I was working with a tennis player the other day in a one-on-one coaching session, and he and I were discussing a recent tournament that he had. In this tournament, he was losing early on in the match, but he ended up coming back.
It was cool to talk to him about this because this is something he has struggled with historically. In the past, when he would get down early, he’d lose his confidence. He would feel frustrated and his performance would go downhill from there.
Typically, he would lose those matches.
So, it was exciting for him to be able to come back after losing that first game.
What I want to do is discuss what he did to stay strong while losing early, so you can take some of these tips and apply them for yourself if you struggle with getting down on yourself or coming back from an early game deficit.
The Challenge of Losing Early
When we look at losing within a game—whether it’s basketball, football, tennis, baseball, or whatever sport you play—when you’re losing early, one of the main things that happens is this feeling of being defeated.
That’s something this tennis player experienced a lot in the past. When he got down early in a match, he felt like there was no way he could come back.
He’d get frustrated, he’d feel defeated, and because he felt defeated, he no longer played as hard as he needed to.
He didn’t go after balls with as much energy. He didn’t focus on making adjustments as quickly as he could. He didn’t game plan before every serve to identify how he was going to win that point.
He didn’t have the same belief in himself that he could actually win the match.
The thoughts that came in were: “What’s the point? I’m just going to lose anyway.”
Tip #1: Keep Believing You Can Come Back
In this most recent tournament, though, he had a very different mindset. He didn’t get down on himself, and he didn’t feel defeated.
What he did was keep the belief in himself that he could still come back. And this is really the foundation of any comeback within a game—you have to have that level of belief.
It starts with you having the thought: “I can come back.”
As long as you tell yourself it’s over, yes, maybe your team might come back if you’re in a team sport. But if you’re playing an individual sport—or if you’re in a role like pitcher in baseball where you’re central to the outcome—it’s very unlikely you’ll come back if you already feel defeated.
Belief is not easy, but it comes down to your thinking.
The one thing he changed was the way he talked to himself.
Instead of saying “What’s the point? It’s over”, he told himself: “I can come back. I know I can come back. It’s still early.”
Tip #2: Manage Frustration
Something else he experienced in the past was frustration. When he started to feel defeated, frustration built.
He would get down on himself, not just because of the point he lost, but because he was already imagining the end of the match.
He was thinking, “Now I’m going to lose because I keep making these same mistakes.”
That frustration snowballed.
But in this recent match, he kept himself calm after mistakes. He didn’t allow frustration to take over.
Because he wasn’t consumed by frustration, he was able to learn from his mistakes and make adjustments.
This made a huge difference. He could actually use each point to improve his strategy, rather than letting anger shut down his ability to adapt.
Tip #3: Keep It Simple
The third main thing he did was keep things simple.
Yes, he made adjustments when needed, but his thinking stayed simple.
He didn’t think about how the match would end. He didn’t tell himself he needed to do anything complicated to win.
Instead, he focused on each individual point. Serving, receiving, moving his feet, getting to every ball, and playing hard.
This is something I see a lot of athletes succeed with. When you’ve prepared, built your skills, and trained muscle memory, you don’t need to overthink or overcomplicate things in competition.
Overthinking only leads to stress and worse performances.
If you’re losing early, adjust if necessary, but keep things simple. Stay in the present moment. Focus on the next point, the next play, the next drive. Don’t let your mind wander to the end result or force yourself to play perfectly.
Putting It All Together
For that recent match, here’s what the tennis player did differently:
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He kept his thoughts confident. Even when losing early, he told himself, “I can come back. I believe in myself.”
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He managed frustration. He didn’t let frustration take over, which allowed him to learn from mistakes and adjust.
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He kept things simple. He stayed present, focused on each point, and played his game without overthinking.
So for yourself, if you can have confident thoughts, manage frustration, and keep things simple when you’re losing early, that’s a great recipe for bouncing back from early deficits.
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Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of success in all that you do!
