Choking is prominent in all areas of competitive tennis from club standard to the professional circuit.

The lowdown
The subject of choking is very interesting and I hope to shed some light on an experience that happens to every person on the planet when confronted with taking action to get something they really want and definitely don’t want to lose.

Moving feels heavy, like the beginning of a freeze, breathing gets shallower and the desire to go into a shell is high.

Dave on the choking basics
It will always target your weaknesses and exaggerate your insecurities. For instance if you tend to miss forehands under pressure this will generally show up when you are tight and can possibly fall apart.

The finest antidote is competence. If a player is secure in their game they can still perform well when choking. Practice does not make perfect under pressure (no human is) but it can go a long way to producing quality under stress.

A fine example: Andy Murray
Andy Murray used to get very uptight on court especially during longer matches or when he felt he ought to be winning easily but was not, which meant he had to be out there longer so was afraid of the knock on effect and being tired in later rounds.

If he felt he was being overpowered he stressed because he was weaker than many pros. He did not trust his physical abilities enough and this was where stress hit hardest until he took it upon himself to do the extra work and get the right help to attack this weakness and turn it into strength.

He can now focus on playing without a nagging doubt in the background, and therefore no longer chokes because of a weakness. He thus moves and performs better under pressure.

Dave on mentality
Mentally there are two major factors in tackling a choke. Firstly, you need discipline to bring aggression to the table, and secondly the discipline to move and bring energy to the court is crucial.

Dave on Rafa
Here is what Novak Djokovic had to say about Rafael Nadal after their 2009 Monte Carlo final: “You could see him at 5-1 up in the third set, he played like it was 5-all. He really doesn’t care about the result. He just wants to give his best every point.”

Rafa has worked out that aggression and work rate on every point is the best antidote to choking. It is a way of life for him, when he is tight he still has most of this at his disposal. He also continually works hard to improve so his competence is growing all the time.

Dave on discipline
A great competitor is a normal person having the discipline to live in a special way. Nowhere is this mental control more obvious than in the ‘choke moments’. There is no use in being competent if your mind does not order you to be brave.

Dave on belief
A lot is made of BELIEF. Competence is a major foundation of belief. Perhaps Federer is not working as hard as before so his belief – although extremely high in his talent – may not be quite as rock solid in key moments when he has not got the grooved practice hours under the belt. Or the total belief in his fitness as before and this stress often manifests itself on a short forehand where he chokes as he feels he has to finish the point quicker and miss-fires more often than before.

In summary
The key is not to try and not choke – everyone does so. The solution is doing things that improve your ability to perform when you are choking. Plan the way you will face up to the choke and have the discipline to carry out your plan. Strategies are infinite from breathing techniques, visualising, meditation, self-affirmation, and trigger points to religion. The idea is to cope better not to see the plan as a guaranteed win! The objective is to win more often, as even Nadal still chokes and loses occasionally.