Tennis - Are You Afraid To Lose?
Are you technically a great tennis player, but somehow, always seem to lose to players of lesser abilities? If so, it sounds like you’re afraid to lose. Don’t worry, you’re not the only one experiencing this. I too, struggled with this problem as I was also “afraid to lose”. Here’s what happened. As a junior, I was able to out perform any other tennis player when practicing drills or playing practice matches. However, during tournaments (when the match actually counted), instead of driving the ball through the court, I would tighten up and start “pushing” the ball over the net. Why? Simply because I was afraid to lose. As a result, players below me who had nothing to lose were able to occasionally pull off the upset against me.
This is what separates the top players from the rest. Top players are able to play through the pressure with out the fear of losing. Eventually, I was able to train my mind to forget about losing and to focus on winning. After I mastered this, my game really took off and I gained a tremendous amount of confidence.
Here are some tips to deal with your fear of losing:
* Focus on where you want to hit the ball, rather than focusing on not missing
* Concentrate on your footwork rather than your strokes
* Create a goal for each point, and focus on that. A goal can be to serve and volley or to angle your opponent off the court. It can be anything.
* It is impossible to make every shot and to win every point. You are going to lose some and win some, but if you play without the fear of losing, your results will be much better, guaranteed!
* If you know that being afraid to lose makes you play worse, why do it? Swing away!
* The first ball you successfully FORCE your self into swinging freely will make the next few balls you hit become more and more natural(so you wont have to force it).
These are just a few tips that helped me get past my fear of losing. By focusing on something else, it took my mind away from losing. Not surprisingly, it translated into more winning.
Learn how to overcome your fear of losing in tennis! http://www.mytennisguide.com