Perform Sports Psychology

Improve Mental Toughness for Sports

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About Amy
  • Articles
  • Coaching
    • About Mental Coaching
    • Free 15-Minute Session
  • Free Report
  • Products
  • Testimonials
  • Contact

Confidence: The Difference-Maker in Tennis

October 5, 2017 By Amy Tardio

Dennis Shapovalov Confidence

What is the X factor in tennis?

What can you improve to give you that extra edge over your competitors and be the difference-maker to vault your game to the next level?

Let’s examine the real life example of 18 year-old Dennis Shapovalov who has shot up the ATP rankings…

Shapovalov reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 51 on September 11, 2017 after being ranked 143rd in early August. Shapovalov’s play on the Tour has been remarkable despite turning pro only a year ago.

Shapovalov’s stellar 2017 season includes: beating No. 2 Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup (becoming the youngest player ever to reach an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semifinal), reaching the fourth round at the US Open and making it to the semifinals at the Canadian Open.

Shapovalov stated that confidence is the X factor that is the reason for his elite play this season.

“I’m getting my confidence and momentum and I’m playing free and playing loose.”

“It’s been a crazy two months,” he said after a recent five set Davis Cup victory for Team Canada. “I’ve had a lot of success, and been playing some great tennis. I have a lot of confidence under my belt, and it’s helping me win tough matches like today.”

That’s right… CONFIDENCE!

There may be some objection in your mind about confidence being the difference-maker. You might think talent, training, coaching or physical ability is the most critical component for elite play.

While these components are absolutely necessary to reach the pinnacle of your sport, without confidence, the impact of these contributors is greatly lessened.

You can probably call to mind many talented players that consistently fail to live up to their potential. Confidence allows you to explore your potential. When you are confident, you see mistakes as learning opportunities that can help push you to greater heights.

When you lack confidence, you have that feeling, “Why practice? I always lose.”

Confidence gives you the motivation to work hard in practice and learn new skills.

When you are confident, you believe your actions matter.

When confidence is low, you take criticism to heart and lose even more confidence. Confidence helps you see criticism from your coach as constructive advice rather than condemning your ability.

Lacking confidence causes you to see all your shortcomings such as, “I’m too small,” “I’m not fast enough,” or, “I’m not strong enough to have a powerful swing.”

Confidence gives you the belief that you are capable of accomplishing your goals but also that you can further develop your abilities in order to achieve even more in the future.

As y0u see, without confidence, peak performance is impossible. The great news is that confidence is not a genetic trait but a mental skill that grows with daily attention.

Make the commitment today to develop your confidence.

Tardio Tips: Developing Daily Confidence

  1. Confidence requires effort. It’s easy to remember what when wrong. Get into the habit of thinking what went right!
  2. Start a confidence log. Each morning when you wake up, write down three strengths and each night before you go to bed, write down three successes. Small ones count!
  3. Build daily confidence by seeing your strengths and successes as opportunities to grow your mental game.

Related Article: The Keys To Gaining Winning Confidence

Identify mistakes you may be making in your pregame mental preparation. Download our Free Pregame Mental Preparation Tips!

Interested in upping your Mental Sports Performance? Free 15-Minute Mental Coaching Session

Parents learn more about Mental Coaching: About Mental Coaching

Filed Under: Sports Psychology Articles, Tennis Confidence Tagged With: Confidence in Tennis

About Amy Tardio

amy Amy provides proven, mental toughness techniques to help athletes achieve the mindset for success in competitive sports. Learn how to set goals and perform with focus, high confidence and trust in your game. With over twenty years as a expert in the field, Amy’s positive, sports psychology focus, is what top athletes parents and students rely on for peak performance.

Free 15-Minute Session with Amy

Learn how mental game coaching can improve your performance in sports....
CLICK HERE to Learn more today>>

Recent Mental Game Articles

  • Taking Advantage of Virtual Mental Training
  • The Impact of Expectations on Sport Performance
  • No Spectators… No Problem
  • The Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes
  • Give Yourself Credit… Give Yourself Confidence

Mental Training Articles

Taking Advantage of Virtual Mental Training

How many hours per week are you physically engaged in practicing or training? How many hours per week do you dedicate to mental training? If you are like most athletes, you recognize the impact that mental factors have on performance, but you would probably admit that you do not put in a significant amount of […]

The Impact of Expectations on Sport Performance

Do expectations help or hurt performance? So much has been written about how expectations affect athletic performance, but there is still some confusion about the impact of expectations. On one side of the argument, athletes ask, “Shouldn’t I expect success?  After all, if I expect to lose, I probably will, right?” The flip side of the argument by athletes is, “I […]

No Spectators… No Problem

How to Deal with Distractions in Golf Are spectators a distraction for golfers? Do spectators have a significant impact on a golfer’s score? As golfers deal with a “new normal” due to the coronavirus, playing without spectators has received a lot of attention for both Tour players and amateur golfers. Some say the pro golfers […]

About Amy Tardio

amy Amy provides proven, mental toughness techniques needed to achieve the mindset for success in competitive sports. Learn the right way to set goals and perform with focus, high confidence and trust in your game.

With over twenty years as a expert in the field, Amy’s positive, sports psychology focus, is what top athletes parents and students rely on for peak performance.
MGCP-LogoAmy is a certified Mental Game Coaching Professional and coach with The International Coaching Federation.

Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Terms of Use

Copyright © 2023 · Amy Tardio & Perform Sports Psychology · Log in

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}