Where has the killer instinct gone?

Hi Jeff, hi Alois. First of all, thank you very much for your effort, i love you guys! Please keep going like that!

Now my question: In my country there is a rankingsystem for a players strengh. It starts at "1" (novice), goes to "20" (the best players in the highest divison). My strengh is 10, that's quite ok. When i have prepared for a season intensely, my lowest aim is to beat all players which have a lower and equal ranking compared to me.

Now, when i play against a "weaker" opponent, i'm more or less concentrated and focused, because i always tell me things like "you don't want to lose this, he is has a weaker ranking" and so on.. and i win most times (90%). But when i play against a better one, i just try to play well, although i have chances to win the game. But i have very often the problem to clench and to put myself under pressure because i just want to play every ball perfectly well. So i just try to relax and to play well, instead of focusing and giving my best.

So Jeff, Alois.. I really need your help, because i am playing in a league where nearly everyone has a better ranking than me. I feel like i am losing my aim (and my killer instinct!) to win, when i just relax and try to play well. But i also don't want to clench all the time, just because i am a kind of "overachiever".. I need to find the perfect mixture! I hope you understand me, if not, i'll give you further descriptions.

Thank you very much!

Cheers, David 

Hi David,

Firstly, you don't have to clench all the time to play well.  In fact you will find that you will play to our best ability when you are more relaxed.

The key is is to find the optimal level for you. One of the ways to find this is to think back to when you have played a great match.  Think about the feelings you had when you were playing then.  

This level is neither too relaxed or too tense.

In a match situation you need to focus on winning points and the tactics that you need rather than good technique.  Your technique is difficult to change in an important match.  Technique is something that you improve during training sessions.