Fourteen-year-old Timmy was one of the fastest improving players in West Virginia.  Timmy was super pumped to play in his first international tournament – the US Open.  After winning his round robin group and battling his way through the single elimination, his dream came true.  He finally made it to the finals of the under 2000 event.  Timmy told his parents that this match was so important to him that he needed to hire a professional coach to assist him with strategy.  About 10 minutes before the match, Timmy’s parents dished out the money to hire a 2700-rated player to coach Timmy in the under 2000 finals.  A few minutes later, Timmy’s dreams came to an end with a very poor performance in the finals.  So what went wrong…
 
#1 Timmy didn’t expect to reach the final.  He played loose and relaxed the entire tournament, then felt pressure when he was so close to his dream.
#2 Timmy wasn’t used to playing with a coach.  When Timmy played in the basement, at the club, and at other tournaments he always coached himself.  With a coach telling him what to do, he felt pressure.
#3 Timmy didn’t take the time before the match to talk with his coach.  In order for the coach to give Timmy advice, the coach needed to have full knowledge about Timmy’s strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, etc…
#4 Timmy wasn’t focused on his strategy, but was instead focusing on the trophy he wanted to win, focusing on the large crowd watching, and was focusing on the cameras in his face.
 
So how does this lesson apply to you?  Well, I recommend trying to make your practice matches as similar to your tournament matches as possible -  same racket, same shoes, same coach, same food, same tables, same balls, same sleep pattern, same coach, etc…  Anytime you add additional factors to boost your performance, it could hinder your performance.