Can someone tell me when I hit the ‘Magic Happens’ point? How about ‘Hot-Cold’? Anyone? Beuller??

Bridging the Gap: Practice v Matches

There is nothing more frustrating than knowing what you’re capable of — and consistently falling short.

And the worst part: it’s all in my head. All of it.

The Wall

I wish I could sit here and tell you how I’ve made steady progress akin to the silky smooth hockey-stick graph above — but I’m not. Progress is a jagged mother — (SHUT YOUR MOUTH!)

As with running, I’ve hit The Wall. On the other side just a few miles away is the finish line — more control over my mind and my game, the ability to bring up my off-days, and really play through my good ones.

Right now that feels like a fairy tale — but I’m determined not to get stuck on this side of the wall. If I gave up now it would be soul-crushing in the worst possible way: not only would I fall short of my goal, but it would be admitting to myself that when the going gets tough — I pull out.

That can’t happen. That won’t happen.

Not every point ends with a winner — but the score doesn’t care.

The Resolution

I’ve been playing 4–6 matches per week in an attempt to regain some of the confidence I have in practice. Each time is a huge mental challenge, but I always keep three things in mind:

1. Find a Positive. No matter how poorly the day went, I will find a positive action or thing I managed to do. Today: I only double faulted twice in 1.5 sets. Better.
2. Constructive Criticism. It’s easy to tell yourself you played terribly, or to do something technical better, but that doesn’t actually help. I will ask myself why something happened at least three times to dig deeper. For example: OK I missed a forehand because my footwork was bad. WHY was my footwork bad? I just stood there when I should have stepped in. WHY. Because I was indecisive in which direction I was going to hit the ball. Ah.
3. Keep Going. The most important of all. No matter what, no matter how frustrating, I will give every point my best effort, and continue to get my ass out there.

Today was hard, harder than I would care to admit, but if it takes me 100 more brutal matches to break through just this first wall: I will do it.

Whatever it takes, I will get through this.