Crisis of Confidence

[Tennis_Fever]

Alright TW, I am at an all time low, and I'm looking for some help getting my confidence back up. After a fairly promising season last year (our team made states), I have been playing rather poorly overall since this past fall (ESL) and am struggling to get my game back on track. I have no injuries, but have been losing badly. I had never taken a bagel in my entire life, and 2 of my last matches I was served up a bagel and a breadstick. I seem to be having game points and break points often, but struggling to convert nearly any of them. With my confidence completely gone, my game has totally fallen apart. Anybody been there? What did you do to break out of a slump and recover your confidence?

 

[heninfan99]

Taking a break helps me. I come back refreshed and playing better though it takes a few sessions to get the serve back.

 

[Tennis_Fever]

Taking a break helps me. I come back refreshed and playing better though it takes a few sessions to get the serve back.

I have thought about that but I have matches almost every weekend throughout the summer so this is not really an option for me

 

[Tennis_Fever]

And before others suggest, I have read both Winning Ugly and the Inner Game of Tennis. I have listened to podcasts on the subject of mental toughness, I have even tried meditation prior to matches to relax and clear my mind. Nothing seems to be helping or working.

 

[heninfan99]

I have thought about that but I have matches almost every weekend throughout the summer so this is not really an option for me

You can schedule a break after even if you make it to the playoffs.

 

[LeeD]

Too much emphasis on wining or losing.
Play tennis for fun, play tennis to improve. Neither has anything to do with winning or losing.
Play lower level player's if you want to win all the time.

 

[LeeD]

Also, don't forget the sage advice.... "there's usually a calm before the storm".
Meaning, before you can have a major improvement in your game, you have to suffer thru a downturn of incompetence, as you start to know how to put the various parts together to make a more effective game.

 

[user92626]

Too much emphasis on wining or losing.
Play tennis for fun, play tennis to improve. Neither has anything to do with winning or losing.
Play lower level player's if you want to win all the time.

I agree with LeeD.

Once in a while I unwittingly got caught in the bad mindset of overly emphasizing on winning, losing. I just calibrated and got back. Winning/losing has to be secondary in recreational tennis for it to be sustainable.

(I have changed so much that I even like to coach low level players these days. Looking for variety!!!!)

 

[Limpinhitter]

Alright TW, I am at an all time low, and I'm looking for some help getting my confidence back up. After a fairly promising season last year (our team made states), I have been playing rather poorly overall since this past fall (ESL) and am struggling to get my game back on track. I have no injuries, but have been losing badly. I had never taken a bagel in my entire life, and 2 of my last matches I was served up a bagel and a breadstick. I seem to be having game points and break points often, but struggling to convert nearly any of them. With my confidence completely gone, my game has totally fallen apart. Anybody been there? What did you do to break out of a slump and recover your confidence?

My advice is to use the Jimmy Connors approach: focus on executing one shot at a time, and executing your gameplan one point at a time, and let the score take care of itself.

 

[steve s]

Think you need two or three good, tough practice sessions that can convince even you, that you can hit shots under pressure.

Everyone here has had this affliction to some degree at sometime. We all got thru it alive ; so shall you.

 

[donquijote]

Alright TW, I am at an all time low, and I'm looking for some help getting my confidence back up. After a fairly promising season last year (our team made states), I have been playing rather poorly overall since this past fall (ESL) and am struggling to get my game back on track. I have no injuries, but have been losing badly. I had never taken a bagel in my entire life, and 2 of my last matches I was served up a bagel and a breadstick. I seem to be having game points and break points often, but struggling to convert nearly any of them. With my confidence completely gone, my game has totally fallen apart. Anybody been there? What did you do to break out of a slump and recover your confidence?

It seems like you made progress last year and now facing a better competition. If your level dropped a bit, even that will make a big difference since singles tennis is played one-on-one. I've been experiencing the affects of not being fit recently as I have not time for workouts. I raised up two years ago and now I have to work my a55 off to beat the players I used to beat as they've improved a bit and my fitness is not as good as used to be. As I said, little things make a big difference and if you beat yourself up in your mind, you get tense and make bad shots. Take one point at a time and run after every ball. Winning a hard fought point is usually a turning point in the match. Show your opponent that you want to win.

 

[The Unknown]

Some great advice given so far.

 

[Shroud]

Alright TW, I am at an all time low, and I'm looking for some help getting my confidence back up. After a fairly promising season last year (our team made states), I have been playing rather poorly overall since this past fall (ESL) and am struggling to get my game back on track. I have no injuries, but have been losing badly. I had never taken a bagel in my entire life, and 2 of my last matches I was served up a bagel and a breadstick. I seem to be having game points and break points often, but struggling to convert nearly any of them. With my confidence completely gone, my game has totally fallen apart. Anybody been there? What did you do to break out of a slump and recover your confidence?

You attract what you fear...

But my therapist can help you!

 

[GuyClinch]

I read this kind of thing - and I always feel it comes from a lack of analysis. Next time you play really try to pinpoint how exactly you are losing most of your points. Not just generally like 'I missed everything' - but how - what shots - what exactly happened out there. Once you do this - you can figure out what you need to work on. If you can discover the root cause you will feel more confident because you can go in there with a plan.. Some shots you want to hit better.. And even if you continue to play poorly you will know why..

What's your plan? What's your weakness. You need to figure this out..

 

[jga111]

I read this kind of thing - and I always feel it comes from a lack of analysis. Next time you play really try to pinpoint how exactly you are losing most of your points. Not just generally like 'I missed everything' - but how - what shots - what exactly happened out there. Once you do this - you can figure out what you need to work on. If you can discover the root cause you will feel more confident because you can go in there with a plan.. Some shots you want to hit better.. And even if you continue to play poorly you will know why..

What's your plan? What's your weakness. You need to figure this out..

This is great advice.

Additionally - Use hits to get your confidence. I don't mean light-hearted rallies, but points - though points that have no context, you do not win or lose anything. I find intense rallies, followed by tie-breaks are a great way - you're not in a game, you do not feel in any shame in losing and there is no real glory when you win. But you have the perfect opportunity to get your confidence and refine your technique here - and once you've done that, you can then translate that into matches, knowing that you have your game is in tact. Often when I have a match to play, I like to have a hit the day before - so I can get my rhythm and timing up to scratch. I then try my more adventurous shots - if it goes well then I will I try it in the match, if not, I won't bother...

And remember, this is fun - play and not 'work' good luck.

 

[Jamesm182]

@Tennis_Fever

I have been through similar situations , but without the scorelines.

You need to be less result focussed in these circumstances , and try to view the game , and how you are playing more objectively - who is doing what to who in the points? why is x y or z happening, are there any patterns or trends occuring?

If you feel you are making good decisions on court and in points then you have nothing to worry about, if you are fully commiting to your shots , and not making daft errors, or your opponent just plays better. Mentally you need to cut yourself some slack.

Confidence is a very fluid feeling an emotion, and some players (myself included) can find their performance varies massively around this.

Just reading what you have put , it reads like those couple of 0 sets have really knocked you mentally, when there is no need to have such a drastic reaction, just look at the amount of 6-0 sets in the pro level game, and take comfort there.

Try to play on a point by point basis, focus 100% on playing your best in that point, in that moment! , commit to the shots needed, and concentration needed for each point.
Give yourself praise when you hit a good shot or win a long point etc. Let the score take care of itself, as when you are feeling fragile it can often be a distratction.

Become 100% emotionally invested in each single point, and dont focus so much on the big picture, re-build the foundations of your confidence, and play to focus on re discovering your style and way of playing, as more than likely you have stopped doing things you normally do well, and are playing with fear of losing, rather than for enjoyment. Winning/losing is by product of all these small factors.

You cant just switch on confidence mode. However if you think of your confidence of a wall, you can break it down , and be gone quickly, mostly by your own thoughts or self damage.
By using some of these steps and more, you can rebuild the wall brick by brick, and hopefully learn more about yourself in the process, to stop this happening so severely next time.

Another quick non mental tip, that i found to help, is to work on your B game. When you have an A game that is not working , you need to have a good standard B game that is still good enough to win matches or be competitive , rather than more of an all or nothing approach.

 

[fuzz nation]

I seem to be having game points and break points often, but struggling to convert nearly any of them. With my confidence completely gone, my game has totally fallen apart. Anybody been there? What did you do to break out of a slump and recover your confidence?

I coach high school teams and this observation of yours sounds all too familiar for me. When my players come off the court after a loss and tell me how almost every game went to deuce, I stop them right there and talk about being too aware of "bigger points" and playing the score. When we assign different levels of importance to different points, we're more prone to manufacturing pressure. Not good.

You're in an especially bad spot with your confidence shaken. When you're faced with what you decide is a "big moment", you can't see the opportunity in the moment. Instead, you're dreading things going wrong. At least that sounds like what's happening - I've seen it among lots of players through recent years, including some good ones.

I encourage my players to "count to one" during point play. That means learning to focus only on this upcoming point. Plan it, play it as well as you can manage, then hit the reset button and do it again. Much easier to stay sharp regardless of the match situation when we can embrace this mental ritual - and it can be practiced. This is a smaller detail - back to the bigger picture.

If you're carrying around expectations of yourself that are unrealistic (dwelling on what should be happening), you're going to play in a constant state of disappointment. Leave the expectations at home and figure out why you want to play the game. If that reason is simply to win, then you're doomed, especially if you need to be able to tell friends or parents that you've won on a regular basis. Fifty percent of all the people who play matches lose, so you need to figure out what you have to look forward to out there every time you play a match or have a practice session. I'm talking about being selfish, but in a constructive way. Win or lose, decide how to play for you.

By the way, I got a good chunk of this wisdom from another book you may not have read yet; Mental Tennis by Vic Braden. The other ones you mentioned are also good, but this work is aimed specifically at the stuff you're wrestling with now. Of all the material I've read to help with my abilities as both a coach and a player, this book has easily helped me the most.

 

[Turbo-87]

Too much emphasis on wining or losing.
Play tennis for fun, play tennis to improve. Neither has anything to do with winning or losing.
Play lower level player's if you want to win all the time.

Very nice points, LeeD.
I fell in this trap of placing too much emphasis on my ranking in league. Guess what? The fun left the court and sapped my love of the game. You have to play for fun and personal improvement because your wins and losses aren't going to put food on the table or score you supermodels.

 

[shindemac]

When you're playing w confidence, it can make a big difference. Close your eyes, and say to yourself 'i can do this' or another mantra. This will prime your body and build your confidence back up. It's like the SNL skit with Michael Jordan and he looks at himself in the mirror and says positive affirmations. Be positive; Be NOT negative. Imagine all the negative thoughts and things you say to yourself. If you say them to someone else, that would not be nice. But that is exactly what is happening. Be kind to yourself.

 

[kiteboard]

Alright TW, I am at an all time low, and I'm looking for some help getting my confidence back up. After a fairly promising season last year (our team made states), I have been playing rather poorly overall since this past fall (ESL) and am struggling to get my game back on track. I have no injuries, but have been losing badly. I had never taken a bagel in my entire life, and 2 of my last matches I was served up a bagel and a breadstick. I seem to be having game points and break points often, but struggling to convert nearly any of them. With my confidence completely gone, my game has totally fallen apart. Anybody been there? What did you do to break out of a slump and recover your confidence?

NO one plays well if the voice in the mind overrides the voice in the body. The body feels shots ahead of time. The mind speaks fear and judgement ahead of time. Practice listening to the body's voice alone and begin to feel your shots before you hit them. This takes a bit of decisive intention.

 

[Tennis_Fever]

Played a bit better last night, lost 3 & 3 to a fairly equal player. Having great trouble holding serve. Also unable to open up and hit out on most groundstrokes but I am trying to stay positive! played better the last 3 games then I have in a month. Thanks for your input everyone

 

[fuzz nation]

Played a bit better last night, lost 3 & 3 to a fairly equal player. Having great trouble holding serve. Also unable to open up and hit out on most groundstrokes but I am trying to stay positive! played better the last 3 games then I have in a month. Thanks for your input everyone

Cool - if you're playing with enough awareness that you could recognize those three games where you played really well, you're doing something right. Just staying positive probably forced that opponent to play well enough to beat you instead of your going negative and beating yourself.

Somebody got into the aspect of learning something every time we play - I don't think it was Braden, but I don't recall. This person made a great point about how these chances to learn occur when we win, but offered that they're even more common when we lose. Beating weaker opponents all the time doesn't expose our weaknesses that need work or offer any challenges to overcome. Recognizing the lessons offered when we lose is important - I agree with this thinking.

Ignore these lessons in the wake of a loss and we lose twice - I agree with this, too. Our sport isn't easy, but the challenge itself can be half the fun.

 

[10isMaestro]

If I may offer a bit of perspective here, there is something interesting for you in psychology called the Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model. The relevant takeout for you is that there is only so much attention you can afford to put on accomplishing cognitive tasks -- such as producing movements, reading a ball's path or choosing how to play next shot. One thing that happens as we improve is that increasingly complicated tasks become treated as single elements -- which is why an advanced player can play reasonably well while talking and a beginner's game would quickly fall apart, even if he faces easy shots for his level.

This model also has to offer a valuable lesson: multitasking means you split your focus between various tasks. Consequently, the more tasks you carry out at once, the less attention you pay top each of them and the more prone you are to failure. I'm sure most amateurs here will recognize those feelings and situations. At one extreme, things go so well that you can even get away with being cocky. You don't bother about moving in certain places, preparing your shot in certain way, you just think about hitting a specific shot and it just works. Sometimes, you might just see things unfold and "react" without any peculiar verbal, deliberative effort going on in your mind. At another extreme, you get some self-conscious about everything that you try to force yourself to recover at one spot, think about your grip, your arm position, etc. and you end up doing even worst than before you noticed those problems you try to fix.

In my opinion, it is possible that what we might describe as "being in the zone" just is "doing fewer things." As the infamous slogan put it, "just do it" might be a good piece of advice. If you bother about more than you, your opponent and the ball while you play, you do deprive those three key factors from attention they desparately need -- and will predictably end up doing worst. That includes bothering about the score, the opinion of other people, this little bad habit you tend to have, etc.

To do well, you have to keep those thoughts for breaks, or for after the match. During a match, you take your game as it is and make the best of it, period. That can mean winning or loosing, hitting great shots or screwing up -- it's never entirely up to you, anyway.

So, one bit of advice that wasn't yet on the board is simply to try to keep yourself in a mind set where you play ball, period. If it helps, pick in advance what are your options for shot selection and make it narrow. For instance, your opponent has a bad backhand, so every time you hit a solid shot, you recover to cover your own backhand and you send your forehand deep to his backhand -- no matter what. You commit yourself to this plan: you'll turn center court balls into forehands and attack his backhand. Or, if he sends you a slightly lower ball on your backhand side, you'll send it back with a slice cross-court -- and you'll do it systematically. The key here is not the specifics I picked as an example, but the intention of coming up with a very clear plan so you can stop thinking about more than playing a shot when you're on the court.

Second piece of advice: most people overplay their points. Here follows a list of tactics, from easiest to hardest. You should work your way from 1 to 4 and use the easiest tactic level that still gets you to win:
1. Reduced unforced errors
2. Attack weaknesses
3. Attack movement
4. Attack time

Suggestion: stick with the first two. If you play really bad, just playing everything deep cross-court until a very obvious short ball pops up can be a great idea -- that would tactic 1. If your opponent has a really weak backhand, sometimes just rolling high balls to it can earn you easy short balls. The key is to know how to hit that short ball and, if he resists, to know how to pin him to his backhand corner using inside-out forehands (you aim deep, about five feet from the sideline).

 

[10isMaestro]

I also stumbled upon a good video on a simple trick to keep yourself focused between points:

 

[shindemac]

Glad to hear it worked. It's always good to see success stories so others can read about it. If you were playing at a 2/30 before, now you could be playing at 5/10. Keep using these techniques, and soon you will be playing at 8/10 or higher.

It's amazing the tricks our mind can play on us. It doesn't seem possible that our thoughts could affect our game. For the most part, things prolly don't feel much different than before beside the obvious change in results. Keep at it and Good Luck!

 

[KenC]

I encourage my players to "count to one" during point play. That means learning to focus only on this upcoming point. Plan it, play it as well as you can manage, then hit the reset button and do it again. Much easier to stay sharp regardless of the match situation when we can embrace this mental ritual - and it can be practiced. This is a smaller detail - back to the bigger picture.

This is very good advice. I would add to this by saying we should practice our shots, sequences and strategies with increasing levels of pressure. First we should just practice shots, sequences and strategies until we become confident in being able to execute them in practice under no pressure. Then what I do with my trainer and friends is to play just 4 points each without counting anything, just playing 4 individual points, and try to incorporate what we were practicing earlier into our points. Then maybe we play a practice game or two each and see if we can execute the shots/sequences/strategies in a real game. Then to play the shots under the most pressure possible, we do a tie break to 10. If we can finally execute the stuff in a tie break with confidence, the next time we are in a real match we will have increased confidence to execute our strategies. This is how I remain confident in match play, I only hit stuff that I have practiced in this way. And if something causes me to lose confidence, like my 1HBH goes out of whack during a match, I just start drilling it with this increasing pressure method until I am confident again.

 

[dgold44]

Alright TW, I am at an all time low, and I'm looking for some help getting my confidence back up. After a fairly promising season last year (our team made states), I have been playing rather poorly overall since this past fall (ESL) and am struggling to get my game back on track. I have no injuries, but have been losing badly. I had never taken a bagel in my entire life, and 2 of my last matches I was served up a bagel and a breadstick. I seem to be having game points and break points often, but struggling to convert nearly any of them. With my confidence completely gone, my game has totally fallen apart. Anybody been there? What did you do to break out of a slump and recover your confidence?

First you need a good coach if a shot is breaking down
No one to stop playing and come back in later time

 

[Tennis_Fever]

Won my last match (by default, 0&0), and won this week 5&2 against a player that beat me in straights last year! Felt so good to not just win, but to play well for once!

 

[zalive]

Too much emphasis on wining or losing.
Play tennis for fun, play tennis to improve. Neither has anything to do with winning or losing.
Play lower level player's if you want to win all the time.

This is why it's the best never to get involved in a competition like league, tournaments, etc.
Then you can really and purely play just for fun.

 

[LeeD]

This is why it's the best never to get involved in a competition like league, tournaments, etc.
Then you can really and purely play just for fun.

No, most developing player's need regular match's, as well as just practice play, in order to develop the game.
Match's force you into playing percentages, facing more different player's, and covering more court.

 

[zalive]

No, most developing player's need regular match's, as well as just practice play, in order to develop the game.
Match's force you into playing percentages, facing more different player's, and covering more court.

So, you can play regular friendly matches.

 

[LeeD]

So, you can play regular friendly matches.

Not sure what you're getting at.
You play the player you're presented with. Mostly, it's peers, sometimes, it's against bad player's, sometimes it's against higher level players. You can't always control who you play against.
I do play in a small circle of maybe 8 player's on weekdays, about that on weekends. Sometimes, someone else shows up and is welcome, if he can hit better than 3.5. Sometimes, a 5.0 shows up, and we welcome him too.
As for singles, in the past year, I've played a USTA 5.0 twice, no 4.5's, and at least 7 different 4.0's. Maybe 3 3.5's, and one 3.0.
I've played against at least 14 guys who post, or posted, on TW forums.
Tennis is my 2nd sport, behind windsurfing, which I do about 5 days a week in the afternoons. Sometimes, I have to back off my tennis if the wind appears to be good later that day. I'm 67, so it's hard to do TWO different hard sports in the same day.

 

[zalive]

All I was trying to say is that if a player is involved in some formal competition format, like tournament or a league, then he potentially faces situations when he can't have fun.

When it's not like that you can take a break from tennis any time you like. You can play more, or less. And of course, you can pick your opponents, or at least in most cases. Depends on you.

For me it's a recipy for happiness when it comes to sports. But of course, there some other prerequisites for a total happines. Like winning on losing has to mean less to you (not in a sense that you play like you dont give a d*mn, but in a way that losing won't bother you that much). It's just a game, after all.

 

[LeeD]

Should the game of tennis be taken onto it's entirety? Or should a player just pick his moments, avoiding things he doesn't like, always trying to control the situation?
How many tournies should a player enter each year?
What's the ratio of practice to matches?
How about coached hours against practice hours?