This is a guest post from Pete at Winners Mentality Tennis. Check out his website to learn more about improving your mental game to win more matches.

For the first time since Marat Safin defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the 2005 Australian Open, two players other than Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, or Novak Djokovic will be participating in the US Open grand slam final tonight. That’s pretty impressive to think about – at least one of those three players participated in past 38 straight grand slam finals. Even more impressive is the fact that 34 of those 38 were won by one of those three players.

Tonight the world get’s to see Kei Nishikori battle Marin Cilic for the US Open title. Those two defeated Djokovic and Federer, respectively, to get to this point. Two upsets in the eyes of the world. One could point out that Federer is aging for explanation of Cilic’s victory, and one could argue that Djokovic had an off day and Nishikori’s fitness allowed him to rise to the occasion. However, you would be wrong to believe that both of those upsets were flukes. Let’s break down what allowed these two grand slam final newbies to find their success.

Both Kei and Marin exemplified the Underdog Mindset. This is essential to the Winners Mentality toolbox. Both Kei and Marin were the underdogs in their respective matches, and rightfully so. Therefore, by adopting this underdog mentality, both players basically played with absolutely nothing to lose. When a player goes into a match realizing that it’s going to be a tough battle and that they are not expected to win they can put on quite an impressive performance.

Wait a second – so if the underdog plays like they have nothing to lose, how come we don’t see more upsets? Well, there are a few parts to this. An upset is possible and sometime probable as long as they 1) are capable of winning, 2) have a strong belief in themselves and their abilities, 3) impose and execute on their game plan, and 4) maintain their fight throughout the duration of the match.

To expand on each point – I personally might believe that I am capable of winning and will undoubtedly fight until the very end, but there is an extremely, extremely, extremely small probability that I could win a match against Roger Federer tomorrow. The capability has to be there in the first place.

With respect to imposing and executing on their game plan – both Kei and Marin understood that they could not play passively. They couldn’t just show up to the match, react to everything that Novak and Roger threw their way, and expect to come out on top. Both guys had a game plan going into the match and asserted this game plan to the best of their abilities to dictate points that suited their style of play rather than their opponents.

Additionally, maintaining a strong belief in yourself is hard, especially when you’re up against tough competition (i.e Djokovic or Federer). Throughout the entire match, Kei and Marin had to completely believe that they were going to win and that they would do anything to accomplish those beliefs. Anything short of that would result in a blown opportunity and failure (see Federer def. Monfils 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2).

So how can all of this help us mere mortals on the non-professional level? To the best of your abilities, try to adopt the underdog mindset during all of your matches, whether you are considered to be the stronger or weaker player. This doesn’t mean in any way that you should downplay your abilities and start to think that you are any less of a player than you truly are. Rather, let’s deconstruct the winning formula that underdogs use to force upsets.

If you want to improve your winning percentage against both stronger and weaker players, adopt the underdog mindset during all of your matches:

  1. Understand that you are capable of winning the match
  2. Believe in yourself and your abilities, and never surrender the belief that you WILL win
  3. Play assertive, not passive: Impose and execute on your game plan
  4. Maintain the fight to back up your belief that you can, should, and will win

Work on adopting these techniques in your upcoming matches. Don’t simply read articles on improving your mental toughness – actively work on implementation – only then will you start to see profound results.

Hope you all enjoyed this article and can start to use the underdog mindset in your upcoming matches. Let us know who you think will win the US Open tonight and leave a comment below and tell us about your biggest underdog victory.

Pete