Women's Semifinalists:
Pre-Match Psycho-profiles
by Dr. Roland A. Carlstedt
Martina Hingis versus Serena Williams
Hingis is the most mentally tough
players on the WTA tour but it may not be enough to blunt Serena's power
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Martina Hingis
Without a doubt Martina Hingis is one of the most mentally tough
players on the WTA tour. In this era of the "big girls" Martina
seems diminutive. However, Martina has an incredible heart, the heart and
soul of a fighter who hates to lose but has come to recognize that even
her mental game on some-to-most occasions against the Amazons of women's
tennis comes up SHORT and can only with difficulty fend off the power
games of most of her major rivals. Nevertheless, you will always see
Martina looking for a way to win, strategizing to gain an advantage for a
moment, even resorting to psycho-tricks (see my article on Mental
Time Bombs) off the court in hopes of getting the upper hand.
Hingis, even as a young pre-teenager, was more cunning than her older
and bigger opponents relying on a chess-like style of tennis to out
maneuver them. Hingis is the most tennis-intelligent player on the women's
tour. What remains to be seen is whether she can use this intelligence to
improve her physical game an absolute must if she is ever to win another
Grand Slam event.
Serena Williams
I am fairly critical of Serena Williams' (and Venus') mental game and,
despite all the hype about her (their) mental toughness, I find such talk
a diversion and facade. Her (their) underlying mental frailties have
emerged
constantly over the years, most recently in Serena's quarterfinal
match against Davenport who essentially allowed Serena to win. Serena was
not capable of taking the match much earlier when she had numerous
opportunities. What we witnessed was a seesaw back and forth type match,
the kind you see on the public courts where players are both afraid to win
and lose, leading to breakdowns of strokes. Although both players made
some big shots at important times in this match, we should not forget that
they never should have been in the situations they were in.
She has all the tools but to beat Martina, Serena will have to
maintain concentration
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Mentally tough players do not allow large fluctuations in performance
as frequently as Serena (and Venus). As even she and Venus have admitted
(see below), having the size and athleticism they do, they should never
have to struggle against those smaller, slower, and less powerful girls,
let alone lose to them. Richard Williams himself has mocked his girls, as
a motivational ploy, saying they should be ashamed of losing to
"little girls," or not blowing them off the court.
Even though losses are becoming more rare, most of Serena's matches are
replete with mental lapses leading to poor play. Usually it's the
physicality of Serena's game that comes to her rescue. Although you could
argue that the ability to lift her mental game and turn it on when it
counts makes her mentally tough, I contend that one of the key ingredients
of mental toughness is psychological consistency in numerous categories
including concentration, tennis intelligence, and having control of one's
motor system. Knowing you have the big serve or booming groundstrokes to
bail you out certainly helps your confidence but should not be confused
with overall mental toughness.
More on mental toughness criteria at the end of the year in my annual
psychological world rankings.
Forecast
Despite her superior mental toughness I don't think Hingis' game can
damage Serena. In this match I think we will see power and physical skills
prevail over court savvy with Serena winning in three. Martina's only
chance is to win the first set and hope Serena will lose her concentration
as she often does. To win on her own accord Hingis' will have to play
flawless tennis from the get go.
Venus Williams versus Jennifer Capriati
Venus has the potential to be the most dominating
player ever but the game
must take on a more important role in her life.
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Venus Williams:
See above. Most of what I have said about Serena applies to Venus as
well, although I believe Venus has the potential to be the most dominating
player ever psychologically and of course, physically/technically. However,
this will only occur once tennis becomes more meaningful to her. The game
must take on a more important role in her life.
Crucial also is that she encounters constant big time competition, and I'm not talking about
matches of low quality with so-called rivals; rather matches in which she is
beaten by an opponent's skill and not because she decided to check out early
mentally, or didn't prepare properly, as was the case last year when Hingis
"beat" her by some laughable score. She needs to be motivated to give her best,
something that probably will only happen once a real rivalry develops,
and not with her sister. Jennifer Capriati could be that rival.
Jennifer Capriati:
Capriati is mentally tough at this juncture and has the game to support her psyche
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What can I say. The mental qualities she has displayed are stellar.
Jennifer is a role model for anyone who has been down in the dumps. After years
of bouncing around on tour after her burnout phase, she has finally realized
what tennis means to her health and well-being. She is at that place
Venus needs to reach. I am not saying that Venus needs to fall on her face
like Capriati did, just that she needs to experience a sort of tennis or
life adversity before she will really appreciate what the game means to her,
and what her game means to her fans, and the game itself. A rival like
Jennifer could expedite Venus' entry into this tennis ZONE.
Getting back to Capriati, she is very mentally tough at this juncture
of her career. She also has the game to support her psyche and vice versa. She
is in harmony currently, her mind-body mechanisms are totally in synch most
of the time. Short-term we can expect great things from Jennifer, even winning
tomorrow and the Open her third Grand Slam win this year.
Long-term an extreme personality like Capriati must always guard against those
demons that potentially still lie dormant. Persons who have been traumatized and
abused drugs are vulnerable to relapse once fulfillment in their lives erodes
(say getting bored with tennis at some point). Such can lead to depression
and the need to get that certain feeling back. Let's hope Jennifer guards
against this, or at least is aware of the danger and has a long tennis career
and happy family life thereafter. We all wish her the best.
Forecast
Capriati in 2 sets if she wins the first set. A toss-up if
she losses the first set. Overall I give her the mental edge but am aware
that Venus sees Jennifer as a legitimate rival who is almost on par with her
physically. Hence Venus will be on guard and should play her best
tennis tomorrow.
Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you about think
this article by emailing
us here at TennisONE.
Dr. Roland A. Carlstedt has followed the professional
tennis tours since 1985, fulltime from 1989-1998 in which he on average
attended 25 tournaments a year including all Grand Slam events and
important Davis Cup ties. During this time he complied perhaps the most
extensive database in existence on the psychological performance,
tendencies, and profiles of most ATP and WTA players. His annual
Psychological World Rankings for Tennis have been published since 1991
more than 500 times in over 40 countries. His rankings and data are based
on his Psychological Observation System for Tennis. Interestingly his 2000
rankings which were released prior to the 2001 Australian Open had 2 of 4
semifinalists and 8 of 16 quarterfinalists on them including such unlikely
players as Arnaud Clement and Sebastian Grossjean. His 2001 rankings will
appear in TennisONE at the end of the year.
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