Sports Psychology

Sometimes, as a tennis player, you exist on an island. Alone, solo, under the lights of your local club or drenched in the sun, there you are ... between the lines, either gaining the accolades of glory hitting the winning shot or facing the weight of defeat. There are no teammates to pass to; no...Read more

This article is the third part of Rob Polishook's series, Mastering the Mind: Mindfulness at 125 MPH. Click Here to read Part One ... Click Here to read Part Two Yesterday my client, Susan, said to me, “I’m a stress ball. I want to learn how to meditate, I know it will help me relax. But I’ve tried...Read more

This article is the second part of Dr. Ferraro’s series, The Tennis Guru. Click Here to read the first part Yin awoke early the next day and was excited to get going. This was the big day, the day he would get to meet The Tennis Guru . He quickly brushed his teeth, put on his best tennis outfit and...Read more

I have several emotional scars from being cheated during my junior tennis days. Even though I recently turned 50 (what?!), I can remember two situations like it was yesterday. On both occasions my opponent blatantly cheated me, and both times I did not handle it well. I turned into a hopeless mess...Read more

Mindfulness and sports go hand in hand. Look no further than George Mumford’s classic book, The Mindful Athlete , and Jerry Lynch’s newest book, Win the Day . Both authors speak to how mindfulness is helpful. If you think about it, beyond the score, the game is all about adversity management,...Read more

This article is the first part of Dr. Ferraro’s series, The Tennis Guru. It appeared in the January/February 2020 issue of Long Island Tennis Magazine. Once upon a time there was a boy named Yin. He was an ordinary boy with ordinary talent. He was not particularly strong or tall or fast. He was not...Read more

Remember when you saw Kawhi Leonard draining that last-second three pointer? Or Tom Brady driving down the field with less than two minutes to go? Or more recently, Rafael Nadal's epic match versus Daniil Medvedev in the season-ending 2019 ATP Finals. He was down 1-5 in the third set, only to pull...Read more

Perhaps its blasphemy to say that sports is the predominant 21st Century religion, but it just may be true. Whether you attend church services, a synagogue or a mosque each week, you may have noticed that the pews are relatively empty and that weekly church going seems to be passé. If you have kids...Read more

It was a hot day in mid-August when Joanne walked into my office exasperated, reeling from the last two months of training and stressed because school was starting in just two weeks. She was overwhelmed; thinking about challenging matches, her coach’s judgment about her performance and her own...Read more

The 2019 Championship at Wimbledon served up a startling contrast in personality. The Gentlemen’s Singles Finals pitted the number two seed Roger Federer against number one-seeded Novak Djokovic in front of a sold-out crowd which included Kate Middleton, Prince William, David Beckham, Kate...Read more