Sol, this is a really deep and essential question—and you're already halfway to the answer just by asking it. When you say your desire to perform well leads to negative reactions, what you’re actually noticing is the tension between control and surrender. Most athletes unconsciously equate performing well with outcomes—winning, hitting big shots, dominating the match. But the irony is, the more you chase those outcomes, the more pressure and emotional reactivity you create, which then sabotages the very performance you're trying to protect. What we need to do is flip that whole pattern. The calm and focused version of you—that’s your best player. And the key is learning how to choose that version of yourself before the outcome happens, not as a reaction to it. The moment you choose to stay calm under fire instead of needing a certain result, you’re actually performing at your highest level. That’s the paradox: great performance comes from presence, not pressure.

In the CP Portal, this exact reframe is central to how we train performance. You don’t have to crush the desire to perform well—you just have to know how to work with it. The Portal shows you how to return to calm and focus in real time through training the skill of Play, which sits at the top of the CP Cycle. Play isn’t careless—it’s full presence. It’s what happens when all the other skills—Confidence, Composure, Focus, Heart, Command, and Flow—click together into a single expressive moment. We walk athletes through that process again and again until they trust that their best doesn’t come from pushing harder, but from staying clear and present. Our weekly calls, guided meditations, and match breakdowns are designed to help you build the muscle of that choice. So when pressure rises, you know how to rise with it—without tightening, without overreaching, just by staying in rhythm.

So here’s the move, Sol: stop feeding the desire to perform well, and start practicing the decision to be calm and focused—over and over again, no matter the score. When you do that, your performance doesn’t become a hope, it becomes a creation. And every moment you choose that presence, you are stacking power within you—power that doesn’t come from trying harder, but from being more fully yourself. This is what we train inside CP. If you’re ready to take that step and turn this clarity into daily training, book a call with Coach Tim. We’ll help you walk that line between calm and intensity—until the line disappears, and it’s just you, fully alive, fully free, fully playing.

⬇️ Use the Scheduling Form below to book your Interview Call with Senior CP Coach Tim Mattek today.

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Complete Performance Tennis has worked with over 1,000 athletes globally this year in the areas of mental skills and performance. The coaches here have 60+ collective years of full-time involvement in athletics as players, trainers, mentors, and coaches. As a father and two brothers of Olympic Gold Medalist and 10x Grand Slam Champion Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the CP Team has been intimately involved with performance at the highest levels. And continue to work with WTA, ATP, ITF, D-1, and nationally-ranked juniors world-wide.  

Complete Performance was built for the real ones—the true competitors, the big dreamers, the athletes chasing more than just wins. It’s for those ready to move past frustration, unlock their power, and live in their zone—permanently. The CP Portal isn’t just a library of tools—it’s a performance ecosystem, crafted to equip players with the mindset, method, and momentum to rise. Every tool, every session, every step is designed to help athletes express their genius in real time, under real pressure. Thousands have already stepped in. The question is—are you ready to own your peak?

✅ Use the Scheduling Form below to book your Interview Call with Senior CP Coach Tim Mattek today.

*Availability Limited*

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