Tennis
Matteo Berrettini’s drive to bounce back positively is inspiring for us all
Italian Matteo Berrettini is one of the most aggressive and hard-hitting players in tennis but at the core of his success is knowing how to find positives in defeat.
Part of this story
Matteo Berrettini is very clear on the mindset needed to be a professional tennis player at the top of the sport. It’s something that’s been drilled into him from his first days picking up a racket as a youngster in Rome.
“You lose, you win, you learn, you move on,” were the words his coaches always used to sum up life on the court.
Listen to more Mind Set Win episodes
Describing it as “the only way”, the Italian explains on the Mind Set Win podcast hosted by Kate Courtney how even if you’re one of the very best players in the world, almost every week, you will lose a match.
Berrettini has won multiple ATP Tour titles, reached a Wimbledon final and been ranked as high as No.6 in the world, but he's still had to negotiate his fair share of disappointing moments.
The 27-year-old says: “Tennis is a mentally tough sport, you have to be ready to lose, as most weeks you’re not going to win the tournament.
It’s important to take the positives from a loss
“It’s easy to say but not easy to do as there are so many emotions. The anger, the fear. But if you don’t know how to lose, if you don’t know what to take from the loss, it’s hard to get better.”
Matteo Berrettini at home in Italy
© Gabriele Seghizzi/Red Bull Content Pool
Episode 26 exercise
In the episode, Courtney tells us about dispositional and situational attribution, which are the two ways we often explain the cause of certain events in our daily life.
Dispositional attribution is an internal feeling where we make ourselves responsible for the outcome, while situational attribution is where we believe external factors were to blame for a negative result.
The exercise is based around this, so let’s recap how we can make sense of defeat and reflect on it in a positive manner.
- Firstly, think of an occasion where things didn’t go as you hoped.
- Then, list all the things that actually went well despite the negative outcome.
- Now, list all the things that didn’t go well, but were IN your control.
- Next, list all the things that didn’t go well, but were OUT of your control.
- Once you’ve made your lists, think about which category was hardest or easiest to find items for.
- Finally, look back at the things that didn’t go very well, but were within your control; these are the things you can work on, and this is how you can improve.
Matteo Berrettini hard at work
© Gabriele Seghizzi/Red Bull Content Pool
It’s not just in his career as an elite sportsman that Berrettini has the mindset of taking positives out of bad moments and learning from it. It’s something he tries to remember during his daily life, too.
He does this through the ‘wall philosophy’, which is a way of thinking that every single day you try to add a brick in your own visual wall to become stronger. The more bricks you add, the more stable the wall will become.
Berrettini’s a big believer in this philosophy as it helps him learn new things about himself and embrace the moment when it’s not going his way.
Berrettini is renowned for his fierce serve and powerful groundstrokes
© Gabriele Seghizzi/Red Bull Content Pool
You may lose some bricks, but the wall is always going to be there
“In sport, if I take the good out of a loss or a bad moment, I’ll be ready in the future for when the same moment happens," he continues.
“You can say the same about life. During bad moments, you can always lean back on your memory, look back on your wall and know which way to go.”
Find out more – including simple exercises to do at home – in Mind Set Win.
Part of this story