US OPEN, USA

[10] Madison Keys (USA) vs. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)

In any sport, the objective is to win. To win you have to understand how not to lose.  The first thing you need to do is evaluate your attitude.  Do you have the attitude of a winner or a loser?  A winner plays to win no matter the obstacles; while a loser will play afraid of losing. The minute you think that you may lose in tennis is the moment you have already lost the match.  In individual sports where there is no one to cover your mistakes or your moment(s) of distraction, you have to remain focused on your objective.  If you lose a point or a game, you have to quickly push the disappointment aside and refocus on your objective.  Emotional or mental distraction is probably the worst enemy of a tennis player, especially if you do not know how to channel your emotions to create a positive result. 

Getting angry or anxious does nothing but cloud your mind and your judgment, which results in poor decisions and ill-advised shot selections. You have to be vigilant for opportunities, and while you must be aggressive and attack when the opportunity presents, you cannot make panicked shots.  There is a certain calmness that comes when you trust your game.  That means, you trust your body to stay in long rallies and you trust that you will win the point if you work it correctly. That calmness was present in Wozniacki today, something she had in abundance when she was ranked number one on the WTA Tour.  She trusted her body and her game.  Even though Keys had the bigger weapons, Wozniacki played to win.  She worked the points beautifully and when the opportunity presented, she attacked, catching Keys off-guard quite frequently. With the 6-3, 6-4 victory, she is back in the quarterfinals of the US Open.