One of the more enjoyable aspects of maintaining a tennis blog is occasionally getting to explore scientific research that has nothing to do with our sport but, on further reflection, still sheds a lot of insight. I recently stumbled across a newly published paper in American Psychologist that immediately caught my attention. The title alone was enough to guarantee that I would read it. The authors were investigating whether swearing improves physical performance.
As a matter of policy, I try to keep the content on this site G- or occasionally PG-rated. Consequently, profanity rarely finds its way into my writing. On the other hand, anyone who has shared a tennis court with me for an extended period knows that my on-court word choice is not always held to that same standard.
Consequently, when I came across “Don’t Hold Back: Swearing Improves Strength Through State Disinhibition,” a research paper published by the American Psychological Association, it gave me hope that modern psychology might have finally provided a scientific justification for indulging myself in lapses of linguistic discipline.
The premise of the study builds upon a growing body of research suggesting that swearing can modestly improve performance during physically demanding tasks. Earlier work had demonstrated improvements in pain tolerance, grip strength, and muscular endurance, leading many researchers to suspect that profanity somehow activated the body’s fight-or-flight response. This new paper proposes a different explanation. Rather than increasing physiological arousal, the authors concluded that swearing primarily reduces psychological inhibition.
Tennis players often fail not because they lack the technical ability to execute a shot, but because they hold themselves back. A player recognizes the correct tactical decision but plays tentatively or becomes overaggressive. From the outside, it appears to be a technical breakdown. Quite often, it is actually a failure of commitment.
This particular paper is not so much about swearing as about hesitation. The researchers found evidence that the performance benefit was associated with increased confidence, greater psychological flow, and reduced distraction rather than with any measurable fight-or-flight response. In other words, the study subjects did not become physically stronger simply by uttering a particular word. Instead, they appeared to become more willing to stop holding back.
That observation resonates with tennis in ways that extend well beyond profanity. Every experienced player has encountered matches in which they possessed every shot required to succeed but nevertheless played tentatively. The limitation was not physical capability but rather the constraints that uncertainty places on decision-making. The body was fully capable of executing the shot, but the mind inserted just enough hesitation to undermine the result.
I am certainly not suggesting that the path to better tennis involves developing a more colorful vocabulary. Recreational tennis already contains enough opportunities for spirited verbal exchanges without introducing research-backed profanity into the mix. Instead, I think this study points toward a more interesting question. If swearing improves performance because it helps people stop holding back, what other techniques accomplish the same objective?
Many tennis players have already discovered their own answers without realizing they were solving the same psychological problem. Service routines, positive self-talk, controlled breathing, fist pumps, and countless other between-point rituals all serve a common purpose. They interrupt doubt, restore commitment, and prepare the player to execute the next shot without unnecessary inhibition.
Ironically, the paper that initially caught my attention because of its subject matter ultimately had very little to do with profanity. Instead, it offers an intriguing perspective on one of the oldest challenges in tennis. The greatest obstacle to playing our best is often not our opponent, our technique, or even our tactics. Quite frequently, it is our own reluctance to trust ourselves completely when the moment arrives.
- “Don’t Hold Back: Swearing Improves Strength Through State Disinhibition,” by Richard Stephens, PhD, Harry Dowber, MSc, and Christopher Richardson, MSc, Keele University; and Nicholas Washmuth, DPT, University of Alabama in Huntsville. American Psychologist, published online Dec. 18, 2025.
