Are you tired of l
osing matches you should have won?
Frustrated because you lose to players you know you should have beaten?
Sick and tired of CHOKING on key points?
Look, despite what you've been told, the solution is not hitting thousands more balls --- or spending countless hours doing drills on the practice court.
In fact, that's precisely the WRONG strategy.
I should know.
You see, I’ve been playing tennis at a high standard since I was 5 years old and have won many times.
I've also lost my fair share of matches I should have have won. One in particular sticks out in my mind.
It was Army Number 1 vs. Royal Air Force Number 1 on the famous grass courts of Wimbledon (court number 6 closest to the ivy-covered club house.
I was the underdog in my match --- I wasn’t expected to win or even come close.
But I got to 40/15 in the final set, with TWO match points.
A huge crowd had gathered. The Army cheering me on. The RAF backing their man.
I was just one point away.
I served wide, came into the net and volleyed his return deep down the middle of the court.
He had no angle, so I was just waiting at the net to finish things off. I even had time to think about what everyone would say afterwards.
I could have volleyed it ANYWHERE in the court and won the match.
Instead, his backhand hit the net strap, and incredibly, the ball bounced over my racquet.
I imploded everywhere --- heart, mind, body.
The next few minutes were a whirl... I can’t remember one single point.
But I do remember the umpire singing out:
"Game, Set, Match, Flight... Lieutenant Peter Harding!"
The agony of that defeat has lingered for decades. Every time I visit the grounds, I have flashbacks. The feelings are still as raw today as they were then --- and that was 43 years ago!
Fast forward to a few years ago, I had an epiphany.
No one was teaching how to win big points under pressure... how to perform your best when it matters most.
To uncover the answers, I turned to the elite British Army Special Forces --- the world’s best at operating under pressure. We're talking live-or-die combat situations in combat where there's no chance for replays or do-overs.
Initially I thought it would be easy to take the Special Forces training, re-purpose it, and apply it to the game of tennis.
Turns out I was wrong. It took me years to figure it out, and I nearly quit several times.
But eventually, with the help of a world class advisory team --- including tennis coaches with international reputations, clinical sports psychologists, neuroscientists, a Kung Fu master and other experts in pressurised combat situations --- I was able to decode the Special Forces training into a program exclusively for tennis.
Then I put it to test with my students.
The results?
