The Sports
Psychology Blog
This Sports Psychology blog examines the psychological battle fought out on Centre Court between Serena Williams and Daniella Hantuchova. A classic case study in the psychology of sport.
Tennis: Williams v Hantuchova - Will and Fear
It's
Wimbledon ladies fourth round day and Serena Williams and Daniela Hantuchova
are on the centre court. We are approaching a tie break in the second
set, when suddenly, Serena goes down in a heap. After a long delay getting
physio, she is helped up and gingerly picks up her racket. But
she is barely able to walk, never mind run. Her hopes of a third Wimbledon
title are diminishing with every grimace.
It seems Daniela Hantuchova doesn't really know what to do. Should she now be ruthless and put the ball out of Serena's reach? Maybe anger the crowd? Alienate people against her? Or just play it back to Serena out of fairness and sportsmanship? It's a classic psychology of sport dilemma that will come back to haunt her.
Shortly after, the rain comes to send the players to the locker room. The God's have answered Serena's prayers. After the rain break Serena has just one tactic. Power serving. Power returning. Unable to move she simply uses her strength to some effect.
However, Daniela has started to inject some strategy into her play and is using placement to good effect. This fourth round match is hers for the taking.
It's hers until the moment Serena starts to get some life back in her legs. Gradually she starts to move more freely. Then she starts to get fired up. The she starts to believe in herself. You can hear it in her voice. You can see it in her eyes. Then her will starts to kick in. Her will forged at the school of champions.
This is bad news for Daniela. Something has woken up in Serena's subconscious mind. Courage in adversity can trigger powerful psychological reactions. It summons personal history. It draws on the messages drilled home by father Richard. Messages of belief, courage, overcoming the odds, defiance and the spirit of togetherness.
Psychologically Daniela, up to now, has been playing a wounded former champion. She had a strategy to handle that. Now she is playing a wounded and angry former champion. For this she has no strategy. It is not something they teach you at summer tennis camp. You find out there and then, in the middle of the Centre Court, if you have the mental strength to handle it.
As Serena grows stronger, physically and mentally, Daniela gets weaker. She serves to Serena's strengths. It's as if she is magnetically drawn to her. Acquiesing to her power. Emotionally weakened, Daniela has no answers. No strategy anymore. She loses 6-2.
So what, the phone-ins are asking the sports psychologists, could Daniela Hantuchova have done to counter this force of nature?
The moment she sensed that Serena was drawing on a deeper vein of courage and will, the moment she saw Serena's eyes narrow, she should have said to herself, 'Right, Daniela. The situation has changed. How do I deal with what's coming at me? How do I draw on my strengths to deal with this? If she had sports psychology preparation, it would be for moments like these. To prepare her for Change Thinking.
This would have caused Daniela to look deeper into herself and draw on the qualities she was naturally good at. Her guile, athleticism and precision. The qualities she needed right there, right then. She would have consciously alerted herself to what was needed to counter the Williams waves of power. In changing circumstances you need changing thinking.
The Sports Psychology Summary...
Unfortunately Daniela was not thinking that lucidly. She had become emotionally affected.
For now Daniela Hantuchova is out of Wimbledon. But if she sits down and analyses the mental mistakes she made that dramatic Monday afternoon, she will be a better and wiser player for it.
