"The only way to get back the confidence is to play and win matches. You can practise as much as you like, but you need confidence that comes from playing and winning matches"
About this Quote
Greg Rusedski speaks from the vantage point of a pro who lived the cycle of form, injury, and comeback. A US Open finalist known for a ferocious left-handed serve, he endured layoffs that eroded rhythm and belief. His point cuts against the comforting myth that practice alone can restore a competitor. Repetition polishes technique, but confidence in elite sport is not only a skill state; it is a verdict delivered by the scoreboard.
Training cannot replicate the friction of consequence. In matches, heart rate spikes, timing compresses, and decisions must be made with no mulligans. The crowd breathes on your neck, the opponent probes weaknesses, and every point carries narrative weight. Under that pressure, you learn whether your patterns hold, your serve stands up on break point, your second shot selection survives doubt. Sports psychologists call mastery experiences the most powerful source of self-efficacy; the brain trusts what it has proved under stress. Winning even a tight tiebreak or saving a break point becomes a banked memory that steadies the hand next time.
There is a paradox here: you need confidence to win, yet you need wins to gain confidence. Professionals break the loop by seeking winnable contexts to restart the engine: smaller tournaments, doubles play, specific match goals that yield early wins. Coaches engineer situations where a player can string together small successes, rebuilding belief step by step. For a player like Rusedski, whose game depended on timing, feel, and first-strike execution, match repetition was the only honest rehearsal.
There is a caution too. If confidence is tied only to outcomes, it becomes brittle. The deeper truth in Rusedski’s claim is not a fetish for victory but the insistence on consequential action. Practice prepares; competition confirms. To regain conviction, you must expose your game to risk, collect concrete wins, and let those lived proofs recalibrate your sense of what you can do when it counts.
Training cannot replicate the friction of consequence. In matches, heart rate spikes, timing compresses, and decisions must be made with no mulligans. The crowd breathes on your neck, the opponent probes weaknesses, and every point carries narrative weight. Under that pressure, you learn whether your patterns hold, your serve stands up on break point, your second shot selection survives doubt. Sports psychologists call mastery experiences the most powerful source of self-efficacy; the brain trusts what it has proved under stress. Winning even a tight tiebreak or saving a break point becomes a banked memory that steadies the hand next time.
There is a paradox here: you need confidence to win, yet you need wins to gain confidence. Professionals break the loop by seeking winnable contexts to restart the engine: smaller tournaments, doubles play, specific match goals that yield early wins. Coaches engineer situations where a player can string together small successes, rebuilding belief step by step. For a player like Rusedski, whose game depended on timing, feel, and first-strike execution, match repetition was the only honest rehearsal.
There is a caution too. If confidence is tied only to outcomes, it becomes brittle. The deeper truth in Rusedski’s claim is not a fetish for victory but the insistence on consequential action. Practice prepares; competition confirms. To regain conviction, you must expose your game to risk, collect concrete wins, and let those lived proofs recalibrate your sense of what you can do when it counts.
Quote Details
| Topic | Training & Practice |
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