Renée Slegers revealed in her pre-Brighton press conference on Friday that she’s been showing the team a clip of Roger Federer.
The tennis legend spoke about his mindset and how he’s constantly moving his focus onto the next point.
Responding to a question on how to address Tuesday’s defensive errors against Lyon, our head coach explained: “It’s not only about the football. A piece of it is about the psychology as well. How we stay in games, how we react to certain moments.
“I looked at a really inspirational video of Roger Federer. What he did as a tennis player to go from point to point. That’s all we’re looking at and we do that together as a group.
“This week, everything has been very honest and transparent. We spent a lot of time together. What I see and what I take from it is that everyone wants the same thing, everyone wants Arsenal to succeed.”
Read more Every word of Renée’s pre-Brighton presser
Asked to elaborate on that moment of inspiration, Renée continued: “It’s really clear in my head, that’s why I brought it up. We had a look today. He talks about the percentage of games he’s won in his career and the percentage of points he’s won in his career. That’s really interesting.
“He talks about his mindset. The point he’s playing for at the moment is the most important point. But then that’s done. When that point is over, he goes on to the next one. I think he won, as he says himself, 54% of his points. He’s been one of the best two times at tennis. That says something about how he comes back after points and how he was really good at being good in the most important moments, the points that count. That was good inspiration.
“I also do want to put things into perspective and look at wider things and get inspiration from other athletes and sports teams. Like I just mentioned earlier, all athletes and teams go through different times. It’s about how you come back. That’s why this was brought up because we spoke about Roger Federer this morning.”
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