What to Do When You’ve Lost Your Tennis Confidence

Confidence is something that’s always been talked about as being really important in tennis. Many of the greatest pro players, like Serena and Venus Williams, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, etc., all have quotes about how believing you can win is the best way to win. But something that’s not always talked about is, 'What do you do when you have lost your confidence?'

Since the beginning of the year, I have struggled a bit with my confidence, but over the last week or so, I have slowly been seeing signs of my old self, and I feel like my confidence is finally coming back around! This didn’t happen overnight, and everyone is different and may struggle for their own reason(s), but I wanted some fairly universal tips in case you find yourself low on tennis confidence and aren’t sure what to do.

10 Tips for Regaining Your Tennis Confidence

1. Investigate Any Changes You’ve Might Have Recently Made:

Most tennis players are used to hearing, “It’s you, not your racquet," but when it comes to confidence, it could actually be the racquet. When you notice your confidence has dipped, it can be helpful to look at any changes you’ve made. Equipment is something that can seriously affect your game! At the beginning of the year, I bought a new racquet because I was looking for an easy way to generate a little more power (and because it was pretty). The new racquet did help me get a lot of pace, and I had some pretty great lessons and clinics on it, but when it came to matches, I could not play well on it at all. No matter the opponent, no matter the surface, I was just playing ‘off’ any time I tried to use it in an actual match. Because I was hitting so well with it in lessons and clinics, I thought it was solely a 'me problem’. 

Only recently did I realize how much this new racquet was negatively impacting my confidence. Due to the increase in power and decrease in weight, I felt like I had to swing differently and play with tons and tons of spin on it to even get it in, both of which really hurt my confidence and therefore my performance in matches. In lower-stress, slower-paced situations, I could do those things a bit easier, but, no matter how good your clinics or lessons are, they just aren’t the same as a real match. Despite maybe being a “better racquet” for me on paper, it wasn’t what I felt comfortable and confident with, so it really wasn’t better for me after all. Long story short… equipment changes can really affect your confidence! Even something as seemingly small as a shoe brand switch can make you move differently, which can really throw you off not just physically but also mentally in matches. In that case, the best thing to do is probably to go back to the old thing. For example, once I realized how this was impacting my confidence, I returned to the racquet I had been using, and everything sort of seemed to fall back into place. 

Coaching or training changes can also affect your confidence. I’ve had 3 different coaches in less than 6 months this year! Not by my choice; one left clubs, and the other had visa issues, but it did affect my confidence a bit. Ultimately, I wound up with a great coach, who I think will help my game a lot, but the inconsistency did shake up my confidence somewhat. Even though all three coaches are solid coaches, they’ve all had different things to focus on or that they want to teach me and different styles of play. Hearing three different things in less than six months can leave you feeling a little bit shaken up. Also, changes in your training schedule (like training less or in a different way) can affect your confidence. I think the best thing to do in that case is to just keep consistency where you can. Some things (like my coaching changes) aren’t preventable, but in that case, you can try to keep other things consistent about your training, like your number of lessons, clinics, and outside training.

2. Visualize:

Every time I’ve had a bit of a drop in my confidence, visualization is one thing that has helped me get out of it. Scientifically, visualization can help—your brain actually reacts like the things that you’ve imagined have actually happened. Even though it’s not the same as winning a bunch of points, visualizing winning points or even matches can help build confidence. You can also visualize winning a match, and it just kind of helps build confidence that you can do that going into it or during it, because you’re seeing that happen in your mind.

3. Accept Perfection Is Impossible:

As a tennis player, it’s super easy to fall into the trap of wanting to “play your best” or to “play really well.” However, playing every
single match really well is basically impossible. So many things are out of your control as a tennis player: court condition, weather, noise, your level of sleep (sometimes hard to control with travel), delays, and even your opponent’s behavior (calls and sportsmanship). Sometimes, as a player, you just might not feel well or have a shot that’s just ‘off’ that day. So, with all these factors, it’s hard to play your best or even play well sometimes. I think accepting that you may have some matches where you may not be on top of your game can actually help your confidence. When you’re playing poorly, you can still win. So, if you just accept that playing perfect all the time isn’t possible and that you can still win despite that, it can help your confidence. If you measure too much on how ‘well’ you play, one bad match or practice can also tank your confidence. Plus, I think it can be a slippery slope because playing well is so subjective. Sometimes you can get too sucked up into perfection and feel like you played awful even when you didn’t. It can also take away from a win too, if you’re too focused on how you feel about your play. Accepting that there are things out of your control and that you won’t be able to play 100% every day can help if you focus on winning and know that you just need to play smarter if you’re not playing as well that day. 

4. Reflect More Objectively: 

Sometimes, when you lose a match or feel like you played poorly, all you think about is the things that you did badly. Reflecting on things that you weren’t as great at during that match is helpful because you know what to work on. However, it’s better to pinpoint specific issues in your game rather than just feeling like you “just played badly” or “everything was awful.” Figuring out the root of the problem or what exactly was weak in your game can help you fix it, rather than just being negative about everything and destroying your self-esteem. It’s also important to not just reflect negatively, but to also think about the things you did well at and remember those. That way, you are still feeling confident about something. Excuses aren’t great, and it’s easy to get caught up in making them, but I think an important part of reflecting objectively is considering some of the things that are out of your control (like the things I mentioned above—weather, conditions, etc.). Sometimes, it’s important to realize that if you felt ill or there was a really difficult condition to play in, it can affect your game. I think sometimes it’s important to acknowledge that these things can affect your performance because it helps you be less hard on yourself. If an opponent was making really unfair calls, the courts were in extremely bad condition, the weather was really bad, etc., it wouldn’t make sense to feel awful about yourself and change everything about your play afterward. While excuses shouldn’t be used as a crutch, it’s important to acknowledge things out of your control that affected your play if they did happen, so you don’t totally destroy your confidence and feel bad about yourself for things that aren’t your fault. Plus, acknowledging these things can help you work on combating them when you play. For example, if wind was a problem during your match, you can try to work on or research how to adjust your strategy when playing in it. 

5. Practice Until You Can’t Feel Bad: 

One way to build confidence is to practice something until you feel really solid about it. I’ve practiced serving almost every single day this summer. It really showed up in a recent match because I was able to hit my serves confidently and served some of my best serves ever. If you constantly practice certain shots, they not only become muscle memory, but it helps build your confidence. Practicing a ton helps you feel like you can hit a shot in a match because you’ve hit it all the time in practice. If you practice playing aggressively too, or going for winners, it eventually starts to make you feel more confident about hitting those shots in matches. Which is great because a lack of confidence can lead to playing more conservatively than you should or just pushing the ball back. One way to build confidence is to just do something so much that you feel like you can’t possibly mess it up. You can also practice stressful situations, like being down (start a match from being down), tiebreakers, or even just matchplay, to build confidence in tough situations as well. Another way to build confidence in a practice is to end it where you end feeling good about yourself. Kind of like when people say not to end on a miss, you can wrap up a practice by practicing your biggest strength. You could also end on a nice or successful shot that is whatever you struggle with (for instance, if backhands are your weakness, end your practice session hitting a good backhand). Either way, ending on something positive will make you feel good going into a match or tournament. 

6. Eliminate or Improve Weaknesses:

Personally, I sometimes only feel as good as my weakest shot after a match. If I’m really struggling with a certain shot during a match but hitting another really well, I mostly think about the shot that was bad, not the one that was good. If you improve or work on some of your weaknesses, it can build your overall confidence. It can make you feel better going into matches, because then you feel more solid about your play and aren’t just hoping that they don’t hit you with whatever shot you struggle with. Often, it’s easy to want to practice the thing you’re really good at, but even though it can be hard, practicing the things you struggle at can, in the long term, fix your confidence. If you can improve a weak area or completely eliminate it, there isn’t much left to feel negative about anymore. 

7. Add a Routine or Something ‘Lucky’: 

One way to build your confidence going into a match or tournament is to have something or a routine that makes you feel good about yourself. For example, I have a lucky necklace I always wear. If you have a small ritual before a match or something that comforts you, it can help build your confidence and make you feel better going into things. Even though it may feel superstitious, it can help calm you to have rituals or something you keep the same for all your matches because it feels like an aspect that you can control. 

8. Remember Times You Succeeded: 

When you’re not feeling as confident, it can make you feel better to remember times you’ve succeeded. Going into a match or tournament, you can think about some of your ‘best matches’ or ‘best tournaments.’ Not only can these benefit you strategically (especially if you think about why they were so good), but they can also help you mentally. If you focus on times you played well and did well, it can build confidence in yourself. This strategy can also be helpful mid-match. For example, if you’re in a tiebreaker or down, you can think about a time you’ve been in a similar situation (or even the same situation) and won. If you think about times when you’ve done the same thing and succeeded, it helps strengthen your belief that you can win or succeed in the same situation. 

9. Adopt a ‘Next One’ Mentality:

You know how it feels when someone’s trying to cheer you on when you miss and they say “next one”? That mentality is actually super helpful! When you miss a shot, if you adopt the ‘next one’ mentality, it’s more positive than being upset about the miss. Realizing you always have a second chance can alleviate pressure and make you feel better. Unless it’s the end of a match, if you miss a shot or lose a game, there’s always another shot or game. Even if you lose the match or get bumped out of the tournament, there’s always another match or tournament to be played. Staying present and focusing on the next thing can help stop negativity and dwelling on the past. Thinking too much about an error can cause more errors. Having a ‘short term memory’ and forgetting errors can help you feel more confident. And, if you didn’t like your performance in a match or tournament, just focus on doing better at the next one rather than dwelling on it too long.

10. Have Better Self-talk:

Self-talk can really affect your confidence, too. If you are really negative towards yourself, it can destroy your confidence and make you feel and play bad. One way to fix poor self talk is to give more constructive criticism. Instead of feeling like you’re terrible after a miss, instead think about maybe why you missed that shot or something you could fix. Thinking more positively about yourself helps you play more confidently and looser. Complimenting yourself after a point you win or telling yourself you can win and that you deserve to win can help you feel and play so much better. A thing that’s helped me avoid bad self-talk is to think that if you wouldn’t tolerate someone saying that to you, or if you wouldn’t say it to someone else about them, you shouldn’t think it about yourself. Sometimes, if I feel like I can’t think super positively, I try to just focus on solely thinking about where I want to hit a shot and how I want to hit it. That way, even if I’m not having super-positive self-talk, I’m at least not having negative self-talk either. 

Your brain also doesn’t know negatives. So, if you’re thinking “don’t miss” or “don’t double fault,” all your brain is thinking about is missing or double faulting. Instead, it can be helpful to think about how you want to hit it (more spin, etc.) or even just simply “hit this serve in.” That way, instead of thinking about something bad, you’re thinking about something more positive. 

Be Kind To Yourself!

Hopefully, these tips are helpful! Not only will being confident help you win more and play better in tennis, but it also makes it way more fun to play. 

Thanks so much for checking out Kaitlyn Redwine Tennis and see you next post! :)

xo- Kaitlyn