TennisOne Lessons

Do You Think Like a Winner?

by Jim McLennan, Senior Editor, TennisONE (Former President, USPTA, Northern California), and Carol Blackman

This questionnaire measures your mental toughness. Once you've filled out the questionnaire, you should have a more precise idea of what part of the mental game of tennis you need to work on. TennisONE will feature several columns analyzing each section of the questionnaire.

Do You Think Like a Winner?:
Competitors' Questionnaire

How it Works

Answer the following questions truthfully.

Score each question from 1 to 5:

1 = rarely
2 = seldom
3 = sometime
4 = often
5 = always

Positive Expectation - Self Confidence

1. I really believe in myself as a competitor. _______

2. My confidence is unshakeable. _______

3. I see myself as a winner. _______

4. 1 enjoy big matches & important situations. _______

5. I expect success. _______

6. I perform to the upper limits of my ability. _______

Total _______

Crisis Management - Arousal Control

7. I can manage feelings of anger or frustration. _______

8. As the pressure mounts I play to win. _______

9. 1 don't get nervous or afraid in a match. _______

10. Mistakes don't bum me out. _______

11. I am a cool, calm and collected competitor. _______

12. As the pressure mounts I am inspired to do my best. _______

Total _______

Attention Control - Focus

13. I can control the level of my concentration. _______

14. I concentrate well in any situation. _______

15. 1 don't care what spectators might be thinking. _______

16. 1 easily forget errors and lost opportunities. _______

17. As the match grows tighter my concentration improves. _______

18. I can easily block out interfering thoughts & feelings. _______

Total _______

Attribution Control - Learned Optimism

19. Prior to most matches I expect to play well. _______

20. I focus on remedies rather than causes when losing. _______

21. I expect to become a better tennis player. _______

22. I feel there are no limits to what I can learn. _______

23. I am challenged by new skills and situations. _______

24. I can cope with difficult strategic situations. _______

Total _______


Total your score for each section separately. A score of 25 to 30 is excellent, 19 to 24 adequate, and scores below 19 suggest areas for improvement.

General Background on Questionnaire


Sport psychology has firmly entered the realm of both professional and amateur sports. It was evident that Dan Jansen was applying positive imaging when he fought off all the negative press and produced his incredible performance to win the speed skating gold medal. The positive visualization Jack Nicklaus performs prior to his final round successes has been studied and can be copied by players of nearly any individual sport. And certainly, all the tennis magazines routinely include sports psychology columns within their pages.

Sport psychology concerns getting the most from a player's skills, allowing each athlete to perform in the zone. Everyone agrees that tennis is, at times, a mental game. But how can find about your mental abilities? How can you learn to control you moods and expectations? Most importantly, how can you actually improve your mental game?

"Do You Think Like a Winner?: the Competitors' Questionnaire" is an interactive tool that allows you to understand how you perform in the crunch. It will pinpoint both your strengths and weaknesses. And, it provides a vehicle for you to improve those areas that need work.

The questionnaire measures you mental abilities in four key areas: Positive Expectation, Crisis Management, Attention Control, and Attribution Control. Take a moment and answer each question truthfully. Try and recall how you felt in recent match, and the more important occasion the better. The questions describe actual feelings that you may have had, and detail specific circumstances that actually occur in match play. It is important to be honest, for it will be obvious what each "correct" answer would be.

After you have answered all the questions, total the scores in each section. Then and only then should you proceed to the following explanation of each category.

For analysis of your score on questions 1-6, go to Jim McLennan's Positive Expectation. For analysis on questions 7-12, go to Crisis Management, and for analysis on questions 19-24, go to Attribution Control (the last column will be posted next week).

Copyright 1993 "Competitors' Questionnaire," by Jim McLennan and Carol Blackman. All rights reserved 1993.