Abstract
The objective of this study was to explore the perceptions of a cohort of international high-performance tennis coaches on the mental skills needed for tennis play and their training. A sample of 162 coaches, 132 men and 30 women, with a mean age of 38.13 years (SD = 10.42), and a mean coaching experience of 14.34 years (SD = 8.24) representing 63 countries participated in the research. They completed a specific survey which included a combination of open and closed questions. Results found that coaches unanimously considered mental skills as very important for tennis performance. Coaches with more experience were more knowledgeable about sport psychology and give more importance to the work of certain psychological skills than their less experienced counterparts. Regardless of their education and experience, coaches considered mental skills to be of great importance for tennis performance and indicated that the most frequent ways to be educated in this area were training courses and practical experience. These findings have very useful practical implications for federations, organizations, and academic institutions responsible for providing training, information, and certification to coaches.