The Saturday Interview: Andy Neild meets Blackburn-based tennis coach and sports psychologist CHRIS HARWOOD

IT won't be just the centre court crowd going mental this weekend during the singles finals at Wimbledon

You can bet your bottom dollar Jana Novotna and Co will be wrapped up in their own personal mind games on court.

So how do you go about coming out the other side with your sanity preserved and your nerve ends still intact?

Faith healers, hypnotists, spoon benders and mind menders have all had their say, hogging the headlines as much as the sports men and women themselves this summer.

But cutting through all the mumbo jumbo, one man who could have the answers is Blackburn-based tennis coach and sports psychologist Chris Harwood.

Known by his family and friends as the man who loses everything, he is currently carving out a career preventing young tennis stars from losing their minds.

"Some people view psychologists as shrinks who wear white coats and ask you to lie down on a couch and talk about your mum and dad," said Chris.

"But that is completely the opposite of what we are.

"My role is more like that of a performance enhancer. "I look at the psychological demands that affects performance in a sport and try to develop players psychological skills so they can overcome them."

There will be few around more qualified to make those observations than Chris.

As well as lecturing in Sports Psychology at Loughborough University, he is also their Director of Tennis and a Sports Psychology Consultant to the Lawn Tennis Association.

And he's not a bad player himself either.

He currently plays for Leicestershire at county level and has been British Universities Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles champion at various stages in his career.

He has also worked with the England Womens Under 18s Football squad and the British Javelin team.

But why all the fuss about states of the mind? Surely tennis is simply about two players hitting a ball over a net.

"When a player is on court he only actually plays tennis for 17 per cent of that time," said Chris.

"They are actually doing nothing for the other 83 per cent.

"So in a 90 minute match he plays for about 15 minutes and for the rest of the time he is thinking, trying to control mental and physical responses.

"My job is about teaching players to make that dead time live." Exercises in concentration, motivation, self confidence building and stress management are the secret ingredient - rather than strawberries and cream.

"Players who don't have the mental skills are far more prone to unforced errors.

"They become nervous or lose concentration which affects their technical, physical and tactical skills.

"Take Novotna in the Wimbledon finals a few years ago.

"People say that was a classic example of choking.

"She became too win orientated, built up too much anxiety and her technical, physical and tactical skills broke down because of her mental skills."

Chris is working with the country's best young talent training them to overcome such problems as they attempt to become the next Tim Henman.

Tennis had previously lagged behind other sports in the mind game.

But it is now catching up and with Chris being one of the first Sports Psychologists with playing experience to work in the game it may pay dividends in the coming years. "We are making improvements particularly at a junior level but it is going to take time for these young players to come through.

"But we are fighting a tough battle against some of these European countries.

"Look at Anna Kournikova. She won the World Under 14 Championships aged eight and she was the French Junior Open Champion by the time she was 12.

"But instead of people asking when are we next going to have a Wimbledon champion?

"They should be wondering when we are going to have five men and five women in the top 100 in the World.

"That is when we will know we have got it right."

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