There is a mental mistake that feels almost invisible, yet it is one of the most destructive patterns in tennis: you are not fully inside the point you are playing, you are already in the next one. It doesn’t feel like a conscious choice, and you’re not doing it on purpose. It happens automatically, especially when the moment carries weight, when you feel that “this matters,” when the situation becomes meaningful. In that instant, instead of staying inside what is happening, your mind shifts slightly forward, projecting into what might happen next. And right there, you lose contact with the present.

The problem is that this shift is subtle, almost undetectable. You don’t feel distracted, you don’t feel out of the match. You are still running, still hitting, still competing. But internally something has changed. You are no longer reacting to the ball for what it is, but for what it represents. Every shot becomes a step toward something else—the next point, the outcome, the closure. You stop playing the point itself, and you start playing the idea of the point. And this distorts everything: timing, decision-making, intensity.

When you enter this state, your game changes without you realizing it. Sometimes you rush, trying to “finish it quickly.” Other times you become more cautious, trying “not to miss now.” In both cases, the real point disappears. It becomes a bridge to something that does not yet exist. And in tennis, this is fatal, because the point only exists in the present. The moment you leave it, even slightly, your quality drops immediately.

Think about how many times you had a simple, manageable ball, and instead of playing it for what it was, your mind was already somewhere else—thinking about winning the point, losing it, or what it would mean. In that instant, your body executes a movement that is no longer natural. You either rush, hesitate, or lose timing. And the mistake often comes right there, on a ball you would normally handle with ease. This is not a technical error. It is an error of presence.

Top players are not people who never think about the result. Of course they do. But they know where to place it. They keep it outside the point. When they enter the rally, there is only what is in front of them: the ball, the position, the decision. There is no next game, no next set, no next outcome. There is only that shot. And that is exactly what allows them to maintain quality, even in the heaviest moments.

The solution is not to try to “stop thinking,” because that is impossible. The real work is to bring your attention back to what is real, over and over again. Not to the meaning of the point, but to the point itself. You need to train yourself to recognize when your mind moves forward and to bring it back without frustration or judgment. Every time you return, you are already improving the quality of your game.

A very effective exercise is this: before each point, make a simple and clear decision about what you want to do with your first shot. Nothing complicated—just a direction, a clear intention. Once the rally starts, your only job is to execute that choice. If your mind drifts toward the result or the next point, bring it back immediately to the ball. This anchors you to the present, not as an idea, but through action.

The truth is that you don’t lose points only because you make mistakes or because your opponent plays better. Very often, you lose them because you are not fully there when you play them. You are already living the next point while the current one is slipping away. And until you see this mechanism clearly, you will keep feeling inconsistent—capable at times, then suddenly imprecise. The moment you learn to stay inside the point you are playing, your level becomes far more stable, because you stop chasing something that does not yet exist.

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Federico Coppini
Mental Coach & Tennis Coach
Founder – Coppini Tennis Academy
🎾 https://www.coppinitennisacademy.com