How to Win with Your B-Game in Tennis
Summary
Every tennis player has matches where nothing clicks. Your serve misfires, your timing is gone, and frustration starts to creep in. But a slow start is not a forecast. The players who win on their worst days are the ones who make small adjustments, stay mentally grounded, and trust their preparation. This post gives you four strategies to compete and win even when you’re not playing your best tennis.
When your serve isn’t working at the start of a match, what do you tell yourself?
Do you assume that holding serve will be almost impossible? Do you write off the match before it’s even half over?
Those assumptions are dangerous. They turn early struggles into predictions, and predictions shape how you play. If you expect to keep double faulting, the anxiety builds. Your focus narrows on what’s going wrong. And most of the time, the thing you’re dreading becomes reality.
The truth is this: a couple of double faults or a lack of rhythm at the start of a match isn’t a verdict. It’s feedback. And the players who compete best in tennis mental performance understand the difference.
That was exactly the case for Elena Rybakina at the 2026 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She came from a set down, saved two match points, and won 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6). Her game wasn’t perfect. But her mindset kept her in it.
What Is the Mental Side of Tennis and Why Does It Matter?
The mental side of tennis is your ability to manage thoughts, emotions, and focus during a match, especially when things aren’t going well. Tennis psychology determines whether a slow start leads to a meltdown or a comeback. It’s the layer of performance that separates players with similar skills but very different results.
Research in sports psychology consistently shows that how athletes respond to adversity matters more than the adversity itself. Rybakina put it bluntly after her win:
“I honestly don’t know [how I won] because nothing really worked. Especially in the beginning, it was a lot of frustration, and I was just going downhill. The serve was not working, and yeah, somehow, I found some fight in me.”
That fight didn’t come from luck. It came from mental skills she had developed and practiced.
Does a Bad Start Mean You Will Lose?
No. A slow start in a tennis match is not a reliable predictor of the outcome. An early break of serve or a run of double faults tells you something about your current state, not your final result. Staying composed in tennis means treating early struggles as information, not conclusions.
Athletes who spiral after a bad first set often do so because they confuse a difficult moment with a losing match. But conditions change. Your body warms up. Your timing returns. The opponent’s game can fluctuate too.
The key question to ask yourself is not “What’s wrong with me?” but “What can I do right now?” That shift from self-judgment to problem-solving is the foundation of effective tennis mental game training.
A good sports psychologist or mental performance coach will teach you to treat performance as a puzzle, not a judgment. You stay in the fight and keep looking for solutions.
4 Strategies for Winning Tennis Matches When Your Game Is Off
Strategy 1: Use Neutral Self-Talk
When frustration hits, the first thing most players do is talk negatively to themselves. That internal criticism adds emotional weight to an already tough moment.
Instead, shift to simple, neutral self-talk. Words and phrases like “next ball,” “compete here,” or “refocus” de-escalate the emotional intensity without requiring you to pretend things are going great. You don’t need fake positivity. You need a calm mind.
Neutral self-talk keeps you grounded in the present point and stops you from carrying frustration from one game to the next. This is one of the most foundational tools in mental toughness tennis training.
Strategy 2: Reset Your Body Between Points
Your body sends signals to your brain. A slumped posture, tight shoulders, or a hunched walk between points tells your nervous system that things are bad. That physical feedback amplifies stress and makes it harder to reset mentally.
Instead, keep your posture tall. Let your shoulders drop and relax your chest. Walk with purpose between points. These physical cues signal calmness to your brain even before your thoughts catch up.
This isn’t about acting confident when you don’t feel it. It’s about creating the physical conditions that make confidence more accessible. You can learn more about this kind of mental performance work for athletes on our coaching page.
Strategy 3: Trust Your B Game
One of the biggest traps in competing under pressure in tennis is waiting for your A game to show up before you fully commit to competing. That’s a losing strategy.
Your B game is still built from years of training, practice repetitions, and match experience. It’s still a high-level version of you. Rybakina didn’t win because her serve suddenly became perfect. She won because she committed to competing with what she had.
Trust your B game. Your job isn’t to play perfect tennis. Your job is to compete hard with what you’ve got on that day.
Strategy 4: Redefine What a Good Day Looks Like
If your definition of a good day is “everything worked perfectly,” you’re going to have very few good days. Tennis is unpredictable. Conditions change. Opponents make adjustments. Your body feels different from week to week.
Redefine a good day as: “I competed hard and made the best adjustments I could.” That’s a standard you can actually control and meet every single time you step on the court.
This mindset shift is at the core of what we teach in sports psychology coaching. You win the mental game by measuring yourself against what you can control, not the scoreboard alone.
How Do You Build Mental Toughness for Tennis Long Term?
Mental toughness in tennis isn’t a trait you’re born with. It’s a skill you build through consistent mental training, just like your groundstrokes or your serve.
Working with a mental performance coach for tennis gives you a structured system for developing these skills. You learn to identify your mental game patterns, build tools for responding to adversity, and train your focus under pressure.
At Peak Performance Sports, our coaches work with tennis players at all levels, from juniors to touring professionals. We use a proven framework to help you compete under pressure in tennis and build the mental skills that show up when it counts most.
Final Thought: Stay in the Fight
Elena Rybakina didn’t win that match because she suddenly found her A game. She won because she stayed in the fight long enough for her game to come around. She trusted small adjustments over drastic changes. She kept her focus on what she could control.
You can do the same. The next time your serve goes cold or your timing is off, come back to these four strategies: use neutral self-talk, reset your body, trust your B game, and redefine what a good day means.
Performance is a puzzle. The only way to solve it is to stay in it.
Ready to build a stronger mental game? Book a free session with a mental performance coach at Peak Performance Sports today and start competing with more composure and consistency.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What should I do when I’m double faulting a lot at the start of a match?
Treat it as feedback, not failure. Rather than trying to force your serve, shift your focus to a smoother tempo and a more relaxed posture. Use neutral self-talk like “next ball” to reset between points. A poor start does not predict the outcome of the match.
Q: How do elite tennis players stay calm when things go wrong?
Elite players use specific mental tools: neutral self-talk, body language resets, and a commitment to the present point rather than the scoreboard. They’ve trained these responses through deliberate mental practice, often with the help of a sports psychology coach.
Q: Can sports psychology actually help tennis players win more matches?
Yes. Research shows that mental skills training improves focus, composure under pressure, and the ability to recover from mistakes. At Peak Performance Sports, we’ve worked with tennis players at all competitive levels who report better results after committing to structured tennis psychology work.
Q: What is the difference between a sports psychologist and a mental performance coach?
A sports psychologist is a licensed clinician who can diagnose and treat mental health conditions. A mental performance coach specializes in optimizing performance through mental skills training. Both can be valuable, and many athletes work with a mental performance coach specifically to sharpen their competitive mindset.
Q: How do I stop beating myself up after a bad game in tennis?
Start by recognizing that self-criticism after mistakes adds emotional weight that hurts your next point. Practice a quick reset routine between points: take a breath, adjust your posture, and give yourself a simple neutral cue. Over time, this becomes your default response to adversity on the court.
About the Author
Dr. Patrick Cohn is a master mental performance coach and founder of Peak Performance Sports. With 35+ years of experience helping athletes at all levels compete with greater confidence and composure, Dr. Cohn is one of the leading authorities in sports psychology. Contact us at PeakSports.com or call 407-909-1700.
Related Tennis Psychology Articles
- 5 Ways to Play Mentally Tough Tennis
- How To Mount Comebacks Late in Matches
- Dokic’s Mental Toughness Sparks Comeback
- Download our a FREE Tennis Psychology Report
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Dr. Patrick Cohn is a tennis psychology expert with Peak Performance Sportss, LLC. Learn cutting edge mental strategies based on 35+ years of experience in mental performance coaching with professional to junior competitive tennis players. He is the author of The Mental Edge for Tennis 2.0 audio and workbook program.