JimTh wrote:
Olivier,
here is my 2 cents. Speaking from experience of my own (One year ago I have just had 18 months and approximately 14 tournaments in which I played about fifteen 5-set matches and LOST THEM ALL) I should say this
a) Problem is always mental (Larry Hodges said that recently in one of his blog posts and I wholeheartedly agree)
b) You have to work on your mental state in the fifth set by making your brain to forget the "super importance" of this particular set; otherwise you get tense
c) before every point do a quick shake-up relaxation exercise (2 seconds) to loosen your knees, elbows, shoulders - see any video of Vladi Samsonov to see him doing that before virtually every point
d) since almost always you are playing a more passive style than your opponent, then you have to be more patient and you have to set your expectation accordingly; never get frustrated if the point goes on forever let your opponent do that; keep your cool
In my case the problem just gradually fixed itself. I stopped thinking about the issue and then at some point realized that I have won two 5-set matches in one tournament (in the last one I was leading 10-3 in the fifth set when my opponent hit the side and claimed it as edge; since there was no umpire I conceded the point and didn't let it bother me even though after that it went up to 10-8. I then did a BH flip receive which didn't go well, and at 10-9 I shook myself off, relaxed my shoulder-elbow-wrist, prepared myself mentally and as my opponent did the same serve I went for BH flip again which quickly ended the point). Moral is: keep your cool and you will be rewarded. Even if you lose you will end up feeling better about the loss in any case.
Good luck to you, and perhaps we will meet in Washington in November!
In many of those matches, I was leading in the 5th game at side change, actually most of them.. What happens frequently is that I have lucky points against me at the most uncomfortable time and it just causes me to lose focus. I hope that I'll make it to Washington this November.. I do have a team already and I hope to finalize it very soon.. We still might be looking for a 4th player around 2200.. Our team currently averges mid 2100's with 3 players.. A 2200 player who is now low 2200's but was close to 2300 before his last tournament.. a high 2000 player sho used to be high 2100's just a few months ago and myself, 2156 right now..