did you choke or were you beat?

[pushing_wins]

how can you tell?

[Dreamcastin]

when you do things that you wouldnt normally do tactics wise or when you feel yourself tense up and not "swing" at the ball, thats when you know youve choked.

[Orion3]

If you don't know yourself - nobody can tell you.

Choking is normally down to nerves - often, you start playing not to lose instead of playing to win.

If you get beat - its simple. You play as well as you can (on the given day) but your opponent plays better. Hits one more ball or hits more winners.

[The Meat]

A couple of weeks ago I played in a college club tournament against this one guy and lost 6-0. He was serving in the 120's, huge forehand and never missed a single shot. He should have been in D1 but I don't know his reason why he doesn't. When you only win 3 points on your own serve, that's when you know you've been beaten.

[NTRPolice]

Double fault on my serve at 7-5 in the tie break.

6-7

He wins his two serves

7-8

I lose the next point

7-9

I double fault again...

7-10

I only double faulted 4 times in the whole match. Twice in the tie break. Once on match point. Yeah, that's pretty much choking.

[pushing_wins]

40-0 first game serving

i started thinking ....if i could only fluke out an ace, i would have avoided the dreaded double bagel.

i ended up losing the game.

choke?

[goran_ace]

Originally Posted by pushing_wins

40-0 first game serving

i started thinking ....if i could only fluke out an ace, i would have avoided the dreaded double bagel.

i ended up losing the game.

choke?

That's not a choke, that's just poor decision-making. An ace should not be a fluke, you go for it because you know you can get an ace or a service winner off of it. Your alternatives to avoiding the double bagel are getting your first serve in or getting your second serve in. Choking implies falling apart under pressure. You're up 40-0. There's no pressure on you. If you can't get a serve in the box at will then you have no business going for an ace. Luck has nothing to do with it. If you don't have the type of serve that can reliably and consistently win you points then you need to think more along the lines of starting the point and finishing it with your groundstrokes.

[pushing_wins]

Originally Posted by goran_ace

That's not a choke, that's just poor decision-making. An ace should not be a fluke, you go for it because you know you can get an ace or a service winner off of it. Your alternatives to avoiding the double bagel are getting your first serve in or getting your second serve in. Choking implies falling apart under pressure. You're up 40-0. There's no pressure on you. If you can't get a serve in the box at will then you have no business going for an ace. Luck has nothing to do with it. If you don't have the type of serve that can reliably and consistently win you points then you need to think more along the lines of starting the point and finishing it with your groundstrokes.

trust me 40-0 5-0. i can blow it easily.

i was hoping for a shank winner.

the point is......got to stay in the moment. once u start thinking, if only i did that ....u are done.

or maybe he started trying at 0-40. idk

[dominikk1985]

many rec players think that they choke or underperform but in reality that is just their level of play.

we tend to remember our highlights the most. thus we think that "on fire" periods are the norm how we should play. of course we all have those periods where we don't miss a ball for 10 minutes but this not our normal level of play.

if we think like that we lie to ourselves.

[Mick]

Originally Posted by dominikk1985

many rec players think that they choke or underperform but in reality that is just their level of play.

we tend to remember our highlights the most. thus we think that "on fire" periods are the norm how we should play. of course we all have those periods where we don't miss a ball for 10 minutes but this not our normal level of play.

if we think like that we lie to ourselves.

everybody's here is 4.5 until proven otherwise

[TennisA]

I can tell if I choke when I start missing really easy balls. If I get beat, I won't have a chance to miss balls considering my opponent is usually hitting winners/outrallies me.

[LuckyR]

Losing this way or that way is not the way to tell. 99% of the time you lose, you got beat. The one exception is if you dominate the match, win the first set, up a break in the second then completely fold and end up losing the match. That is choking. Missing "easy" shots alone is not choking.

[pushing_wins]

Originally Posted by LuckyR

Losing this way or that way is not the way to tell. 99% of the time you lose, you got beat. The one exception is if you dominate the match, win the first set, up a break in the second then completely fold and end up losing the match. That is choking. Missing "easy" shots alone is not choking.

i was planning to burn my racquets after the match if i had been competitive.

my body moved as one piece. my arm and whole right side felt like a rigid piece of wood. kinetic chain was not existent. i was over-running short balls.

i played for 4 more hrs after the match. i was hitting fine against same level of player (by looking at their tournament result).

i dont know whats worse - being a choker or lacking the innate qualities. maybe both?!

[LeeD]

The best part of losing and choking, tightening up and playing badly, is .....
that Federer, Agassi, Connors, McEnroe, Murray, etc. have all done it, have all gone thru your exact experience, back in the past.