APeak Review: The Mental Tennis Training App

Do you underperform in your matches compared to your practices? Does your ability to focus vary widely from one practice or match to another? Do you struggle with self-doubt or negative self-talk? These are all elements of one of the most under-explored parts of tennis: the mental game. Though you may have learned otherwise, these traits are not purely innate; they can, and must, be trained consistently and deliberately to be able to play and practice at your best.

The problem is that while local tennis coaches abound, mental coaches are much rarer, and tend to be concentrated at tennis academies and the professional level. That's why I was extremely excited when I learned of a new app that was created to make quality mental training accessible to all tennis players, and doubly so when I heard that my favorite sports psychologist, Dr. Jim Loehr, was involved.

I became a fan of Dr. Loehr through his video “The 16-Second Cure," a 90s-era instructional video which instructs you on developing constructive habits in between points. It's still a great video, and now that it's easily found for free on YouTube, I recommend it to all of my students and will include it in the link below.

That said, Apeak is a major step forward, as it provides a non-linear, AI-driven, comprehensive curriculum designed to usher its users through all aspects of the mental game: goal setting, confidence building, pre-, and post-match mental training, and more. I started using this app last summer, and after a few months with the app, I am going to go over it in depth in this review. Please note that I did indeed pay for a yearlong subscription to this app, and my opinions are my own and unsolicited.

I love non-linear systems because they allow me to work on what I prefer, instead of locking me into a single track. This is a major advantage of an app. After you first join, Apeak asks you a few questions regarding your goals and preferences and arranges a customized order of courses to suit your unique needs. The courses are a bit more structured at the beginning, to make sure you have the correct orientation for using the app, and while you can continue relying on the AI for course guidance, you are quickly given control over your learning experience if you prefer.

The app is new, and since I began using it, the layout has been tweaked; however, overall, I find the user interface to be reasonably intuitive and easy to navigate. The lessons themselves fall into one of four categories: lectures, guided visualizations, affirmations, and journaling.

Lectures tend to lead each topic of training to help orient you for that topic. These are followed by visualizations, different guided hypnosis routines, and affirmations—specific phrases to be repeated by you numerous times. Journaling and writing exercises are the final aspects of the training, helping you reflect on practices, set goals, and keep track of your thought processes throughout using the app. All three of these practices are scientifically proven to change thought patterns and improve performance.

Aside from select passages narrated by Jim Loehr, users may choose between a male and female voice for their lessons—a very nice feature. Other little conveniences, such as the ability to play the app in the background on an iPhone (I haven't tested this for Android), make the experience feel polished. There is also a resource page full of interesting articles to read on the mental game; these provide a nice supplement to the main lessons.

I tend to use the app in two ways. First, I like to put the app on during my breaks in practice when I pick up balls. This is a great time to listen to lectures and practice affirmations. I like to save visualizations and journaling for the end of practices and matches, or during breaks at home, in environments where I have fewer distractions that can take me out of the moment.

Since I have started using this app, I have noticed an increased ability to stay calm and present during matches, as well as a general increase of constructive positivity whenever I play tennis. I also find myself using more affirming talk when talking to myself and to students, while learning to rephrase negative phrases into proactive ones. For instance, on the serve, I no longer talk about avoiding double faults; instead, I focus on tangible positive ways to increase my consistency, such as hitting up on the ball and keeping my chin up.

Unfortunately, having sustained a few major injuries this year, I do not have tangible results to report as far as UTR or ranking is concerned. However, I can say anecdotally that my students who have used this app have improved their matchplay results and I expect the same for myself once I am fully healthy. All in all, I am extremely impressed with the app and feel it has fully delivered on its promise to provide a high-quality mental training curriculum for its users.

So much so, in fact, that I eventually did reach out to Apeak to become an ambassador. I fully believe in what they are doing, and I invite you to give it a try for yourself. They are offering a free trial for one week, and if you decide to continue with your membership, by using the link I have provided below, you can get a membership for half of the usual price. This also will help support this channel; so, if you found this review helpful, by all means show me some love by using the link and consider giving this video a like.

Before I go, I'll turn it over to you: Have you ever tried mental training before, and if so, did you find it helpful? Have you tried this app yourself? Please let me know in the comments below. As always, thanks for watching; see you in the next video.