A 0-5 deficit or hours of marathon matches: The US Open shows that mental strength and focus in recreational sports are often more important than the perfect forehand.
In tennis, a match is rarely decided by better technique alone. Anyone who has stood on the court knows the feeling: a few easy mistakes, frustration rises, and suddenly your opponent pulls away out of reach. But the pros at the US Open show that a seemingly hopeless deficit or extreme physical exhaustion is no reason to hang your head. Valuable lessons can be drawn from the dramatic duels in New York for your own training and your next competition.
A particularly impressive example of mental resilience was delivered by Chinese qualifier Qinwen Zheng. According to reports from Tennis Majors and tennisnet.com, she managed the feat of recovering from a 0-5 deficit in two consecutive rounds. First, she turned the game around in the deciding set against Madison Keys, and shortly afterwards, she repeated this comeback in the round of 16 against the favoured Iga Swiatek, winning 7-5 and 6-3.
Zheng explained after the match against Swiatek how she mastered this extreme situation: she focused exclusively on the very next rally. This went so far that at 4-5 in the first set, she had completely forgotten the score. For recreational athletes, this is the most important lesson: if you look too far ahead or dwell on missed opportunities, you lose focus. You need to put the past behind you and treat every rally as a new, isolated game.
How important it is to maintain tactical discipline even when your strength is fading was demonstrated by the marathon match between Botic van de Zandschulp and Arthur Gea. With a playing time of 5 hours and 13 minutes, the match went down in history as the fourth-longest match at the US Open. Gea was on the verge of a historic entry into the quarter-finals, but missed a match point and could not serve out the match on his own serve. Van de Zandschulp capitalised on these small mental wobbles, remained patient, and ultimately took the victory.
Alexander Zverev also demonstrated how important a cool head is during his straight-sets victory against Luciano Darderi. When Darderi grew stronger in the third set and saved himself into the tie-break, Zverev relied on his greatest strength – his serve – and withstood the pressure. When things get tight in your own match, it helps to focus on your basic groundstrokes instead of forcing risky winners.
Often, the pressure we put on ourselves blocks us – whether it is chasing performance class points or promotion in the club league. Elena Rybakina, who was on the verge of jumping to the top of the world rankings at the US Open, formulated a clever approach for dealing with such expectations. She emphasised that the focus must be entirely on winning individual matches. The ranking is merely the automatic consequence of sporting success.
For your next match, this means: block out the table, the strength of your opponent, or possible consequences for your rating completely. Instead, concentrate on your tactics, your footwork, and the clean execution of your shots.
Your takeaway: Block out the score and the table completely and focus in the match exclusively on playing the next ball cleanly over the net.
This article was generated automatically with AI from the sources listed above and has not been editorially reviewed.