Someone Faster Is Not Someone Better

Why another player’s progress should not dictate how you feel about your own.

One of the difficulties of coaching ambitious players is helping them stay focused on their own improvement when other players are progressing faster. They can be working hard and making good progress, yet become discouraged because someone they used to beat is now above them in the rankings.

It is understandable. Nobody enjoys feeling left behind, especially when they believe they have the ability to do well. But worrying about how quickly someone else is improving can lead you to question good work before you have given it enough time.

In the “Play to Gain” chapter of Locker Room Power, I use the picture of a ladder fixed to the side of a 250-metre skyscraper. There is a resting platform every 30 metres. Your job is to climb to the next platform, take stock, replenish your strength and prepare for the next stage.

Above: A look at the book cover for Locker Room Power by David Sammel. Image courtesy of David Sammel.

At the start, you are fresh and the height is not a problem. You can enjoy the view. Players with ability and good coaching often progress quickly at the lower levels, and there is plenty to feel pleased about.

As you climb higher, looking around slows you down and becomes more dangerous. High up on a ladder, you need to concentrate fully on the next rung. If you are distracted by watching someone else climb, you risk losing your footing and falling. The higher you get, the more important that focus becomes.

In tennis, the distraction might be a player from your training group winning a tournament while you lose in the first round. Perhaps someone you regularly beat in practice gets selected for a team ahead of you. You begin to wonder whether you are good enough, whether your coaching is right or whether you should be doing something completely different.

Above: Ivan Lendl with David Sammel. Photo courtesy of David Sammel.

These questions may need answering. However, another player doing well does not automatically mean something is wrong with your development.

Progression is personal. Some juniors develop physically earlier and enjoy an advantage that others take time to overcome. Some players learn quickly but struggle when the opposition becomes stronger. Others take longer to understand their game and then continue improving well beyond the point where people expected them to stop.

Adult players face the same temptation. Someone you started lessons with is now playing on a stronger league team. You may have different amounts of time to practise, different sporting backgrounds or a different weakness to work through. Their improvement does not make yours less worthwhile.

What matters is understanding what you need to improve and working at it consistently. If you have been stuck on the same rung for a while, assess why with your coach. Do you need a more reliable second serve? Better movement? Are you practising well but becoming passive when the score gets tight? These are things you can work on. Being annoyed that someone else is ahead is not.

Above: Sammel with Billie Jean King. Photo courtesy of David Sammel.

The energy you spend comparing yourself with other players is energy taken away from your own tennis. You need it for training, competing and recovering. If you arrive at practice already frustrated by someone else’s results, you are making the work harder before you have hit a ball.

Parents can add to this without meaning to. A child may be pleased with a match until the conversation turns to how well another junior is doing. Ask what your child learned, what they handled better and what they need to work on next. You can keep high standards without making another child’s results the measure of their progress.

Of course, you can learn from other players. If someone prepares better, competes harder or works more consistently, pay attention and put what you learn into practice. But be careful about changing your coaching or training programme simply because their success makes you uncomfortable.

“Your target is not people. It is your ladder.”

Whether you want to become a professional, make a college team or win your club championship, you need to find a rhythm that allows you to keep improving. Some stages will be quicker than others. There will be times when the work is difficult and the results give you very little encouragement. You need people around you who can assess your progress honestly and help you keep working, without joining in your panic or telling you everything is wonderful.

When you reach a platform, enjoy what you have achieved. Give yourself time to recover and decide what comes next. You do not need to spoil the moment by checking who has already reached the platform above.

No one knows how high their ladder will be. The way to find out is to keep improving until you discover what you are capable of.

For now, what do you need to work on to make the next rung possible?

If you would like help with the mental side of your tennis, book a conversation with David.

David Sammel is a performance coach and author of Locker Room Power: Building an Athlete's Mind, available on Amazon and Audiobooks. He works with elite athletes and high-performing leaders, applying the same mental-performance principles on the court and in the boardroom. Learn more at davidsammel.com or contact him directly at david@davidsammel.com.

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