It's Sunday morning. League match. You've been hitting well all week.
You step onto the court and see them warming up across the net. You know you're better. Your forehand is cleaner. Your serve has better placement. You've beaten better players than this.
But something shifts the moment the first point starts.
You miss an easy volley. Then a routine forehand goes wide. Your grip tightens on the racket. Your shoulders tense up. Your brain starts up: "What's wrong with me? Just keep it in. Don't miss."
By the third game, you're playing not to lose instead of playing to win. You're pushing balls back, waiting for them to make mistakes. But they're not making mistakes because they have a plan and you're just reacting.
The serves you crushed in practice? Now you're just trying to get them in. The aggressive shots you drilled all week? Abandoned. You're defending, scrambling, hoping.
By the time you shake hands at the net, you're already replaying every mistake in your head. "I'm better than them. Why do I keep doing this to myself?"
You drive home frustrated. Not at them. At yourself.
You didn't lose because of your strokes. You lost because you had no strategy, no game plan, no confidence in what to do when the pressure was on.
And tomorrow, you'll go back to practice and hit beautifully again. But next league match? Same story.
This isn't a talent problem. It's a strategy problem.
Every other sport figured this out decades ago. Soccer teams run plays to score goals. Football teams run plays to score touchdowns. Basketball teams run plays to get open shots.
But tennis players? Most club players just hit the ball back and hope.
You were never taught there was another way.