There seem to be two extreme types of competitors and it is important to understand yourself and know where along the continuum you lie. Once you know what you are comfortable with, then I would encourage you to explore the ‘dark’ side; the side you are least confident about, by putting yourself in the situation that is most uncomfortable.
I have coached a few players who loved to compete and felt very little nerves. No matter what the situation, they would be up for a challenge and the bigger the stage, the more excited they would become. I feel this condition is far less common among tennis players.
On the other side of the spectrum, there lies the vast majority of players. Most of these players feel at least a little threatened when competition happens.
The interesting thing is that the people who love to compete, struggle practicing. They are bored hitting the same ball over and over again, seemingly without purpose and with nothing to gain from it. They struggle with the discipline necessary to succeed.
Conversely, the players who struggle with competition, love to practice. Training and running is not threatening for them and so it is something they can put a lot of energy into. More energy than usual, because they feel a little guilty about getting tight and therefore try and compensate by putting greater effort into practice. However, this will not help them play fear-free.
We are all conditioned and have our ‘tendencies’, once we understand this, it will become obvious that our ‘choices’ are really not choices at all. Our ‘choices’ keep us in our comfort zone. For growth to happen, we will need to get outside our comfort zone by going against our ‘choices’.
How important is growth to you?