Goal setting is a player’s ability to determine tasks and outcomes that must be accomplished and understand the steps necessary to reach those goals. He must be able to set his goals within a schedule so as to maximize his level performance. Setting goals gives a player a sense of direction and achievement by mastering skills. There are three main types of goals: short-term (daily or weekly goals), intermediate (monthly goals) and long-term (annual or career goals). To begin setting goals a player must ask himself: Where am I now? Where do I want to be? What must I do to get there?

When a player sets a goal, he is giving himself something to focus on by breaking up a larger, long-term goal into smaller, more reachable goals. This motivation to reach smaller goals will help him to not only perform better, but also concentrate better and work harder for every shot.

Goal setting can be anything from improving first-serve percentage to making at least 10 fewer errors in a match to improving one level on the NTRP scale. No matter what the goal, it must be challenging, yet realistic, in order to push the player to improve.

Goals should be performance based not results based. Players should not set goals to “win a match” or “win a tournament.” Focusing on the overall goal of winning can be counterproductive because results-based thinking draws a player’s focus away from the current point and away from performance and shot execution. The key is for a player to concentrate on the technique, strategy and tactics that lead to success, such as playing high percentage tennis, having good footwork and executing solid, consistent groundstrokes.