When two phenomenal servers meet in a Wimbledon Final, as Sinner and Zverev did yesterday, it is not hard to visualise success or failure is going to come down to a very small number of points. The margins of error are very tight.

In a business setting, particularly in front of a prospective client or investors, a small pool of elite individuals thrive, in those ultra competitive and tight “win/loss” situations, and the great masses fail or walk away blaming their lack of resilience on others’ shortcomings.

While skills, behaviours and expertise, are a huge deciding factor, I observe that the ability to maintain a positive mindset when you are “losing” and the requisite resilience, is the deciding factor. In tennis commenators such as Andre Agassi refer to it as doing what you have to do, to “stay in the fight”.

In tennis, you cannot win if you don’t do everthing to return the serve into the opponent’s court, preferably exerting pressure on the server’s game.

In a business or investment setting, give the other party a reason to challenge their assumptions, provide instant and compelling value, and offer pushback without fear of losing the business.

Play to win, not to lose. You might just surprise yourself with your “win-loss” ratio.