MindServe Coaching

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MindServe Coaching

Train your mind like you train your body
🎾 Mental Performance Coaching for Tennis Players
Former ATP Pro | Sports Psychology Master's

08/06/2026

Be honest.

The day you got injured — what happened to your self-belief?

For most players, it disappears overnight. The court was where you proved to yourself you were good. Take that away and the doubts move in fast.

“What if I come back slower?”
“What if I lose my level?”
“What if I’m not the same player?”

Here’s what most people miss: confidence isn’t built on the court. Confidence is SELF-TRUST. It’s your brain quietly saying — I can handle difficult things.

And self-trust can be trained anywhere. Even when you can’t hit a ball.

Two ways to keep building it while you heal:

1. KEEP THE SMALL PROMISES you make to yourself. The 7:30 wake-up. The rehab session you said you’d do. The workout you scheduled. Every kept promise is a vote for “I can trust me.”

2. DO HARD, UNCOMFORTABLE THINGS ON PURPOSE. Cold shower. Hard gym session. Study something that scares you. Get used to discomfort instead of running from it.

When you walk back onto that court — you won’t feel like a stranger. You’ll feel like someone who’s been training the whole time. Just not in the way everyone expected.

Tell me — what’s the small promise you’re keeping this week while you heal?

mentalperformance tenniscoach injuryrecovery confidence selftrust tennislife competitor performancecoach tennisplayer returntoplay

06/06/2026

Honest question.

After a bad miss — what do you actually say to yourself?
"You're useless." "What a joke." "You always do this." "You don't deserve to win."

Now imagine your best friend missed that same shot. Would you walk up to them on the changeover and say those exact words?

Of course not. You'd never speak to someone you love like that.

So why is it okay to speak to YOU like that?

Here's the truth most players miss: your inner voice isn't background noise. It's instruction. Every sentence you repeat is a small vote for who you're becoming.

Tough self-talk doesn't make you tougher. It makes you smaller. Slower to recover. Quicker to spiral.

What actually works:

→ Be tough on the GAME. Demanding standards. No excuses on effort.
→ Be gentle on the PERSON. The human holding the racket is doing their best with what they know today.

That's not soft. That's elite.
Every player I've worked with at the top has some version of this dialed in. The ones who don't — burn out, choke, or quit.

So tell me: YES, you'd talk to a friend that way? Or NO, you wouldn't?
Comment below. Then notice this week how often you break your own rule.

30/05/2026

When you watch João Fonseca play, it’s impossible not to be blown away.
That forehand? Pure brutality. He can generate as much power as anyone on tour, and when he has time to load up, his forehand is already one of the biggest weapons on the ATP Tour. Add a serve that regularly cracks 200 km/h plus a nasty kick serve, and you see why he’s being talked about as a future world No. 1 and multi–Grand Slam champion.

But what impresses me most isn’t just the highlight-reel stuff.

Go back two years and the blueprint against a 17-year-old Fonseca was pretty clear:
move him, go behind him, use the drop shot. He hit just as big, but he looked more flat-footed. Once you got him defending, he wasn’t the same player.

That game plan doesn’t really work anymore.
Today, João looks lighter on his feet, covers the court beautifully, and defends at a completely different level. Those “small” changes are the product of countless hours of speed, agility, and stability work, done consistently over years. It speaks volumes about his willingness to attack his weaknesses and the commitment of his team day in, day out.

And then there’s his resilience.
Back-to-back comebacks from two sets to love down, one match lasting 3h30, the next — against Djokovic — almost 5 hours. That’s elite physical conditioning and a rock-solid mindset… at just 19 years old.

We’ll see what he has left in the tank for his fourth-round clash with Casper Ruud, but the evolution of his fitness and mentality already screams one thing: this is the foundation of a truly special career.

What part of Fonseca’s game do you think will become his defining trademark — the power, the movement, or the mentality?

28/05/2026

Most players walk onto a court with no plan. Then they wonder why they're not improving.

Here are the 2 rules that separate the players who climb from the players who plateau:

1. ONE GOAL PER SESSION
Pick ONE thing. "Today I work on stepping into the ball." "Today I work on second serve placement." Build every drill around it.

When everything is a priority, nothing is.

2. TRAIN WHAT YOU AVOID
Be honest. The shot you skip in warm-up. The drill you find boring. The pattern you lose points on.
THAT is your next level.

For me it was serving out of a basket. I hated it — felt boring, repetitive, alone. So I avoided it. Then I'd wonder why I couldn't hold serve in tournaments.

Once I started doing 100 serves from a basket, 3x a week — everything changed.

Small improvements compound.
Purposeful practice compounds faster.

Save this. Bring it to your next session.

26/05/2026

New reel up.

Why do some players seem to improve faster than everyone else?

Spoiler: it's not magic.

In this video I break down the 2 things every pro does in practice — and most amateurs skip:

1. A SPECIFIC goal for the session
2. Brutal honesty about what actually needs work

(For me, it was serving out of a basket. I hated it. That's exactly why I had to do it.)

Stop hitting balls.
Start training.

Tap play. Save it. Bring it to your next session.

25/05/2026

You've seen them.

Two players. Same age. Same coach. Same hours on court.

One keeps climbing.
The other plateaus.

It's rarely talent.
It's almost never luck.

It's HOW they practice.

The faster-improving player walks onto the court with:
→ A specific goal for that session
→ Honesty about what their game is missing
→ The willingness to drill the boring stuff

The other one just hits balls.

This week on the feed → exactly how to train like the first one.

21/05/2026

Most players practice in conditions that have NOTHING in common with a real match. Then they wonder why they choke.

Fix it with these 3 drills:

1. STAKES DRILL
Loser of the set does push-ups. Buys dinner. Whatever. The point is — make the result COST something. Your body needs to learn what nerves feel like before tournament day.

2. HANDICAP GAMES
Start every game 0-30 down. One serve per point. Suddenly you're learning to compete from behind, calmly. That's a tournament skill.

3. TIEBREAK-ONLY SETS
Skip the easy holds. Go straight into the high-pressure format from the first ball. Get used to feeling tight AND playing your game anyway.

Pressure is not something that happens TO you on tournament day.
It's a skill.
And like every skill — it's trained.

Save this. Bring it to practice this week.

19/05/2026

New reel up.

Do you know that player who wins every practice set — but can't put it together in a tournament?

Or are you that player?

In this video I break down WHY it happens and what to actually do about it.

Spoiler: it's not about hitting more balls.
It's about training the nerves.

→ Recreate pressure moments in practice
→ Put something on the line every set
→ Stop laughing through changeovers when match week is coming

Your match self can only show up if your practice self has met him before.

Tap play. Save it. Bring it to your next session.

18/05/2026

You know that player.

Crushes every practice set.
Jokes around on changeovers.
Looks like the next big thing.

Then the tournament starts — and it all falls apart.

Maybe that player is you.

Here's why it happens:

Practice is relaxed. You don't worry about misses. You laugh between points. There's nothing on the line.

Tournaments are the opposite. You're tense. You want to perform. You want to win. Every point feels heavy.

So how can you expect to compete on Saturday in a state your body and brain have never trained in?

You can't.

The fix isn't more strokes.
It's more PRESSURE in your practice.

Tomorrow on the feed → 3 drills you can steal.

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Website

https://mindserve-coaching.com/

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