Conviction

... is probably the opposite of second guessing oneself.

From personal experience, I can say if we'd like to e.g. hit that crazy high risk drop shot, then go for it all the way. Any second thoughts and we'll probably mess it up. Putting that doubt into the middle of stroke.

Even though I'm conscious of this self-sabotage, it still happens. Hopefully less so over time.

Same with anything we do on court really. Maybe not as critical for 1 out of 200 high topspin moonballs into the middle of court. But then again, for those shots, we're probably already pretty "convinced" of being able to make them.

I remember Davis Cup champ and captain Patrick Kühnen telling us during a clinic how crucial it is to be really clear what you want to do.

Seems straight forward - but to what percentage of our actions including the shots does that actually apply? In the middle of a rally, we e.g. tend to switch to "System 1" of more automated thinking and thus actions. There's not much time and many other variables kick in (this is where trained cue and habit kick in).

Put together, one should probably make a clear and concise resolution before a point, and then go for it. If things are going another way, adjust. Then review, improve, retry.

The trying part then, with conviction :)

P.S.: Another interesting aspect may be that even if we make an objectively "stupid" decision (shot selection, positioning), there's still a chance to win the point. Mostly, there's still how the opponent reacts. And again, conviction should increase the odds of staying in the point. vs drawing back because of embarrassment or even disgust. We can make the whole thing right next time. 

Play to win (esp on match point)

I see this quite often and have of course experienced myself: backing off on match point. 

That might still win the point and hence the match, but if it doesn't a few things tend to happen: 

Getting even tighter from then on. Handing over control to the opponent. And if the match does slip away, regrets: why didn't I go for it?

In a 2x2 of won / lost, and having taken  / given charge, it's probably always better to have taken charge. No or at least less "what if's". 

This might be another good tennis match - life analogy: if there's a seldom and important opportunity to grab something, go for it. We can still fail, but this way less to our own fault.

Of course other factors can be at play, like the overall strategy, what worked to get us to match point in the first place, the match-up with the opponent, our own abilities, etc. 

Either way, backing off compared even to previous points seems the wrong and less courageous way to go. (When on the other side of the net or down in a match, "backing off" might be strategy worth trying.)  

As a general guideline for matches though, I like the approach of taking fate into one's own hands, trying to decide what happens on court. So even when there's a loss on paper, we can count that part as a win for ourselves. Which may win us more matches down the road. 

Maybe in real life, as well :) 

Light or heavy racquet?

Think this has been covered quite a few times by now, but I'm still seeing and hearing even better players talk about light or heavy racquets, and with that referring to static weight.

However, except for block volleys the racquet is usually in motion, and the measure for how heavy that feels is swing weight - one could argue the most important spec! Tennis-Warehouse e.g. measures and then lists this on their racquet pages (e.g. 2019 Head Radical Pro @ 325). This key measure has been MIA on other prominent tennis websites such as Tennis-Point, but I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see this popping up soon...

To get a quick sense for values and range here, check out my post about the racquet spectrum. You'll also see that lightweight racquets are usually head-heavier, which brings the swingweight back closer to the heavyweights.

It is true that heavier racquets are harder to get into position and to get going - you're basically lifting more weight. For example I still sometimes struggle with the RF97 when pushed around and/or having to quickly change direction. Comparably, I also sometimes feel like lugging around 350+ grams slightly changes the way I move, even compared to 330 or so.

But once in motion those heavier racquets can actually feel easy to swing. Examples would be Wilson's heavy Pro Staffs over the years, especially the stock versions of the small head / thin beam 85 that Sampras, Courier, and Fed used as a base frame. If you pick up a true to spec (or even lighter and/or head-lighter version) of a SixOne or even an RF97 and start swinging you can still sense that just describing them as "heavy" is not sufficient.

There are also flipsides to having a light and maneuverable racquet, e.g. what happens to the swing paths. Your racquet should both support and guide your natural swing paths, in other words help and develop your strokes. If it feels like there's next to nothing in your hand there won't be much support or guidance!

In addition, if you fiddle the racquet around too much there's increased risk of repetitive stress injuries. Plus lighter racquets are usually stiffer and lose most of the impact battle with the ball, so extra shock occurs.

I'm a big proponent of playing with all sorts of racquets, balls etc - to make things easy, interesting, and/or build skill. However for your "normal" play, I would strongly advice against just going out and getting the lightest racquet that you can find.

As an experiment and experience, these days I would actually try to find the heaviest stick possible, get loose and start swinging, and see what happens to strokes and the resulting shots...

In general, try a few different options along the spectrum, and take along a few dampeners to play around with weight, balance, and thus swing weight, as suggested here.

For some guidance on how to choose a tennis racquet, there's also a post for that!