What if the biggest opponent you face on the tennis court isn’t standing across the net, but living inside your head?
Every player knows that sinking feeling when nerves take over—sweaty palms before a crucial serve, overthinking a simple volley, or watching a commanding lead slip away as pressure mounts. In this game-changing episode of Between The Points Podcast, we dive deep into the mental battlefield of tennis with PhD candidate Noah Phillips, who reveals the fascinating science behind why our brains betray us under pressure—and more importantly, the proven strategies champions use to turn mental weakness into their greatest weapon. Whether you’re choking on match points or helping your players overcome court anxiety, this conversation will completely transform how you think about the mental game.
In this episode, Noah and I talked about…
- Where do nerves come from.
- Babies and snakes
- What can we do to get nerves on the tennis court to help us.
- Worrying about things that we can’t control.
- Process over outcome and how to believe in the process.
- How a sports psychologist or mental coach helps an athlete.
- You’re up 40-30, the nerves come in, what to do.
- The root of anger on the tennis court.
- Post-match evaluation to help us stay focused and excited.
- Rapid-fire questions.
Find Noah on Instagram here.
My Instagram…
Listen on Itunes here…
see you between the points,
Coach Greg
P.S. We’ve been talking about the mental game in this episode, on the flip side is strategy. I learned from Craig O’Shannessy (leading ATP/WTA coach who worked with Djokovic) that 0-4 shots in tennis happen 70% of the time, and the players who wins that category win 91% of the time. That’s why I created the Serve +1 game to help us improve in that category. Do it 10-15 minutes every time you step out on the court and see your UTR rating improve by a point in 3 months. Enter your name and email on the form below and I’ll send you a video on how to play it. And some other goodies.
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