Jannik Sinner beat Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open final at Melbourne Park this Sunday.
In his news conference, Zverev said:
“I serve better than Jannik. Everything else, he does better than me.
“At the end of the day, tennis has five or six massive shots, and he (Jannik) does four or five better than me. That’s the reason he won. He deserved to win today.”
If Zverev didn’t deserve to win on January 26th, how does this influence his confidence?
Believing in yourself and knowing you can do something, is how we generally view confidence.
But human beings are hardwired to execute any well-learned skill unconsciously.
So, just being conscious of your power isn’t enough.
Real confidence is a sense of certainty which allows you to bypass analytical thought and mental chatter, and execute unconsciously.
Real confidence is the feeling that you can do something or know something so well, that you don’t have to think about it when you are doing it.
How do you ensure that you feel a certain way about your competence?
How can you Increase Confidence?
Pay attention to the following.
#1 Confidence isn’t Fixed, It’s Learned
Confidence is a result of a constructive thinking process that allows you to:
- Retain benefits from successful experience
- Release less successful experiences.
#2 Confidence isn’t All Encompassing, It’s Situation Specific
You can be confident in one area, but not in others. You can develop confidence in any specific areas of your life.
#3 Confidence is Impermanent
Confidence requires consistent effort and attention. One success isn’t forever.
#4 Success Guarantees Confidence
Depends what you focus on. Success in and of itself isn’t a confidence booster, it’s your thoughts and memories that determine whether you feel confident.
#5 Failures Erode, Destroy Confidence
Yes, but only if you let it. You can also reframe a failure into a learning opportunity, isolated incident and a challenge.
Real confidence has relatively little to do with what happens to you, and pretty much everything to do with how you think about what happens to you.
It’s like a bank statement of everything you think about yourself and your abilities, and it’s changing depending on:
- How you think in the moment
- What aspects are you focused on
- How much emotion you invest in whatever you are focused on.
Zverev confidence after the loss is contingent on how he thinks about it.
Looking at his response at the conference, and the fact that he is a No. 2 tennis player in the world, his thought bank account about how he thinks about himself and his abilities, is still going strong.
Next time, he could be the No. 1.
How do you think about confidence? What thoughts are preventing you from being better at what you do?
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Alamy, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev speak to the audience after a charity match prior to the start of 2025 Australian Open. Melbourne, Australia. 9th Jan, 2024.