In the first episode of the Tennis IQ Podcast, Josh Burger of Tiebreaker Psych LLC and Brian Lomax of PerformanceXtra introduce themselves and explain how they each discovered the theme of tennis being “90% mental” through their own experiences. They discuss the concept of Tennis IQ and the importance of tennis players training the mental side of the game. Josh and Brian also talk about the psychological challenges that tennis players are facing as the sport emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on the ATP and WTA tours reopening including the upcoming US Open and French Open. Lastly, they discuss a few notable examples of top professional tennis players who have displayed exemplary mental toughness when it matters most.

Videos of moments referenced in this episode:

Djokovic-Federer 2011 US Open Semi-Final https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azQemcdCwH4

Nadal-Thiem 2018 US Open QF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9fqjhGooKk

Rafael Nadal Press Conference 2018 https://youtu.be/T4wJIa9C5qk

Nadal-Federer 2006 Rome Final https://youtu.be/eBxOUGw0GIM

5th Set Tiebreaker https://youtu.be/SaPNX0GpHhw

Andreescu-Serena 2019 US Open https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCzsODijnqw&t=1s

Monica Seles Clutch moments

1991 US Open Semifinal vs. Jennifer Capriati - https://youtu.be/t_F-kaemhTc
1993 Australian Open Final vs. Steffi Graf - https://youtu.be/IcWAwd0G0s8


If you’d like to learn more about Tiebreaker Psych LLC go to TiebreakerPsych.com, and to learn more about PerformanceXtra go to PerformanceXtra.com. If you have feedback about the show or questions on the mental game in tennis, email us at  TennisIQPodcast@gmail.com or on Twitter use the hashtag #tennisIQ.