Kerghan said:

This might be quite a stupid question, but are there any ways to improve confidence?

I don't consider winning very important, I do however think that always playing very seriously is very important.

When I make a mistake, I quickly lose confidence in my form and therefore I start playing to forcefull.

During a singles match I lose form at times because I'm not confident enough.

When playing a double this gets worse because I get the feeling I'm being a dead weight to the other player.

I never have problems with concentration, but at times I just flat out lose against someone simply because when I make mistakes I tend to make a lot more. I get a very bad feeling and I start thinking very negatively.

I would like to improve this, however I don't know where to begin.

Ive been ere lol. The 1st thing you should do is visualisations of yourself playin the perfect game. Play as if cin it from your own eyes. Even see yourself from the 3rd person looking confident etc but always go back to seeing it from ur own eyes. This is good training tool for your brain and confidence. The brain cant understand the difference between real and imagination so its very effective to be hitting great shots with ur imagination.

Positive words are always a great tool. I did a wee experience when playin a match. It was near the end of a tough game and I had hit a good shot and won the point under pressure. I said to myself, “Great, I can play well under pressure.” This is a good statement but it was my serve next and I said, “The real pressures on now.” I served far 2 high on the low serve and my opponent killed it dead on the floor!

I realised what i had done and made sure next time I said, ” Im going to serve nice and tight to the tape.” I served good 🙂 lol