how important is winning in tennis well i'm here to tell you that winning is by far
the most important thing when it comes to tennis when you're playing a tennis match the only goal
that you should have is to win that tennis match i'm gonna give you two scenarios scenario number
one you're playing some of the best tennis of your life you're playing absolutely amazing
but you end up losing scenario number two you play some of the worst tennis of your life you're
playing absolutely horrible but you end up winning which one do you choose well any high level tennis
player is going to tell you the same thing they want to win this is the only goal that we have
as tennis players because we know how important it is to win when it comes to our confidence see
what confidence is is your perceived probability of success which in turn is based on a successful
history and that's how you build confidence in tennis which is through winning so let me
tell you a story about myself that relates to the topic of how important winning is when it comes to
tennis so this is going back 20 years ago there was a big prize money tournament in germany and
i played in the first round i got a really good draw i played against a wild card it was some guy
from the local club this guy was recreational level this is normally a match that i should
win o and o or maybe one on one if i don't play so well but what ended up happening is that i
played maybe the worst match of my life i played absolutely horrendous i lost the set i think i won
like six three in the third and my best friend who was also in the tournament was watching me play
this match and he told me afterwards nick this is absolutely the worst tennis i've ever seen you
play now i remember vividly how i was feeling after that match because even though i played
horrible i was so happy to have won because i felt so much tension so much pressure in that match for
whatever the reason may have been and i felt so much relief and i was actually quite happy even
though i played horrible but what happened then was some of my best tennis that i've ever played
in the next three rounds i beat players that were in the top 500 at atp in the semi-final i
beat a german guy that was super highly ranked in germany top 20 in germany he was top 300
atp maybe the best result i've had that year and in the final end up playing as andrei pavel
who was as high as 11 in the world and i played so well in that match i only lost serve one time
and i regard this tournament as one of the best tournaments i've ever played
so think about it this way in a short time span we're talking about playing matches on the same
day i went from playing some of the worst tennis of my life to playing some of the best tennis of
my life and this is only possible because i ended up winning that first match so what does winning
give you it gives you confidence it gives you a chance to compete again because you're going to
be playing on in the next round and in addition to that often when you play really bad and you end up
winning this is some of the highest value you can get as a tennis player because it shows how
much character you have as a tennis player see it would be easy when it's not going well when
it's not your day to throw in the towel and just say ah this is not my day you know what i'm gonna
lose this i'm gonna go home i'm gonna try another time and then when you're feeling really well
you're feeling great about your game and you're going out there and winning that's actually a
lot easier than having to win when you're playing absolutely horrible i'm gonna quote john mcenroe
they asked him what is the sign of a champion and mcenroe said is the ability to win a match when
you're playing your worst and think about how many times we've seen this from the goats from federer
and nadal and djokovic how many times have they struggled in the early rounds of grand slams they
played against a lower ranked opponent and there was a four set or a five set match and they end up
winning the tournament anyway and interestingly they win easier in the later rounds compared
to the earlier rounds in some of the grand slams and that is exactly why winning is so important
tennis is a game after all when you are on the court you are dealing with a lot of emotions
you are dealing with so many different factors and you got to figure out how to come through on
the other end and end up as the winner there is so much value in this and therefore i say that
winning is absolutely the most important thing when it comes to playing tennis now what about
losing well even the goats are going to lose it is part of tennis especially we're talking about
an average level tennis player at the high level they're gonna lose all the time they're not gonna
get to win tournaments that often maybe one or two tournaments they win but every tournament
an average tennis player enters and i'm talking about myself as well i won some tournaments but
the vast majority of tournaments that i've played end up losing so here's the important distinction
even if you lose in a tournament the way tennis is structured you might collect some wins along
the way and you can build your confidence that way as well remember every win that you get will build
your confidence why because confidence is based on your perceived probability of success which is in
turn based on a successful history so the more wins you collect the more your confidence will
grow so when it comes to losing this is something that we have to deal with as tennis players but
the way tennis is structured it's not like the olympics in track for example where you compete
at the olympics every four years in tennis we can always play the next tournament that's going to
be happening next week so what you have to do as a tennis player is have short term memory when
it comes to losses also sometimes when you play somebody really good who who you expected is going
to beat you 0 & 0 you end up taking a set away and this is also a way to build your confidence
because you know you've played well against a really high level opponent but generally speaking
when it comes to losses when you lose don't lose the lesson so guys if someone is telling you
it's not important to win but it's important to play well this is absolute nonsense tennis is all
about winning the sign of a true champion is to be able to win when they're playing their worst it is
easy to win when you're playing at your best but unfortunately there's going to be days when you're
going to be playing horrible and this is where you have to prove yourself and end up as the winner