Stan Wawrinka took another step forward on the comeback trail topping 12th-seeded Diego Schwartzman in his Cincinnati opener.
The three-time Grand Slam champion has confidence in his surgically-repaired knee, now Wawrinka needs to trust his mind.
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The 33-year-old Swiss says he needs more match play to sharpen his instincts.
"I do trust my body. Now I need to trust my mind, also," Wawrinka told the media in Cincinnati. "I need to get used to those match, tough match, get used to those moments where you need to not think too much about what's happening but just play your game."
Wawrinka's mental game will be put to the test when he faces Kei Nishikori next.
"My body is, where it is right now, is I think really strong, really good, but still some up-and-downs," Wawrinka said. "Still there is a lot of things that I don't know how it will react when I'm going to play a five-set match, when I'm going to win hopefully a five-set match back to back, things like that, if I start to win more matches. For sure I need to get used again to push my body to the limit, winning match after match and keep playing, keep moving my best.
"Today I was really positive, because I was feeling a little bit tired. I was feeling a little bit heavy legs, but I still find a way to win. I still find a way to move better. And I know that by pushing myself I will get where I want to be."
Empowered by his run to the Rogers Cup round of 16 where he toppled 16th-ranked Nick Kyrgios, edged Marton Fucsovic in a third-set tie break and tested Rafael Nadal before bowing, 7-5, 7-6 (4), Wawrinka believes he is moving better on court than when he launched his comeback in January.
A pair of left knee surgeries last year and injury-induced inactivity caused Wawrinka's ranking to drop to No. 261—his lowest mark in 15 years— when he played Queen's Club in June.
Since then, Wawrinka has shown signs of revival, defeating sixth-ranked Grigor Dimitrov in the opening-round of Wimbledon, as well as mis-steps, including his opening-round loss to 234th-ranked Donald Young in Washington, DC.
The former US Open champion says "little by little" he is finding his form.
"Last week I played, for the first time, back-to-back-to-back match playing three sets, and I was still feeling good the day after playing Rafa. For me, it was really positive," Wawrinka said. "I see that physically I'm there. But it's also mentally that affects your fitness.
"When you get nervous, when you get tight, you take more in your body and you feel more tired, you feel more tight, you have more tension. When you start to be a little bit more relaxed, more confidence with your game, suddenly the fitness follow. So you are different player and you recover better and things like that."
Photo credit: Christopher Levy