"Hold on, I need to fix my hair, I need to adjust my shorts," Tsonga explains Nadal's routine
In the podcast created by Kevin Ferreira, Tsonga discussed the topic of mental preparation in tennis. To illustrate his point, the Frenchman used the example of the legendary Rafael Nadal, whose routine is widely known:
"If I tell you not to think about an elephant, the first thing that comes to your mind is an elephant. The brain is wired to think constantly. If tomorrow you dwell on the point you missed, the only way to stop thinking about it is to force yourself to focus on something else. It could be telling yourself: 'Hold on, I need to fix my hair, I need to adjust my shorts'—because we were talking about Rafael Nadal and his habits.
The guy is smart; if it didn’t serve a purpose, he would’ve stopped long ago. For him, it’s his routine, his perfect match is when his routine is complete. When he does it with confidence, he forgets what happened before. He’s ready to play the next point, and that’s something I understood too late."
The Spaniard is a player Tsonga knows well, having faced him 14 times on the tour, with a record of 4 wins and 10 losses.
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