Mental strategies for winning big points

I've worked with 100+ Olympic athletes and discovered something shocking: Elite performance isn't about talent. It's about overcoming 7 critical mental barriers that BLOCK peak performance. Here's what I learned 🧵👇 2/ First, let me be clear: At the highest level, skill gaps are TINY. What separates champions isn't physical ability - it's mastering the mental game. These barriers silently kill potential. Most athletes don't realize it. Barrier 1: Self-Doubt This is the biggest killer I've seen. It makes athletes question: • Their belonging • Their abilities • Their right to compete But here's the truth: Self-doubt is manageable. How to beat self-doubt: 1. Focus on preparation (what you've ALREADY done) 2. Challenge negative self-talk with evidence 3. Build a "success bank" of past wins I've seen this transform athletes from doubters to closers in clutch moments. Barrier 2: Distracted Thoughts Focus is EVERYTHING in elite sports. But here's what most don't realize: Even Olympic athletes struggle with performance anxiety. The key? Having a system to stay locked in. The Focus Formula: 1. Create a pre-performance routine 2. Practice mindfulness daily 3. Use ONE focal cue (like "quick feet") I've seen athletes go from scattered to sharp using these three steps. Remember: Focus is a SKILL, not a talent. Barrier 3: Performance Anxiety The silent performance killer. It creates a vicious cycle: • Worry about mistakes • Make more mistakes • Worry more But here's what champions do differently: Anxiety Management Blueprint: 1. Reframe nerves as excitement 2. Breathe to regulate your physiology 3. Focus ONLY on controllables Barrier 4: Fear of Others' Opinions FOPO paralyzes even elite athletes. The truth? When you're worried about others, you can't trust yourself. The FOPO Fix: 1. Ask: "What's in MY control?" 2. Build unshakeable self-belief 3. Master self-awareness Remember: Caring less about opinions isn't selfish - it's necessary for peak performance. Barrier 5: Leadership Conflicts Fact: This is the #1 stressor for Olympians at the Games. It destroys focus and creates mental noise. But there's a solution: • Direct communication • Control what you can • See feedback as growth Barrier 6: Limiting Beliefs The invisible walls holding you back. Common thoughts: "I'll never..." "I should be better..." "I can't..." Here's how champions break through: Limiting Belief Breakers: 1. Challenge thoughts with "Is this true?" 2. Focus on progress, not perfection 3. Build a strength-focused support system Barrier 7: Mistake Management Here's what most get wrong: Thinking about mistakes ≠ Fixing mistakes The champion's way: 1. Have a reset routine 2. Evaluate without emotion 3. Next play mentality The truth about mental barriers: They're not permanent. They're not personal. They're not insurmountable. They're challenges waiting to be overcome. Want to perform like a champion? Pick 1 barrier. Take 1 action. Start.

The toughest moment in sports isn’t a grueling workout or fierce competition. It's the instant right after you mess up—a missed shot, a dropped ball, a critical mistake. Why? Your brain immediately spirals into panic. And it's really hard to escape that. Even for the best. Rory McIlroy's near-collapse at The Masters shows exactly this: even champions face moments of spiraling doubt. But they figure out how to navigate it. That single mistake can trigger an "action crisis". Our focus shifts from the present task to the past failure, from executing the next play to replaying the last one. Negative thoughts snowball – "I blew it," "I can't recover," "It's over". This internal debate between persisting and giving up drains mental energy and primes our bodies for a threat response, making refocusing exponentially harder. Why do we choke or spiral after a screw-up? As I write about in Win the Inside Game, our sense of self, our identity, feels threatened by the failure. Our brain, a prediction machine, gets stuck in a loop: it anticipates disaster (loss of status, humiliation), overweights negative signals, and ignores information that contradicts the doom narrative. This misalignment between reality and prediction fuels the downward slide. We've got to re-align our brain with a better reality. We've got to get out of that fear and survive mode. Here's how: 1. Approach, Don't Avoid Your brain, when threatened by mistakes, naturally tries to avoid repeating the error. Yet avoidance heightens anxiety and narrows your focus on the mistake. Adopt an approach-oriented mindset: focusing on what they want to achieve, not on what they're afraid might happen. Always ask, "What am I moving towards right now?" “It’s much better to play to win. If you play to win and you don’t hit the shot that you want to hit, I think you can live with that. But if you play not to — if you play to not lose, you’re never really giving yourself the best opportunity, and that’s hard to swallow." 2. Find control. Have a "reset ritual." Rafael Nadal has his "towel-off" ritual between acts. It could be a deep breath, adjusting gear, or a simple phrase whispered to oneself. Routines bring back control. This consistent action sends a clear signal to your brain: the past moment is over—time to anchor yourself in the present and focus on what's next. When we feel like we're losing control, our inner alarm screams. Grasp on to the smallest thing you can do to re-establish control. 3. Slow Down. Respond Instead of React Researchers found during penalty shootouts in soccer, players who missed shots tended to shoot quicker and look away from the goalie. The stress and anxiety that came with the pressure push the athletes to escape, to get it over with it, to put an end to the situation by getting the heck out of there. Those who tended to score took longer to shoot, they slowed things down, and basically approached the situation instead of avoiding it.

How do you win when everything feels off on the court? I have an answer for you. It has been given to me by the greatest of the sport. On your worst days, the mindset makes the champion. The difference between champions and the rest lies in their ability to win even when they’re playing their worst tennis. They don’t chase the feeling of playing great—that’s a mistake most players make. Instead, they focus on what’s in their control. My number one advice: stop focusing on yourself and your struggles. Shift your attention to the strategy needed to win points with the game you have today. The moment you dwell on your own problems, you lose focus on your opponent. Winning isn't about feeling good—it's about staying tactical and precise with what you have in the moment. Second, the way you talk to yourself, your body language and attitude are everything. The way you carry yourself comes directly from your internal dialogue. Champions find ways to talk to themselves in a way that fuels positive body language, which keeps their mindset sharp and focused. By mastering these two things—strategy and inner talk—they rise above the bad days and find ways to win. Control what you can, and let go of what you can’t. That’s how champions prevail, no matter how they feel on the court. #PatrickMouratoglou #TennisMindset #tennis #sports

"Perfection is impossible. In the 1526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80% of those matches. But what percentage of points did I win? Only 54%. In other words, even top ranked tennis players win barely more than half the points they play. When you lose ever second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot. You teach yourself to think: "Okay, I double faulted...it's only a point." "Okay, I came to the net and I got passed again...it's only a point." Even a great shot, an overhead backhand smash that ends up on ESPN's top 10 playlist – that too is just a point. Here's why I'm telling you this: When you're playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world — and it is. But when it's behind you, it's behind you. This mindset is really crucial – because it frees you to fully commit to the next point with intensity, clarity, and focus." — Roger Federer