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Pressure and confidence

Pressure and confidence

Short version: before every point, each player looks at the score.

  • Pressure comes mostly from having to defend a break point (or a set or match point), and from being behind on the score. Being hopelessly behind releases it again: there is nothing left to lose.
  • Confidence comes mostly from winning games lately and from leading on the score, and a little from hitting the ball well.

Pressure makes a player less precise. Confidence helps them recover their breath between points.

Pressure, step by step

Before each point, the game works out how much pressure the situation brings, and the player’s pressure moves 60% of the way toward it. So pressure builds up quickly on big points, but does not jump all the way at once, and it fades over a few points afterward.

The situation’s pressure is the biggest of the point’s stakes, plus the pressure of trailing:

Left: pressure from trailing, by how far behind a player is. It peaks at about two breaks down and fades when the deficit is hopeless. Right: pressure of big points.
Left: pressure from trailing, by how far behind a player is. It peaks at about two breaks down and fades when the deficit is hopeless. Right: pressure of big points.

Big points. Defending a point that would decide something for the opponent weighs the most: a break point (0.5), a set point (0.65), a match point (0.8). Serving it out yourself on a set or match point adds a little (0.2 / 0.3), and so does every tiebreak point (0.2).

Trailing. How far behind a player is (the standing) counts sets and the games of the current set: a set behind is −0.4, each game behind −0.12. The pressure of trailing rises with the deficit, is largest at about −0.5 (for example 0–4 in the set), and falls back toward zero when the situation is hopeless (a set and 0–5 down).

Confidence, step by step

Confidence moves 30% of the way toward the situation before each point, so it changes more slowly than pressure. Around a neutral 0.5, it rises or falls with:

  • the standing (up to ±0.25),
  • momentum from recent games (up to ±0.2); each game won or lost moves momentum a third of the way toward +1 or −1, so the latest games count the most,
  • form from recent strokes (up to ±0.08): how well the ball was hit. For you, that is your shot rating; for the AI, how cleanly it met the ball.

An example

Player A holds serve, then defends two break points and is broken. Pressure jumps on the break points and stays raised while A is behind; confidence slowly sinks with the lost games.
Player A holds serve, then defends two break points and is broken. Pressure jumps on the break points and stays raised while A is behind; confidence slowly sinks with the lost games.

How it affects play

A player’s traits composure and clutch absorb part of the pressure. The rest lowers:

  • shot control (and with it the landing precision of every shot) by up to 25%,
  • serve accuracy by up to 20%,
  • how well the player preserves stamina by up to 10%.

Confidence speeds up stamina recovery between points (from 92% to 108%).

You can follow both values live on the small status panel of each player.

In the code: scenes/player/player_mental_state.gd (pressure, confidence, momentum, form), scenes/match/match_score.gd (standing, point_importance), scenes/player/player_runtime_stats.gd (the effects).
The AI opponentStamina and player stats