How the hell should I stop this?

I'll try to be short and specific as much as I could.


I'm a part of an recreative league in my country which consists of 6-8 leagues made of 5 players each. Every month is one "micro season", and every winter/summer period is considered as "macro season". So in each macro season player can actually progress several leagues!

But that is not so important.


Over the last two years I have been progressing a lot as a tennis player. First month (each month - one micro season) of this winter season, I was a part of 1st league which was consisted of 4 other players agains whom i had overwhelmingly POSITIVE RECORDS in our last (mostly friendly) matches.

End of summer was great for me, I was top fit physically and played best tennis of my life. People in league considered me as one of biggest favs to win the title, although it was only my 2nd EVER appearance in 1st league of abovementioned competition.

TBH, even I considered myself to have a little edge over the player, all of which are of similar quality like me.

I felt a bit pressurised, as it was my 10th apperance at the top level, not second.


And this is when my problems started to unwind... Check them out...

.... (sorry for such a long post, but for those patient, I guarantee you will encounter something very strange, almost endemical!)


first match I played against a guy I beat 4 times in a row. In friendly best of 3 matches, yes, but every match was withouth calculations, although it wasnt competitive.
I felt like a favorite and that's how I started - 6:0 i first set! And then, something strange happened. He totally changes his gameplan, but I started to fall appart in few deuce-ad games.
I was serving first in second set, got easy to 30:00, and felt almost like an urge to absolutely have to win that first game, to continue to pressure opponent!! And then I lost that service game after 30:00 up!
***** started exactly here.

Only one freaking game was enough for me to lost confidence?? After all those great matches.
Ok, I had a gameplan. It didnt work that day, cause my opponent started to play different after 4 losses and 0:6 at the start of fifth match.

We went to 3rd set (actually we overrided to rules of our competition - in case of 1:1 in sets, championship tiebreak (best of 10 pts) is to be played - we consulted and decided to play the whole 3rd set instead and to keep it between us ).

I had one break of serve at the very beggining of the set and kept it until *5-4, my first attempt to serve it out. I remember being physicaly crushed in that 3rd set, with cramps all over me. But somehow I managed to keep the advantage. until that 5-4 game. Got broken to 15, but immediately I made a rebreak for *6-5.
There i had one match point, opponent misshit forhend, it landed short, unexpected, I was too late, gave op an easy shot, deuce, bp, break...
- and finally i lost the match in 3rd set tie break, 3-7!!!!!

Mentally I was devastated to loose such a match after all the leads and all the matches I won before. He played great, no doubt, but I just couldnt get pass the feeling I was the one who ****ed it up.



the second match, the very next match, looked like this:
6-2 for me in the first set, total dominance with agressive baseline shots at his weak side (backand), and suddenly my physic level dropped - he was all over me, I was defending, not attacking, he took the second set, and we went into a supertiebreak. At 6-4 for me he hit a miracle shot at the line, good for him, and then I started to do things I still havent stoped doing. Not even 3 months later!

I started dropshoting afters his weak weak second serve, giving him easy finishes with forhend. I got totally STIFF and scared, and ofcourse - he took all points till the end of game - 6:10 loss!
Another one hard mental hit for me, and not only that, now it was becoming obvious I wont win title that month.

Big disappointment



My third match:
match against a player I have played MOST in this competition, we know each other very well, but still i had + h2h. As expected, it was a hard match, we went to yet another 3rd set-supertiebreak - and I had 8:6, serve and easy high forhend volley to put it away for 3 mps. I missed, started to panic, chokes, push, forhend slice and - he lost 10:12
Now I was psy. devastated.


My fourth match:
16 bad start, 62 second set I started to feel my shots finally. But opponent is most experienced player of the league, master of supertiebreaks, he got an big early lead (6:0), but I somehow managed to creep to 9-8 and at that point, I missed a relatively easy backand frome the middle of the court!
This was first match I didnt waste any leads, but still I lost another close tiebreaker!!


I ended the month 0-4 with 4-8 in sets, it was a little comfort, cause I dropped one level, to 2nd league.

The next month i played there and my problems continued:

first match i played again vs player I played first match the month before. Guess what, I lost 67 63 3-10, eventhough I had break of serve THREE TIMES in first set (I even had 5-3 *30-00, but still lost the set)!!
Then i managed to win 10-5 the second match, but I should'nt have even put myself into position to play CTB against that oppponent!

Third match: again that guy that knows me great, he won 16 67, I had some phys. issues in first set, felt some strange weakness, in 2nd I was better, had a lot of advantages, breaks, event set points (!!), but still lost. At least it wasnt in a CTB, but it was another close match - and another loss.
Fourth match was a walkover, and I earned a position that beacuse of set ratio granted me stay in 2nd league.


Third month - 2nd league again:

first match - 63 easy cruise in frist set, Im agressive, I do everything that is good. But lost the second, my level dropped, physicaly most... And yet another CTB! Now I was determined not to lose again. And got to 8-4 lead!! Had two great points in which I only had to put away forhends, but ****ed it up. Opponent greatly retrieved those shots, it was 8-6, i paniced, he hit winner at the baseline at 9-8, and once again i lost - 10:12!!!!!

second match - easy win 62 63 against a player that isnt experienced enough. I was a clear fav in that match!

third match - and once again I play a match against my friend that I played in two earlier months. And one more time he was better. But this was very very hard to forgett
I crushed him 61 in first set, and had FOUR BREAKS in second. Each time I was positive now i have him, his finished. And every time I was making funny mistakes, not tipical for me. Lost the set in tiebreak and totaly started to panic - he was only pushing the ball back, a lot of moonballs, I was very tyred and mostly - scared to lose against him ONE MORE TIME. And to lose another Supertiebreak. And that's exactly what happened. 5:10!!!

fourth match - 62 61, great performance by me, mostly cause I knew i was better than opponent, was clear fav once again.



And finally - this month:

first match: playing against that very expierienced guy from the first month, a pusher, but no clasical pusher - he is very agressive with BH slice, and has great volley skills!
In first set i was playing wrong tactics and got very tired, accomplishing nothing in long rallies with the guy that lives from those! 36!
In second I released my backand, I become very hot, went up 4-0*, had FOUR (!!!) break points for *5-0... and guess what... lost the set 5-7?!?!?

Important note: I was very very nervous in that match from the very start, was panicing, yelling, throwing racket all over the place...


second match, the other day:

now I am playing in 1st league again (forgot to mention earlier), and my opponent is one of 3 best players currently in comeptition, probably 2nd best! He is very agressive, has great technique on forhend, puts a lot spin on it and is very exhausting to play against!

But yet, I played great tactics, and great in most terms. Still, he won a very very close first set (67). In second he got break at 2-2, served for match at 5-4, it was big fight, I think I saved 5-6 match points fighting HARD HARD... and managed to rebreak, serve out, break again and carve out another supertibreak!!

I played some really great tennis there and went up to 9-5!!
I was overwhelmed with the score. Almost as I couldnt believe that Im on the verge of win against one of the most respected players in our league!!!!

And first thing I thought about "No, you cant lose this! This would be to much even for you!!"

Guess what?? I lost. After that point, it was like someone turned me off electricity - I shut down, i paniced in each shot, produced some very very strange shots, totaly unfocused, unconcetrated....

and lost 9-11!!!!!!!



Yet another nail in my chest
The biggest!





So, as you can obviously see - I am big choker, big panicer, I have big fear of supertiebreakers, and losses. I know Im worth much more than so many losses this winter, I know in some spots I deserved more luck...


...but at the very end, it is not coincidence I lost all of those in such a similar choking way.



It is mentally killing me, honestly, im getting a bit disguisted with tennis cause all of this and cant know how to overcame this obstacle.


Please help

I was all in when I read: "I'll try to be short and specific as much as I could."

Then the 2nd post looked like a chapter from War & Peace and I just don't have the time.

seriously man, edit and shorten that if you want any responses.

Obviously you need to control your emotions better. I'm thinking of a few things that may help you:

1) Think in a positive manner ("I'm gonna win this" instead of "you can't lose this!").

2) Expect and accept to be nervous in tight situations. Don't fight it too much: just expect it and accept it. Embrace it. Take a few deep breaths to calm yourself down: expel the excessive tension as you breathe out.

3) On a slightly more technical note: make sure to keep your eyes on the ball until a little after impact. This is difficult to accomplish, especially when you feel anxious, but it's necessary.

4) Make sure you go for quality shots, but keep a good margin for error.

mikeler said:

I was all in when I read: "I'll try to be short and specific as much as I could."

Then the 2nd post looked like a chapter from War & Peace and I just don't have the time.

Click to expand...

Ditto +1 on mikeler's statement. Whatever issues you have talk with a club pro about it. Maybe they can give you some tips.

This pretty much summarizes your post, I believe: You believe you are good even though you are relatively new to the league, but confused why you are panicking in tight situations such as tiebreakers and losing matches you could have won.
Everything else is specific examples with details

T-Vex said:

[..Specific instances of choking...]

So, as you can obviously see - I am big choker, big panicer, I have big fear of supertiebreakers, and losses. I know Im worth much more than so many losses this winter, I know in some spots I deserved more luck...

...but at the very end, it is not coincidence I lost all of those in such a similar choking way.

It is mentally killing me, honestly, im getting a bit disguisted with tennis cause all of this and cant know how to overcame this obstacle.


Please help

Click to expand...

Ok, to sum the point up:

this winter I played 13 matches. I won 3, and lost 10.

Eight of those ten losses came after super tie break, and in 7 of those 8 matches I wasted match points, set points, big leads (like 8-4, 9-4, multiple breaks in 2nd set...) etc.

So my CTB score this winter is 1-8!

Last example: I had 9-5 against one of very top players in competition, but lost due to severe fail in concentration after that point in the match!


I played about 80 matche in the competition since I joined it (2.5 years ago), but have lost the very most of "coinflip" matches. My CTB record is disastrous (something like 25-30%).

Its obvious this is not only luck (or lack of it, although a lot of matches this winter can be summed up to it), nor lack of quality.

I dont know how to exclude the fear of loss, the pressure of league matches (I play totally different in friendly matches, my arms are more relaxed, I produce shots with less tension, etc.)


Maybe a good shrink is the solution?

I would seriously pay money to see a video. Is this JakeMcclain part 2?

Welcome to the merry go round of "Sports"

T-Vex said:

I'll try to be short and specific as much as I could.


I'm a part of an recreative league in my country which consists of 6-8 leagues made of 5 players each. Every month is one "micro season", and every winter/summer period is considered as "macro season". So in each macro season player can actually progress several leagues!

But that is not so important.


Over the last two years I have been progressing a lot as a tennis player. First month (each month - one micro season) of this winter season, I was a part of 1st league which was consisted of 4 other players agains whom i had overwhelmingly POSITIVE RECORDS in our last (mostly friendly) matches.

End of summer was great for me, I was top fit physically and played best tennis of my life. People in league considered me as one of biggest favs to win the title, although it was only my 2nd EVER appearance in 1st league of abovementioned competition.

TBH, even I considered myself to have a little edge over the player, all of which are of similar quality like me.

I felt a bit pressurised, as it was my 10th apperance at the top level, not second.


And this is when my problems started to unwind... Check them out...

Click to expand...

The sooner you realize that we all have bad days and good days the better off you will be.

Just make a note to yourself, " This is part of the processes of gaining experience." Eventually, because you will realize that these are the situations we can learn most from" you will be able to remove your concerns from the troubling match your a part of.

I have a lot of competition experience from being a star basketball player in my youth. Naturally I, more often than not, win the tough points against opponents that are slightly better than myself.

Exposure therapy.....

We all go through these processes, and this loss will not kill me, it is just part of the learning process.

T-Vex said:

I dont know how to exclude the fear of loss, the pressure of league matches (I play totally different in friendly matches, my arms are more relaxed, I produce shots with less tension, etc.)

Maybe a good shrink is the solution?

Click to expand...

Looks like you've identified the problem - you are so afraid of losing that you get tense and choke.

I'm not a shrink, but...

What is it that you are so afraid of? Ok, so the worst that can happen is... you lose. So what. This is recreational tennis. Your loss will not take food away from your family's table. It will not create global economic meltdown. It will not lead to WWIII. Nobody like to lose, but really, it doesn't matter.

Probably the fear is that you will not live up to the image that you have of yourself, or that others have of you. Again, so what. If you are not as good of a tennis player as you or others thought, it doesn't matter. If you read these boards, you will see there are player at all different levels. Some are relatively good, some are relatively bad. What they all share is a love for playing the game, regardless of how good or bad they are. You don't have to be the best player out there to enjoy playing.

So next time you find yourself in this situation, just think to yourself "it doesn't matter - I'm just going to play my game and enjoy it, and if I win I win, and if I lose I lose." It's hard, but if you keep thinking this to yourself, you will feel yourself calming down and the tension getting less. And then you will play better.

To the OP, have someone video you playing. I don't think you play like you think you do.

I know what it is like OP. I was plying a match on synthetic clay, and went out to a 5-0 lead. Then for the next four games I went up 40-0 on every game and lost them all! Then at 5-4 I went up 40-0 lost the next 3 and got it on my 15th or so SP.

From what I have read, you obviously have the talent to win these matches, so you should not doubt your skill. You also obviously have a mental block when you are close to victory in a tight match. I will guess that when you get close in these tiebreaks, you think to yourself "I hope he misses or makes an error" instead of "I am going to hit the ***** out this ball and show him what I'm made of." If this is true, then the minute you begin to hope your opponent makes an error to give you the win, you have lost. I have been there - up multiple match points only to lose the match entirely. I remember thinking during the match, "I have three match points, he's bound to miss on one of those so I'm OK."

In close matches that you lose after having a lead, you may also have just been outplayed. This is hard to accept if you were up, but you have to be realistic. If the match was close, then you were obviously well matched as far as skill goes. There is nothing you can do about that....

For matches that you just lose it mentally, you have to use those matches as learning experiences. I lose a lot, mostly because I am outplayed. I also win a lot, mostly because I try to keep it together mentally.

The best advice I can offer you is that you need to let the past go and start fresh. Those matches no longer matter. Your new goal should be to not get frustrated and lose mental focus. Let this be your only goal - not winning. Eventually, if you keep it together mentally and get tough mentally, the wins will come. At this point, simply trying to win the match is not helping you solve your problems. You must be patient with this...it will take a while....

Powerplay said:

From what I have read, you obviously have the talent to win these matches, so you should not doubt your skill.

Click to expand...

But yet, I doubt, all the time.
I have one specific feature - when I play good, produce big winners, sometimes i caught myself thinking "OMG, how did I produce that, I'm sure I cant keep hitting those shots". I become stiff and scared of missing (although I have a good hitting day) - and start playing "safe", not agressive.

Have no idea how to stop doing that

Powerplay said:

I will guess that when you get close in these tiebreaks, you think to yourself "I hope he misses or makes an error"

Click to expand...

You are absolutely, totally right! I start hoping opponent makes errors, I pray for erros even while playing points, so many times I get surprised when topspin shots land in 90 instead of going out.
Obviously, my focus drops a lot. Can reason why, though. I am very very competitive by nature and try to win every single match, even friendlies!

Powerplay said:

In close matches that you lose after having a lead, you may also have just been outplayed.

Click to expand...

Yes, but that's not the case this winter. My stats say i all. And if you had the nerves to read the second opening post (cant blame you if u didnt), you will see how many leads I managed to waste in this period.

I have one big problem - I lose waaaay to many serving games after being 30:00 up! Just have no idea what to do anymore when I have that lead. Should I go for safer serve, and less agressive approach in point, or whatever. I need to stop loosing so many 30:0 games, or else I will go totally crazy.

OrangePower]Probably the fear is that you will not live up to the image that you have of yourself said:

The sooner you realize that we all have bad days and good days the better off you will be.

Click to expand...

Yes, but this is not only "variance". I'm a poker player and a bettor, so I understand sometimes you have periods when nothing goes your way. Even in this period of mine, I had a lot of bad luck (people hitting winner at the outer part of baseline etc.) but mostly, most losses came because of lack of focus and earlier even 'cause of physical drop (endurance).

polytheist said:

To the OP, have someone video you playing. I don't think you play like you think you do.

Click to expand...

I have been planing to video myself playing cause I'm very interested to learn at what NTRP level am I currently playing. I'd say it's pretty solid 4.0, but who knows... Its hard to be objective.

Powerplay said:

From what I have read, you obviously have the talent to win these matches, so you should not doubt your skill.

Click to expand...

But yet, I doubt, all the time.
I have one specific feature - when I play good, produce big winners, sometimes i caught myself thinking "OMG, how did I produce that, I'm sure I cant keep hitting those shots". I become stiff and scared of missing (although I have a good hitting day) - and start playing "safe", not agressive.

Have no idea how to stop doing that

Powerplay said:

I will guess that when you get close in these tiebreaks, you think to yourself "I hope he misses or makes an error"

Click to expand...

You are absolutely, totally right! I start hoping opponent makes errors, I pray for erros even while playing points, so many times I get surprised when topspin shots land in 90 instead of going out.
Obviously, my focus drops a lot. Can reason why, though. I am very very competitive by nature and try to win every single match, even friendlies!

Powerplay said:

In close matches that you lose after having a lead, you may also have just been outplayed.

Click to expand...

Yes, but that's not the case this winter. My stats say i all. And if you had the nerves to read the second opening post (cant blame you if u didnt), you will see how many leads I managed to waste in this period.

I have one big problem - I lose waaaay to many serving games after being 30:00 up! Just have no idea what to do anymore when I have that lead. Should I go for safer serve, and less agressive approach in point, or whatever. I need to stop loosing so many 30:0 games, or else I will go totally crazy.

OrangePower said:

Probably the fear is that you will not live up to the image that you have of yourself, or that others have of you. Again, so what. If you are not as good of a tennis player as you or others thought, it doesn't matter.

Click to expand...

I'm affraid this is it.
This is what makes me so nervous in my league matches. "What will people think of me if I lose yet another match I was supposed to win"??
I lost way to many of those over the last 2.5 years. Without any exageration.

Subconscionsly, I seek other players respekt. Most of anything. But cant accomplish it by losing each and every (or the very most) of close matches.
And that makes me only more anxious.

zerojoshua said:

The sooner you realize that we all have bad days and good days the better off you will be.

Click to expand...

Yes, but this is not only "variance". I'm a poker player and a bettor, so I understand sometimes you have periods when nothing goes your way. Even in this period of mine, I had a lot of bad luck (people hitting winner at the outer part of baseline etc.) but mostly, most losses came because of lack of focus and earlier even 'cause of physical drop (endurance).

polytheist said:

To the OP, have someone video you playing. I don't think you play like you think you do.

Click to expand...

I have been planing to video myself playing cause I'm very interested to learn at what NTRP level am I currently playing. I'd say it's pretty solid 4.0, but who knows... Its hard to be objective.

Play with people you can have fun with

T-Vex said:

I'll try to be short and specific as much as I could.


I'm a part of an recreative league in my country which consists of 6-8 leagues made of 5 players each. Every month is one "micro season", and every winter/summer period is considered as "macro season". So in each macro season player can actually progress several leagues!

But that is not so important.


Over the last two years I have been progressing a lot as a tennis player. First month (each month - one micro season) of this winter season, I was a part of 1st league which was consisted of 4 other players agains whom i had overwhelmingly POSITIVE RECORDS in our last (mostly friendly) matches.

End of summer was great for me, I was top fit physically and played best tennis of my life. People in league considered me as one of biggest favs to win the title, although it was only my 2nd EVER appearance in 1st league of abovementioned competition.

TBH, even I considered myself to have a little edge over the player, all of which are of similar quality like me.

I felt a bit pressurised, as it was my 10th apperance at the top level, not second.


And this is when my problems started to unwind... Check them out...

Click to expand...

Winning has become more important than improving. Play with people you can have fun with.

Hmm, I guess I'm talking to myself as well.

1) Get a better serve.
2) Go for the big serve in the tight situations.

If you have confidence in your serve, you know that sometimes it may not work for you, but if you are getting several match points or several opportunities to serve for the match, you know that sooner or later you will win.

You should think the same way about whatever your strength is. The serve is the biggest benefit, however, because you have total control of it.

Agree

NLBwell said:

1) Get a better serve.
2) Go for the big serve in the tight situations.

If you have confidence in your serve, you know that sometimes it may not work for you, but if you are getting several match points or several opportunities to serve for the match, you know that sooner or later you will win.

You should think the same way about whatever your strength is. The serve is the biggest benefit, however, because you have total control of it.

Click to expand...

A big serve changes confidence about all aspects of the game. It's definitely worth practicing as much as possible...... It's one thing you can eventually control.

zerojoshua said:

Winning has become more important than improving. Play with people you can have fun with.

Hmm, I guess I'm talking to myself as well.

Click to expand...

Great point!
This is actually something for a completely new topic, but I'll try to keep it short.

When I was starting to play recreational tennis at more regular basis, 2.5-3 years ago, I was very agressive. Which led to ton of mistakes and errors. Many matches have I lost only because of overestimating my abilities.

Last summer I finally lost 20 pounds, put my self into great physical shape and started to play a lot LOT more of a "percentage tennis". I started to win a lot.
I had the lungs to run all day long.

Then, at the start of winter season, due to expensive tennis court hire costs and general unavailability of courts, bad weather etc... stopped driving bicycle, played only 1-2 times a week, lost a lof of endurance and started to lose matches with my "percentage" approach because of exhaustion. And sometimes unexplainable passivity. Almost as if I forgot how to attack in a match!


Then I decided to go for (get back to) aggressive gameplan, no matter the cost - and after 10 losses, now again I am on crossroads: should I continue to evolve my agressive game I sometimes lose, eventhough I could win with more % approach...

...or get back to winning?!


I love playing agressively, I love producing winners, but also nobody loves losing (especially in big streaks) + tennis has becoming more a frustration (beacuse of competition) than relaxation, so maybe you are right zerojoshua - maybe I should drop the league and start enjoying it again with players that don't care about winning that much as other players in my current league do?


The problem is - I love to compete
I guess it will be hard to find a good compromise that will leave my satisfied and relaxed, but not frustrated with results.

NLBwell said:

1) Get a better serve.
2) Go for the big serve in the tight situations.

Click to expand...

Ill try to make a video of my game, so you too can be the judge of my current NTRP.

I have a very good serve, but its definitely not big. And since we are playing 95% of matches on RED CLAY, mostly very very slow red clay, with slow type of balls (Dunlop Fort) - many times I find my serve to not be effective enough comparing to energy I am putting in it throughout the match!

So, sometimes I just go for safer serves, cause there are many good blockers in my league.

T-Vex said:

Great point!

I decided to go for (get back to) aggressive gameplan, no matter the cost - and after 10 losses, now again I am on crossroads: should I continue to evolve my agressive game I sometimes lose, eventhough I could win with more % approach...

...or get back to winning?!


I love playing agressively, I love producing winners, but also nobody loves losing (especially in big streaks) + tennis has becoming more a frustration (beacuse of competition) than relaxation, so maybe you are right zerojoshua - maybe I should drop the league and start enjoying it again with players that don't care about winning that much as other players in my current league do?


The problem is - I love to compete
I guess it will be hard to find a good compromise that will leave my satisfied and relaxed, but not frustrated with results.

.

Click to expand...

My brother, very athletic, went from a 3.5 to 5.0 in 4 year. He started off playing safe and hustling to get balls while fighting it out. When he got to 4.0 he realized that he wasn't going to reach his potential unless he started taking risks.

He spent about a year working on hitting much harder, making numerous errors and loosing until his percentages started to improve. By the end of that year he moved to 4.5 and a year after that 5.0.

How much do you want to improve and what sacrifices are you willing to make?

The difference between children and adults is that children are far more willing to take risks and make mistakes. The can miss a shot all day and hit one winner and continue to talk about that winner, were as an adult will focus on all the errors and stop taking risks.

Good luck!!

I too am a work in progress and try to take more risks at the expense of loosing sometimes.

zerojoshua said:

How much do you want to improve and what sacrifices are you willing to make?

Click to expand...

Yes, I believe it is absolutely necessary to have a clear goal.
I'm not sure that I have one now, or to be more precize - that it is clear. :-?

I want to improve, but how much will I be able to evolve? I've read in many forums that very few 30+ players are able to reach level beyond 4.5 NTRP.

On the other hand, I'm always progressing pretty fast, and although have never had a minute of professional coaching (im 100% self-taught player), I am able to recognize things I should do better and try working on them.

The problem is, I'm not sure if it will be possible to evolve my game to its full potential (whatever it is) while being so much focused on NOT LOSING!

And once again: I totally aware there is only one correct choice in terms of skill evolution - percentage tennis is good, but when u move up, it just isn't enough anymore. You have to have some consistant weapons.


Guess I'd have to be a man a take who-knows-how-many-more hits from guys that are great match-players, but dont show tendency for evolution in their games.
Lose, lose, lose, until one day I will be able to rely on hitting both forehand and backand with great power and with no fear of missing it often.

Don't know when (or if!) will that day come, though

Go to a pro or college match, WATCH, and can your better shots match up to theirs? They need to within your 3rd year, or it won't happen ever.

T-Vex said:

I have a very good serve, but its definitely not big. And since we are playing 95% of matches on RED CLAY, mostly very very slow red clay, with slow type of balls (Dunlop Fort) - many times I find my serve to not be effective enough comparing to energy I am putting in it throughout the match!

Click to expand...

On red clay it is much harder to hit aces, but an effective serve still makes a huge difference. You have to be smarter about placement and spin, but it is still very important. It may be the best chance you get to control the point. The key is to not let the opponent get back even in the point - maybe drive the next ball into the corner and pick off an easy volley or keep the opponent on a string running corner to corner.

I tried to read it all, fail.

I know this feeling you are going through. You are simply thinking too much.

When you think 'I should win this' from looking at past records or thinking of past matches, or if you think 'I should lose this' from the same then you are setting up a reference point in your mind that sets an expectation for you to follow. Then when you are playing and any little thing goes wrong you go back to that point, you start getting anxious and maybe you get a little shaky or dry mouthed. At this point you are out of the match.

I see it all the time with flex league tennis at any level. People look at the stats and either give themselves an excuse to lose or build up overconfidence that they should win.

I have found ways to regularly beat players better than me and it is what is so great about sports like tennis and golf. They are as much mental as they are physical (well maybe Tennis is more physical, but you get the point).

1) You must develop an intense focus. This lends itself into developing a flow where there are no points, games, sets, and there is only the ball. There is no winning or losing. There is just your game and the ball. Keep your eye on it at all times. This might not come naturally but it is so huge. It ensures you play your most solid tennis at all times whether match point or the first point.

That is it. There is really only 1 general point. You need to level your emotions and focus on the ball regardless of what the score says. Of course if you are getting beat you can try different things, but you should always be looking forward positively at the next point. Tennis is a game where you can always come back. Always believe in your game. There are thousands of players out there better than you and you will run into them and they will simply beat you. It doesn't matter.

Just work on your focus, always look forward to the next point, stay calm and positive, work on a routine that resets you mentally, and you will always play good. You will always be proud of yourself and you will win these matches.

zerojoshua said:

Winning has become more important than improving. Play with people you can have fun with.

Hmm, I guess I'm talking to myself as well.

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A little bump-update to this thread. I must admit laughing like hell while reading my opening posts and knowing exactly how other people felt :mrgreen:

Anyways - eight months have passed and I have been trying to put zerojoshuas advice into reality.

First, I left that league where I had been experiencing all those heartbreking losses I wrote about.

Then I decided to focus more on friendly matches without pressure of winning, I joined another competition*** (with totally different scheme), and throughout the summer I was more or less playing for the sakes of playing and enjoying the game!

At one point I really improved a lot, I'm pretty sure for two weeks in june/july I was at 4.5 level or very near it. Nothing strange, since focusing more on relaxed/training matches gave an opportunity to work more on my agressive game.

Unfortunately, then I started to have problems with overgrips and dead strings (which I wasnt able to detect that they were causing big problems in attacking performance), broke my Blade , fell into a vicious circle off experimenting with other rackets... until I finally severely injured my right wrist-hand. That happened 2 months ago and I still am not able to play



But, now I definitely have A GOAL - to play matches for enjoyment and with aspiration to always improve my shots.


Thanks for attention.

***As for that other competition: it's called a Pyramid since it works the similar way. Players are divided into rows, and every round each row has the opportunity to attack the above row or to defend its position against the row below.

Nice format which isn't to stressful.

Anyways, I started the competition at the 6th row (out of 10 rows with 8 players in each), and fought my way to the 1st row without losing a match where I stayed for a while (I think I had 11-0 record before my first loss in the competition!)

In that way I had quite a few narrow wins - I won every freaking Championship tiebreaker, I had several lucky netcords in almost every match... everything was going my way, just the opposite of what was happening in my previous competition

I will never know was that just the change of luck or a selfconfidence boost.

But, it wasn't perfect, my previous illness hasn't been cured.
At one part of the summer I had a sequence of FOUR MATCHES IN A ROW in which I had trashed the opponened in first set, got an early break in second... and then either lost that set and hardly won in CTB, or pushed it al the way to the unneccessary 2nd set TB.


Unfortunately, my head problems arent solved yet, and my last competitive match before injury proves it best:

--> I was leading 4:1* in the first set, but the guy breaked back for 4-3*.
At that point I clearly recall thinking about "Not having enough of mental strenght to continue this fight!"

After that I lost ALL THE GAMES, up to 46 06 loss.

I just turned off, why? Beats me. I just didn't have the mental energy that was neccessary to put into EACH point to be able to compete against that player, former junior pro, a better player than me, but I had my chances in that match.

So I Guess some things will never ever change.

Nevertheless, I am not playing now, and it will take me quite a while to get back to my previous level of play :?

You don't have match experience.
Having better strokes and being stronger is no indication of winning.
Get stronger, play more matches, learn from them, work on stroke technique, and results take care of themselves.

T-Vex said:

Maybe a good shrink is the solution?

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Yes, read books by Dr. Allen Fox. He's a tennis shrink. He was top ten in world in his day, Wimbledon and all that. He coached Pepperdine U, and had top teams in the country. You are thinking too much, maybe you have not been competing very long and need to learn how it feels to win. Maybe you don't feel you deserve to win and you're playing not to lose. The ride home feels a lot better when you win. Give it time, change comes gradually, very gradually.

G'luck

zerojoshua said:

A big serve changes confidence about all aspects of the game. It's definitely worth practicing as much as possible...... It's one thing you can eventually control.

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Very True

LeeD said:

Go to a pro or college match, WATCH, and can your better shots match up to theirs? They need to within your 3rd year, or it won't happen ever.

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I don't get that third year thing? What's wrong with improving later?

-Fuji

well, it isn't far wrong, actually, particularly for adults.

if someone has sufficient athletic ability and hand-eye co-ordination to be 'good', they will be able to produce high class shots within 3 years. They might not be very consistent yet, but their best shots will match anyone's.

If not, chances are it won't happen.

(note, this assumes a serious attempt to work on the game)

Timbo's hopeless slice said:

well, it isn't far wrong, actually, particularly for adults.

if someone has sufficient athletic ability and hand-eye co-ordination to be 'good', they will be able to produce high class shots within 3 years. They might not be very consistent yet, but their best shots will match anyone's.

If not, chances are it won't happen.

(note, this assumes a serious attempt to work on the game)

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Hmm, I've never really thought about it before. Maybe I'm destined to be the next great thing... LOL!

-Fuji

One thing I read that helped me think better about things was some article on David Nalbandian and how he won so many 5 set matches.
The major thing I noted was that he was often way up early in the match and blew his leads. After that, however, he still was able come back and win the matches.
If you were up a set and two breaks, and are now down, it is OK, you can still win. If you were up 7-0 in a tiebreak and are now down 7-9, it's OK, you can still win. It doesn't matter how you got to that point.

yes, tennis is played one point at a time, and the match is only finished when the last point is played (well, duh!)

in other words, you can't run out of time, and no lead is insurmountable.

Fuji said:

I don't get that third year thing? What's wrong with improving later?

-Fuji

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interesting LeeD statement... I guess one could find the rare exception but after 3 years of committed tennis a guy's likely pretty much locked in to what he's forever going to be like -- either serious in developing good technique, strategy and competitiveness or simply defensive; relying on athletism. Neither is wrong but it would explain the 60 y.o. guys that've played for 30 years and best shot wouldn't remotely be confused with a college player.... Or the young guy suddenly turned on to tennis and crushing the ball in six months.

As for the OP, remind yourself in tense situations that, win or lose, there really isn't a more fun place to be. And if you really want to demoralize yourself just keep in mind that virtually no one really cares.

On occasional, drink heavily with the woman in your life. It will help you out there with the mental game.