Mali Mental Performance

Mali Mental Performance Evidence-based sport psychology for tennis players and athletes.

“My mind was bouncing off the walls.”Comment “play” and I’ll send you a place to enter your email so you can get the fre...
29/07/2026

“My mind was bouncing off the walls.”

Comment “play” and I’ll send you a place to enter your email so you can get the free email course.

Struggling to deal with negative thoughts when competing? Comment “negative” on this post and I’ll DM you the article wh...
25/07/2026

Struggling to deal with negative thoughts when competing? Comment “negative” on this post and I’ll DM you the article where I explain why it happens and 1 method to overcome it.

Tired of playing scared tennis in matches? Comment “nervous” on this post and I’ll DM you the article where I break down...
16/07/2026

Tired of playing scared tennis in matches? Comment “nervous” on this post and I’ll DM you the article where I break down why this happens and what you can do about it.

06/07/2026

[Comment "play" and I'll DM you a way to join]

Yes, playing more matches can help because an athlete can become emotionally habituated to the environment! But... often that's not enough. That's why so many clients I work with have heard this cliché advice but still struggle.

It's because they've not been taught and don't know how to use psychological skills to mange their mind, body, and their attention. That's what a mental performance/applied sport psychology professional does.

05/07/2026

The players I work with who are playing at a high collegiate or professional level are usually those who are incredibly harsh on themselves. That’s where self-compassion can be so different for them...

I know Jodie and Justin disagree and say different things work for them later on in the video. I’ll probably make a reaction reel to those eventually. They are 100% right! Different things work for different people. For , it seems he really connects with self-compassion.

It’s made up of 3 major components (based on Kristin Neff’s work):

Mindfulness
Common humanity
Self-kindness vs self-judgement

Try it out… and let me know your thoughts.

04/07/2026

A recent theory in sport and performance psychology, by Mesagno et al. (2011) stipulates that choking—or creating a performance below your standard level—may happen because of self-presentation concerns. In other words, you worry about what people will think about you and appraise you. Play someone way better? No problem. You weren’t going to beat them anyways… but if you’re about play someone a lot weaker… then yeah, all of a sudden it becomes, “Oh crap, I should really be beating this person.” .dranoff even mentions how he plays freer when he perceives people to be “above him.”

If this is you, and you were in sessions with me, we might start by giving you some interventions to help you manage your attention so that it stays on the task in front of you. Traditional psychological skills training is extremely effective! But we might also start to question and gently prod your need for social approval.

Comment “guide” on this post and I’ll DM you a way to sign up. 50+ tennis parents have already been sent it!You can also...
03/07/2026

Comment “guide” on this post and I’ll DM you a way to sign up. 50+ tennis parents have already been sent it!

You can also DM me asking for it if you prefer privacy.

Five sport psychology research-backed ideas for why young tennis players struggle in matches.

22/06/2026

When you have an ego orientation, you define yourself by and care most about the people you beat, the wins you get, rankings, UTR, WTN Etc. Mastery orientation is more about growth as an athlete, your skillset and overall development, your mental resilience

This is one of the original areas in sport and performance psychology, yet if applied well it is incredibly effective at helping athletes change their perspective on their sport and their performances. It's something I see a lot in my 1:1 clients! You come in caring quite a lot about external rankings, results, what people think... as opposed to intrinsic factors that will allow you to perform better and enjoy the process more.

If you want to learn more about ego vs mastery orientation, I actually cover it in my 7-day email course, "Can't play like you practice?" Just comment "play" on this post and I'll DM it to you.

If you want personalized help, get in touch via my links.

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Disclaimer: Please consider this as just general information. Do not take this as personalized advice from a mental performance consultant or sport psychology consultant. Additionally, this is not meant to be a deep analysis of the content creator. I'm simply using it to start a conversation on this topic.

20/06/2026

It can be tempting to be judgmental. But you have a choice. You can approach events and your thoughts with self-judgment... or you can use self-kindness.

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