“I’m not good enough to beat this player”

This came up at a workshop with a group of players.

And their coach, who was ranked 20th in the world, said he used to feel this way too.

A lot of players feel like this.

But if you keep repeating these negative thoughts to yourself, your confidence drops, and your game becomes tighter and less natural.

The book “The Inner Game of Tennis” has a simple solution for this:

Don’t try to argue with the thought like “I’m not good enough”.

Don’t try to convince yourself that you are good enough. 

That inner conversation just keeps the thought alive and pulls your focus away from the match.

Instead, bring your focus back to action.

To a simple thought like “Fast feet” or “Watch the ball.”

That way, you stop arguing with yourself about whether you’re good enough or not and can bring your focus back to the present moment. 

I completely understand that the doubt might still be there.

But it stops getting in the way. 🙂