How One Loss Taught Me More Than Any Other Matches

Tennis has always been one of my passions. Since I was five years old, I would always watch my older sister hit the fuzzy balls with her fancy racquet, and it made me jealous. Everything my sister did was cool to me, especially tennis.

By the time I turned six, my dad and I had already been going to nearby parks where he would feed me balls and I would work on my strokes. As I started to play more tennis every week, I really began to enjoy it.

When I started playing tournaments a couple years later, I learned that tennis was not always fun. Although winning was exciting, losing always made me upset and would stick with me for days.

Earlier this year, in January, I lost an important deciding match for third place after having a huge lead. Just a month prior, I had barely lost to my opponent, so, in this match, I was dedicated to get the win against her.

In the first set, I was being aggressive and controlling most of the points, easily winning 6-0. The confidence continued in the second set until I was up 5-1. At this point, all I needed was 1 more game to win the match.

But my opponent was quick to change her tactics, and she began hitting high, heavy balls that pushed me back to the fence. It made me nervous in that moment thinking about how hard the match had become to close out with her new shots. Her new tactics, as well as my nerves, made it even harder for me to close out the match. As a result, I ended up losing the second set, as well as the third.

For the next few weeks, I could not stop thinking about the match. Every rally and missed shot replayed in my head. I kept asking myself how I could have let such a big lead disappear. The loss hurt more than any other match I had played because I knew how capable and close I was to winning it.

However, as time passed, I began to see the match very differently. Instead of viewing it as an absolute failure, I started to view it as a lesson to change and improve my mental game. My opponent had changed her strategy when things were not working her way, while I had become too comfortable with my lead. I most importantly learned that it is key to be mentally strong, regardless of the score, and to never be too comfortable.

That loss has now changed the way I approach all of my matches. Now, I always remind myself that a match will never be over until after the final point is played, and that anything can still happen. Although losing that match was painful, it taught me a lot more than any of my wins.