mental conditioning

Mental conditioning is about embarking on a process-driven approach towards excellence rather than a result-oriented approach. It involves an intricate system where the athlete breaks down his processes into little goal affirmations. “Players who I work with come to me with a result perspective, often frustrated about things that don’t work for them, and there’s the disappointment of defeat that goes with it,” says Narayan in a Skype interview. His job is to break down this black and white big-picture approach, based simply on whether the player is winning or losing, to a more step-by-step process. “My job is to define specific achievable goals, and ensuring no compromise in the same,” Narayan says. In modern tennis, given its highly competitive, high-stakes nature, every bit of information helps, even if it’s a minute detail of his/her opponent’s weaknesses. “Part of the process is gauging the opponent and exploiting every possible chink in his or her armour to help my players,” Narayan says. “We micro-analyse points, both big (important) and small, and devise a response to the same, to improve the players decision making at that moment,” says Narayan. His techniques over the years have included an entire change of a player’s demeanour on court, firming up mannerisms and body language, and thereby giving nothing away. “A player who I currently work with had serious problems in beating a modern-day tennis legend,” Narayan says. “It was a pretty one-sided contest against him, and he lost the battle even before he would set foot on court. We worked on a strategy that would change the way he walked on to court, the body language had to improve, so no looking face-to-face, and even the way he shook hands with the player had to change, just to improve his confidence. “These things might seem superficial, but this is what competitive sport is all about, an attention to detail,” he says. Other techniques involve notes or chits during changeovers to reinforce pre-set goals, or even the strategic use of bathroom breaks or Hawk-Eye challenges to disrupt the opponent’s momentum. “It is an open secret in the circuit that most top players use the review/challenge system tactically,” Narayan says. “A review technically takes anytime between 1 or 2 minutes, and that time is used to get your breath back, and quietly reinforce your goals. One of the most interesting mental battles we’ve witnessed in tennis today is “the endless match” involving John Isner (US) and Nicolas Mahut (France)—a first-round match in the 2010 Wimbledon that lasted two days and broke most tennis records with the final set itself lasting over 8 hours. The curiosity of a viewer prompted me to ask Narayan for a quick take on how the duo worked their minds overtime in a quest to overcome each other. He says, “After a point in that fifth set, both players were starting to go through the motions and at a time when the body said enough, the mind didn’t.” Narayan describes this set as one that eventually moved towards a clash of affirmations. “At a subconscious level, both players knew they were writing history. For Mahut, no one had heard of him and all of a sudden, his motivation was about dragging this forever and entering the record books. For Isner, the longer it went, it was doing everything to move into the next round. Isner’s positive affirmation won in the end,” he says. The use of media also plays an important role in competitive sport. Narayan calls the press conference venue “the affirmation room”, where statements are made in a way intended to sow a seed of doubt in the opponent’s mind. The mental battles start much before the battle on court. The technique he refers to as “faking it before making it”, involves the player reinforcing himself, exuding a good deal of confidence in his own abilities, talking up his own record against the opponent and quietly throwing the ball to the opponent’s court. It’s a carefully calibrated technique, where praise and respect for the opponent is often visible, but is overshadowed by a belief in the player’s own abilities. “You neutralize the advantage by reaffirmation. What you essentially do is plant a seed of doubt in your opponent’s mind at the conscious level. You know you’re going for it, but you won’t say it in as many terms,” says Narayan.