Straka — Tennis, Mental Training, Mental Performance

Christian Straka

AI-narrated readings of Christian Straka's writing on mental training, attention, and mental performance for competitive tennis players. The same essays you can read at straka.la, voiced in the cadence of a patient teacher.

16 Episodes

Why You Get So Angry Playing Tennis (and How to Control What Happens Next)
10/31/2026
14:05
How to control anger in tennis starts with what happens after the miss. Why you get so angry, when it helps, and what you can train.
The Energy Cost of Attention
9/1/2026
15:42
Holding attention is metabolically expensive, and that budget is not fixed. What near-infrared light does to it, and what my players and I noticed on court.
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What a Mental Performance Coach Actually Does for a Tennis Player
7/13/2026
10:28
What a mental performance coach actually trains: attention under pressure, recovery after errors, and decision making when the score gets heavy.
Where /ask Ends and Coaching Begins
5/17/2026
5:24
/ask answers the question you bring. A coach does different work — watching, listening, asking back, drawing on their own experience. Not /ask plus eyes.
Equanimity in Tennis: The Skill of Neither Pushing Nor Pulling
4/14/2026
14:39
Equanimity is not calm. It is not indifference. It is the trained skill of neither pushing away what is unpleasant nor clinging to what is pleasant.
Sensory Clarity in Tennis: What Are You Actually Noticing?
4/2/2026
13:46
Paying attention and noticing clearly are not the same thing. A player can concentrate very hard and still not detect what actually matters. That gap is where sensory clarity lives.
Concentration in Tennis: The Four Subskills That Actually Matter
3/21/2026
15:56
Most players think concentration is one thing. In tennis it is four distinct subskills — and they can be weak or strong independently. That changes everything about how they should be trained.
What Actually Breaks Down Under Pressure in Tennis
3/9/2026
7:05
Players say they tightened up or lost confidence. Those descriptions make sense but they are too broad. If you want to train performance under pressure you need a more exact understanding of what is actually breaking down.
Pre-Match Nerves: What to Train Instead of Trying Not to Be Nervous
2/25/2026
7:15
Nervousness before a match is not the problem. The relationship to it is. What players need to train is not the elimination of nerves but the ability to perform clearly while they are present.
Why Players Choke in Tennis: What Is Actually Happening
2/13/2026
7:18
Choking is not weakness or lack of toughness. It is a very specific failure of attention, perception, and equanimity under highly meaningful conditions.

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Straka — Tennis, Mental Training, Mental Performance

Christian Straka

16 Episodes

Why You Get So Angry Playing Tennis (and How to Control What Happens Next)

The Energy Cost of Attention

What a Mental Performance Coach Actually Does for a Tennis Player

Where /ask Ends and Coaching Begins

Equanimity in Tennis: The Skill of Neither Pushing Nor Pulling

Sensory Clarity in Tennis: What Are You Actually Noticing?

Concentration in Tennis: The Four Subskills That Actually Matter

What Actually Breaks Down Under Pressure in Tennis

Pre-Match Nerves: What to Train Instead of Trying Not to Be Nervous

Why Players Choke in Tennis: What Is Actually Happening