Form? Or just confidence?

Why can’t the top three or four players be beaten on a regular basis? Many factors have an influence over this issue. Imran is likely to get a grande slam (lastest news on GB 9-Ball Tour) because of his experience, confidence, equipment, practice time and overall skill. Yes, there are a number of others who, when Majid may have an off day, may sneak through the fence. However, I think a lot of it is practice under pressure.

When you are in a club, practising against your mates - there might be a bit of silly money on the game, but there is very little to do with reputation or pride thrown in to the measure. You can laugh it off if you lose 11 - 1. However, the pressure to perform in a big tournament such a GB 9-Ball Tour, where there are 126 other players watching, all analysing form, competence, ability, however, you’d like to phrase it, a different animal emerges.

Pride, doubt, question, nervousness, hesitation, humiliation, tension, justification … I believe a lot of the final question of ability comes down to self-confidence, self-assurance, relaxation, positivity, assertion and objectivity. When Imran is 10-6 down in a race to 11, all the above kick in. His opponent starts to feel the negative influences ten times worse, because the element of “What if…” comes in to play. Majid is able to shrug off the negative and pull on his positives - you can see it in his posture, his gaze, his stance and the way he moves around the table. His poise and grace exhumes his sense of relaxation and self-confidence.

I’m sure that every single player in the GB 9-Ball Tour has pulled off every shot needed in practice - but it’s the pressure that stops them from performing “on the stage”. I believe it is the same with a number of the top players - their knowledge and understanding of the game is enhanced by a sense of self-belief - not arrogance, because this can be negative, too.

Believe in your ability, relax whilst playing the best players, take your time and don’t doubt yourself - you’ve done it before in practice, so you can do it again.