The Favorite

As you walk onto the court you are the clear favorite. You are simply better than your opponent. You know you will win the match. But as the match starts, you just don’t feel right. Your head isn’t in the match and your body feels sluggish. Before you know it, you’re down 1-5. You’re in trouble. How could this happen?!?!?

However enviable it may seem, being the favorite going into a match is one of the most difficult positions to be in in tennis. You’re in a no-win situation. If you win, it’s no big deal. You were expected to win. If you lose, it’s a huge blow because it simply shouldn’t happen. But it is a common scenario that affects the world’s best players. We’ve all seen top-10 players in early round matches at a Grand Slam struggle early. They may lose the first set before rebounding to win the match or they never recover and are ousted early in a big upset.

So why does the favorite often not play like the sure thing they are supposed to be. The problem starts with overconfidence, knowing that you’re going to win. This absolute certainty produces a variety of mental and physical changes ensuring that you won’t perform up to the level that made you the favorite in the first place.

The first thing that goes mentally is your motivation. You know you’re going to win, so you think you don’t need to work as hard to win. You don’t put quite as much effort in your game as you need to play well. Then your intensity drops. You no longer have the oxygen, blood flow, and adrenaline that makes you strong and quick. Finally, you lose your focus. Instead of being focused on the process, that is, what you need to do to play your best, you’re already in the locker room patting yourself on the back for a match that you haven,’ even played yet.

          Combating the favorite blues.

Avoiding this letdown, what I call the Favorite Blues, involves taking active steps to change your mental and physical states before and at the start of your match. To show everyone why you are the favorite, follow these suggestions:

1. Be confident, but not overconfident. Combating the Favorite Blues starts with your attitude toward the match. You want to be confident in your ability to play well and win, but you don’t want to assume that a victory is a foregone conclusion. The fact is, on any given day, if two players are even remotely close in ability, anything can happen. Winning is never a certainty. You don’t know if your opponent has improved since you last played or whether you’re totally on your own game. Have respect for your opponent and know that if you play your best you will win.
2. Get your intensity up. If you’re the favorite, you can assume that you’ll start the match with insufficient intensity to play your best. So actively “rev your engine” before you go on court and in the first few games of the match. Jump rope five minutes before you start. Jump up and down and keep moving between points. Don’t sit down on changeovers. Use high energy self-talk (e.g., “Let’s go!” “Come on!”) and body language (e.g., slap your thigh, pump your fist).
3. Keep a process focus. Since you expect to win, it’s easy to focus on the outcome, that is, your win, rather than on the process, that is, what you need to do to play well. Remember, the outcome occurs after the match ends, so focusing on it actually interferes with you achieving that desired outcome. But if you focus on the process, for example, getting your first serve in, hitting deep, or coming in on short balls, then you’re more likely to play well and the result will be that you have a greater chance of attaining the outcome you want, namely, the victory you so richly deserve.

The Underdog

Walking on the court, you know you don’t have a chance. You’ve played your opponent before and he or she crushed you. Sure enough, in the first few games, you don’t play well and you fall behind 0-3 even though your opponent doesn’t seem as good as you remembered. What do you do?!?!?

Being the underdog is the most enviable of positions to be in for a match. You’re in a no-lose situation. If you do lose, you were supposed to. But if you win, what a coup that would be. But most players don’t think that way. Most likely, you go into a match in which you’re the underdog with very little confidence. You already know the outcome of the match and it’s not a good one for you. Since you know you’re going to lose, you get nervous before the match because you’re going to look like a jerk losing to this player again. With this attitude and the accompanying anxiety, your focus is shot too. You’re so focused on how badly you’re going to play, well, that’s how you’re likely to play.

          Give the underdog some bite.

1. Believe you have a chance. The great thing about tennis is that the match has to be played to find out who wins. So there really is no certainty. Anything is possible. If the 60th player in the world can beat Sampras or Hingis on any given day, then you have a chance with your opponent today.
2. Realize what the favorite feels. You can pretty much expect that your favored opponent is going to be feeling what I described above. They have a lot to lose and will probably not be on their game at the start of the match. If you can come out strong, you may be able to put them on the defensive and rattle them enough to win the match.
3. Have a strategy. Having played your opponent before (or checking them out during warm-up), look for some chinks in their armor. Make a game plan that exploits a weakness early in the match. With a few well-placed shots, you can make them go from overconfident to under-confident very quickly.
4. Chill out. To play well, you need to lower your intensity and get rid of your anxiety. Before the match, go off by yourself, listen to some calming music, do some deep breathing and relaxation exercises. Once the match starts, slow the pace of the match, take deep breaths, and relax your body between points. Use a lot of positive and calming self-talk (e.g., “Stay cool.” “Easy does it.”).

Regardless of whether you’re the favorite or the underdog, the goal is to play the best you can. If you play good tennis, you’re more likely to win. But if you don’t, at least you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you did the best you could.