21
Are There Great Players Who Lack Confidence And Belief?
6 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
By Scoop Malinowski
Mike Tyson said many intriguing things in his book Undisputed Truth and one gem that inspired this article is: “Henry Tillman was one of those fighters who was really great but he just didn’t have confidence in himself. If he had believed in himself, he would have been a legendary fighter. He would have been in the Hall of Fame.”
Tyson knocked out Tillman in the first round in their pro fight but lost to him in the amateurs. Tillman, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist, achieved an unspectacular and ordinary professional career. So it’s quite impressive how highly Tyson regarded Tillman’s boxing talent and skills.
Tyson is a genius when it comes to one on one sports and the elements and factors that separate the very best from the rest of the pack.
Certainly, belief and confidence are extremely important qualities in tennis that make the difference between a player ranked 40 or 85 and the elites in the top five. Because they can all run, serve and hit all the shots.
There are a lot of great ATP and WTA players who, like Henry Tillman, lack the confidence and belief that they are great. There are a lot of players who are great but they don’t know that they are great. Maybe they didn’t get the proper coaching and support. Maybe they suffered too many losses in the Challengers and Futures which drained their confidence. Maybe their confidence burned out.
In every match, each player is trying to break the opponent’s belief that they can win the match. Years of this brutal mental and physical warfare takes a toll.
I remember Carlos Moya making a comment about David Ferrer early in his career, before he became a big star. Moya saw something special in Ferrer and said, “He doesn’t realize how good he is.” Obviously, Ferrer eventually did realize how good he was or somebody told him and he became a top 4 player and a Grand Slam finalist in the most difficult era ever.
Recently another former Grand Slam doubles player told me he just started coaching a top 150 player form Estonia, who was never taught how to play fundamental tennis and how to construct points, his previous coaches just worked on hitting winners and the kill shots. I was shocked to hear this inside info. That this fairly well known pro player was mis-coached for most of his tennis life.
It’s so easy for a great player to be led astray and manifest bad habits. I know a player personally who didn’t like the idea of hitting minutes before a match, to be ready and hot to start the match – he actually thought that was “a sign of weakness.” His method was to hit, rest, wait and then start the match and ease his way into it. When he reluctantly agreed to warm up, hit for an hour, play some points, and then go straight to the match court, he actually got off to a blazing start and beat the guy (62 67 61) who beat him the week before 16 46.
Mike Tyson had no confidence as a kid, or any belief he could be a good pro boxer or even a world champion. But his trainer Cus D’Amato knew in the first minute he saw Tyson train at age 14, the kid would be the richest champion ever. Cus instilled that belief into Tyson and the rest was history.
How many more Mike Tysons are out there in tennis who just need the surge of belief to spark their careers and elevate them from ordinary pros into Hall of Fame greats like Henry Tillman could have been?
This is a fascinating topic that I’m going to try and explore further in the near future. How to manufacture belief and confidence is a vital component of being a tennis player.
Carlos Moya · David Ferrer · Mike Tyson
catherine · April 22, 2025 at 5:14 am
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/apr/21/emma-raducanu-mark-petchey-coaching-tennis
Not exactly on topic but related maybe in the kind of mental struggles players go through on and off court to keep their confidence high. It’s the first time I’ve seen comments from Emma on how outside criticism etc has really affected her.
Scoop Malinowski · April 22, 2025 at 8:04 am
Sounds like Raducanu is rolling in the right direction but lions shouldn’t care about the opinion of the sheep and she is a lioness. Yoga certainly will help her tennis, it’s a well known secret weapon. Wonder if it was her first yoga class, I highly doubt that.
Steve · April 23, 2025 at 12:28 pm
Definitely. I think there is a big difference between confidence and belief though. Confidence is fleeting and varies more week to week.
My two favorite Spaniards faced off today. Munar had the confidence but RBA had the belief.
Scoop Malinowski · April 23, 2025 at 2:07 pm
Steve, no, Paul Annacone said RBA trusted the process more and played more in the moment despite Munar’s belief. ) Confidence and belief can be fragile in tennis, one bad point, one silly sloppy nonchalant miss on an easy overhead into the netcord can turn the match. One net cord can change a career, ask Derek Rostagno from the US Open Becker match (mp netcord miss).
Steve · April 23, 2025 at 7:09 pm
Never believed anything Annacone ever said. Strikes me as blowhard that tries way too hard to sound intelligent. Just my two cents.
Munar has had a fantastic year, reacently booting Meddy out of Miami, his confidence was high. With RBA it is more (like many great players) “I believe if I do the right things I will have good outcomes” This belief never flutters.
Scoop Malinowski · April 23, 2025 at 8:39 pm
Steve, Annacone is unbearable to listen to, same scripts every match, trust the process, big targets, stay in the moment, when to be more offensive/when to be more defensive. I can’t recall a single memorable insight he’s made in the last decade. He seems burnt out by tennis, just bluffing his way through. Unlike Jimmy Arias who makes any match better, even between two obscurities like Ficovich vs Garin.