don’t like to lose!” Now, in the most extreme cases, a player will get defaulted in a match. This happened to John McEnroe in the 1990 Australian...Read more

One of the great myths in sports is that great athletes are “dumb jocks”. This could not be further from the truth. I have been lucky enough to work with and know some of the best athletes on earth, and one thing they all have in common is keen intelligence. I’ve administered 100’s of full-length...Read more

Even though it’s rarely talked about, guilt is one of these hidden emotions that influences many athletes, whether they are amateurs or pros. Guilt is felt when a tennis player pities are weaker opponent, or when a player fails to win a match and chastises themselves with self-ridicule. If a player...Read more

Every year I receive numerous calls from college freshmen who seemingly out of the blue have lost their feel, instincts and confidence. Their mental game used to be reliable but now they are experiencing anxiousness, anger and an unstable attitude playing for their new team. They can’t believe what...Read more

In any sport, all the greats have one thing in common: an iron will to win. Tom Brady in football, Wayne Gretzky in hockey and Michael Jordan in basketball are all examples of players who were not physically imposing, but they all had that fire in the belly that makes for greatness. Roger Federer...Read more

When watching professional tennis, there are so many great players to watch and emulate. Conversely, there are also other players not worthy of copying especially regarding the mental game. This article is not about calling out professional players that sabotage their games by disrespecting...Read more

We have all experienced it…that time when our game was just not clicking and you felt a little off. Maybe it was your serve? Maybe it was the forehand or volley? So what did you do? If you’re like most players, you went out to the courts with a hopper of balls and drilled serves until your arm felt...Read more

This article is Part Two in a 10-part series from Dr. Tom Ferraro. Click Here to read Part One . Over the years I have learned a key intervention that helps tennis players in their effort to win is anticipating any and all problems that will occur during an event and preparing a reaction to it...Read more

Tennis fans were treated to a special Men’s Singles Finals at the 2022 Australian Open between Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev; we all witnessed an incredible comeback. Nadal was down two sets and faced triple breakpoint at 2-3 in the third set. Nadal was clearly being pushed around by Medvedev...Read more