This guest post is by Don Macpherson the Mindbender.
As correctly reported in Pat Cash’s blog (Murray’s Monkey in Melbourne), Murray’s best chance of winning the US Open would only come if he could control his chattering, whinging, shoutie, voice in his head……his monkey mind.
So far in Grand Slam semis and finals he has been unable to do so, as proved by his results. You can tell when the monkey is out of control because he starts looking up to his ‘team’ and shouts all kinds of negative abuse generally aimed at them. Also you can tell the monkey is in control simply by his even more negative body language, slouching, muttering, gesticulating, etc
On a scale of 0-10 Murray’s monkey mind is at least a 8.5 in terms of behaving badly when matches are big and reach critical levels of pressure. He does not yet have the correct tools to control his monkey mind specifically in these situations
So how can he control his pesky monkey mind in the final? Easy! Just do exactly the same as he has already done in London when he beat Roger Federer to win gold at the 2012 Olympic Games or like he did in the semi final at Wimbledon.
Make sure that Ivan Lendl is once again positioned in a highly visible place in the players guest stand. This works every time because Murray’s Monkey has too much respect for Lendl and therefore chokes every time he wants to whinge, shout abusive and negative comments.
So when Murray looks up at his team tomorrow and his monkey mind is just about to shout abuse, he suddenly sees the brooding, unsmiling Lendl, and the monkey backs down every time……out of respect.
This allows the inner Murray, the real Murray to resume playing his best tennis available to him, without the destructive influence of his monkey mind.
Novak Djokovic may still be too good today, but Lendl visible at all times in the players box, will keep the monkey quite and Murray will be able to give it his best shot, and his best is all anyone can ever ask of him.
Lendl is the right choice of coach for Murray…..as long as Murray’s monkey continues to respect him, and can see him in the stand!
So all he needs to do to be at his very best when he needs it most tomorrow against Novak Djokovic, is to control his monkey mind….
Don Macpherson is a UK based mind coach who has been involved with sports personalities for more than 22 years. He has appeared on television and radio several times for the BBC, and has been a regular contributor to various UK national newspapers such as the Sunday Times. Over the years Don has worked with all sorts of athletes including Tennis Grand Slam winners, Ryder Cup Golfers, Premier League soccer players and Formula One Champions. Visit his website to learn more.
