Should I break my commitment to myself to have a better chance of winning a game?⁠

PART I

I placed my foot next to the white lane. I am about to serve the second ball for a game point. While I bounce a tennis ball, I try to decide how to serve.⁠
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My biggest dream in tennis is to have a full-swing technical serve and be consistent with it. I learned to do the full-serve movement with a jump, but 70% of my shots end up in the net or out. I would abandon all my techniques for the second serve ball, do an easy shot into the serving area, and hope to win a point from a play. A month ago, I finally decided to commit to my goal and only do the full-swing serves, no matter what.⁠
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But what should I do today? I am playing in a doubles tournament. My partner is relying on my game in this fight for a win. Should I break my commitment to have a better chance of winning a game?⁠
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What would you do in my place? Why? 🎾

PART II

What is the meaning of the game for us? Does our play represent our values?

In the game, not only the winning matters. How we play is our life.

All your answers to PART I are correct because they represent your values. The key is to commit to them during stressful situations and when we doubt ourselves.

The goal of my play now is to master a killer serve. The sooner I learn to be consistent with the movement, the faster I can bring the better game for everyone involved. My body already knows the technique. It is time to instill the feeling of confidence and comfort with it.

Breaking my commitment would show doubt in myself and my plan, which would be the opposite of what I need the most now. It could delay and complicate my learning.

If I focus on the win, I will come to the serving line with fear, doubt, and frustration because of my horrible serve stats. All these feelings will destroy my serve even before I toss the ball in the air. Those feelings could affect other aspects of my play too.

So, before every game, I prepare myself to meet the pain of failure, embarrassment, humiliation, and guilt with a smile, support, self-encouragement, and eyes on a real prize in the future.🤩

🤝 Teamwork is very important to me. Before agreeing to play together, I asked my partner if he would be comfortable playing with me, knowing that currently, I am missing 70% of the serves. Every time I went to a serving line, he did encourage me to go for my killer shot.

Other considerations:

➖ If I make an easy shot and would miss it too, it would be a horrible way to lose a point.

➖ If I make an easy shot, that would mean that I would give my opponent a better chance to attack and set us up for a worse position.

➖ If I make an easy shot, the opponent would know that we started to doubt ourselves, and it could give them additional confidence in their game.

➕ If I never give up on my serves, my opponent always fears not returning it when I finally make my serve.

Finally, when I hit my killer serve for an ace — it is the best feeling ever for me and joy for my partner! 💫

I went for my full swing with a jump serve. It looked like the ball hit the lane, but the judge called out.

We lost that game, but we won the whole tournament.

Inga Stasiulionyte, Olympian, Master Performance Coach, and sports industry consultant, shares high-performance insights and case studies of the challenges that her clients face.