Negative feelings

Hi,

I'm having a problem, I just keep losing games from people who, most of the time, play worse than I do and when they actually are better this still happens.  Most of the times It's even 2-0 for me but I just lose with 2-3 every single time. I know you can't fix this for me, but I hope that you can give me some tips how to prevent this from happening. Like a change of tactic when we already played 2 or 3 games or something to stay calm, because most of the time during the 4th or 5th game I get really frustrated that I almost won but I just can't win that last game.

I'll participate in the Dutch Junior Championships this Saturday, so I was thinking on how to prevent this.

Hi Izzy,

The first thing is to realise that every player feels those negative thoughts.

What you need to do every time you start to think those negative thoughts is to stop, take a deep breath focusing totally on the breath going in and out.  THen after the breath, think about the tactic you need to use for the next rally.  Then take a look at the ball and track it as well as you possibly can for the next rally.

Also think about enjoying the contest.  Just see what your opponent can give you to deal with.

If you follow these steps you will find that things may improve.

Keep working hard and remember... focus on the ball in the rally.  Good luck on Saturday.