It’s Saturday morning… I’m with my younger daughter (9 years of age) who has her last tennis practice before the next day’s tournament.

As it ends, I ask Bianca to play a practice match against her older sister, Cezara.

Bianca, who lately has been dominating the “battle of the sisters” is up 9-6 (tie-break to 10 points). Matchpoint, right?

But that’s when she makes the mental mistake that only inexperienced players allow to happen:

“Daddy, if we get to 9-9, are we going to play by two points?”

I take a deep breath, forcing myself to control my frustration. I know what is about to happen:

Her opponent (Cezara) comes back to even the score at 9-9 and eventually wins the match: 13-11.

So what is this about?

When Bianca was ahead 9-6, her mind should have been focused on winning the next point and closing the match. Instead, she thought about 9-9. Whatever her mind was preoccupied with… happened.

This was her lesson which I hope she understood:

Whatever our mind focuses on, happens!

Whether we visualize good or bad things, that’s what we get. It’s a universal law that applies to everything in life, including tennis.