A lot of players struggle when the pressure is on during a match and fail to execute their best shots when it matters most. Listed below are some tricks you can use to take the pressure off of yourself so that you can play your best tennis.

Stop Caring and Have Fun—So many players get caught up with the end result of winning or losing that they end up putting pressure on themselves that it paralyzes their game. When you care too much, you start playing tentative and scared which prohibits you from actually playing your best tennis. You start playing not to lose instead of playing to win. The key to playing your best tennis is to stop caring and just have fun. I know it’s easier said than done but once you can master this, you will see a huge difference in your performance.

Flip the Score—How many times have you had the lead in a set or after winning the first set,
turnaround and end up losing. A mental trick you could use would be to switch the score. If you are winning 5-2, pretend that you are losing 2-5. Typically, players who are behind play harder to try and catch back up. This will be very helpful if you are one of those players who struggle with closing out a set or a match.

Prepare Yourself for Success—Another way to take the pressure off yourself is by going into your matches feeling prepared. When you know that you have been working hard by taking private lessons, participating in clinics and match play, you feel more confident in your skill set to play a strong game. Knowing that you have put in the work and are ready to win will go a very long way.

Lose Going for your Shots—The worst that could happen is that you lose a match. So what, it’s not the end of the world. When you go into every match not caring about losing, you will play better. Lose a match going for your shots opposed to losing not going for them. You will keep
yourself in every match if you play hard from beginning to end.

Have you ever played a player who never misses? These are some of the toughest matches to play and can be very frustrating. Use consistency to your advantage to beat majority of your opponents.

In my opinion, you can beat 75% of your opponents just by keeping the ball in play. The other 25% you will need to be consistent and step up and make some shots. The number one way to be more consistent is to take some pace off of the ball. The goal is to hit the ball with 3/4 of your pace. Not too hard but not too soft. You want to find the pace that you will be able to hit in which you will never miss. You take this pace of the ball and move it around the court as your opponent self-destructs. If you play well with consistency, over time throughout the match, this will really frustrate your opponent and may result in them over hitting and trying to win the point too quickly. Once they start trying this tactic, you may start to see a lot of unforced errors creep into their game. As they start missing, then you’ll know that you drew them into your web of errors, therefore, resulting in a very easy match for you to win.

Having a steadily paced ball can be a huge weapon and will help you win a ton of matches.

Keep on Playing!