If you have seen Melanie Oudin’s remarkable 3-set wins, you have witnessed her big-time comebacks against top players in the world.

How is she’s pulling out those matches come-from-behind victories? Is she that talented or skilled? Or is it sheer grit and determination?

To beat the top players, it’s all of the above. But I left out her most important weapon–and it’s not her ability to run down balls consistently–it’s her mental toughness!

“I think the biggest weapon can be mental toughness. It doesn’t have to be a stroke or a shot or anything like that. If you’re mentally tough out there, then you can beat anyone. I think that’s what I really did well today and I’ve done in my past matches. I’m so focused and I fight super hard. So it’s not going to be easy to beat me or I’m not going to back down at all,” said Oudin.

What is mental toughness in tennis?

Read Melanie Oudin’s Secret Weapon: Mental Toughness at Sports Psychology for Tennis

Have you watched the action at the U.S. Open? A lot of surprises this year. We’ve seen some early exits by top seeded players…Are these early exits caused by a poor mental game or physical game?

For example, Ana Ivanovic lost to Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in the opening round of the US Open. In this case, her first round exit was caused by a poor mental game, as she confessed…

“I think I’ve been thinking about everything too much and trying to address lots of issues with my game,” Ivanovic said.

“My fitness is at one level, mind at another, my game is at another level. I think these all these things have to marry to get into the right direction and have to fit.”

What’s the culprit? Ivanovic has lost trust in her game. She got sidetracked with too many methods or solutions…