passing shots blog
the mental game
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Quieting Your Mind is a Key to Great Tennis
By: Mike/TennisCT
The term “quieting your mind” is a relative term depending on what level of player you are. Here, we will examine what that term means for you and why it is important in the context of playing tennis.
For elite professionals and college players, quieting one’s mind refers to having little to no conscious thinking involved during a tennis match. Every movement, tactic and swing is based on the subconscious and the countless repetition of situations you have already played in practice or competition. Players often describe their inner well-being during a match, and even in times of great pressure, as “being in the zone” – having increased levels of focus and attention necessary for high levels of performance.
The distinguishing factor here is that it’s effortless focus: competitors aren’t thinking about anything particular, and certainly are not thinking of something as specific as how their forehand is doing that day. In fact, in a seat full of 10,000 screaming people, most professionals who are “in the zone” will tell you that they were unaware of the crowd completely and only fed off the collective energy they felt around them.
For beginners and intermediate players, the repetition of sound strokes and smooth movement may not be as ingrained yet in your subconscious. Perhaps you show up to the court one day with a lot of things on your mind. Maybe your job or school or something else is on your mind that day, so quieting your mind seems extra difficult with so many distractions. The less advanced you are, the more things you have to think about mechanically in order to swing or move properly. In any given second, a tennis player’s mind has to literally make dozens of decisions – and then do it over again almost immediately!
Getting your mind to slow down is not easy. But in all cases, the key is to maintain focus and give yourself goals to set that will keep your mind from having thought-overload. If you’re:
Beginner,
Your instructor has probably shown you several things you can do to swing better. When you prepare for your shot, the tendency is to try and think of all those things at once and sometimes that’s impossible. Instead, try breaking down each of the suggestions and focus on just 1 or 2 at a time. You will then learn the necessary muscle memory in order to move on to the next few suggestions. Pretty soon, you’ve gotten all patterns and movements and swing thoughts down and you are ready to progress to the next level of instruction. In other words, break off the long list of tips into chunks and master them one or a few at a time.
Intermediate,
At this point, you’ve got dependable strokes, good commands of spin, and good footwork. However, you still can’t completely shut your mind off and play the sport on auto-pilot. There is still some thinking that goes on mechanically to construct points and figure out tactics to withstand your opponent. It’s also true that you will have short periods of having your mind totally quiet where the game seems effortless – it simply hasn’t developed into a long-term pattern yet. The key here is recognition: recognize those moments, points or games that seemed to “flow” quite naturally for you, and determine what factors were at play. Was it: your footwork was great, so you were comfortable hitting every shot and didn’t have to think of your mechanics? Your serve was in rhythm because your ball toss was consistent? It could be any number of things. The point is that when you’re an intermediate player, there are sets, games or points where things are going exactly how you want them to. Figure out why so that you can repeat them more often. We too often focus on our mistakes, but you should pay equal attention to patterns that emerge when things are going well too.
Advanced / Elite,
By this level, you’ve mastered all the strokes and you know what you *should* be doing on a tennis court. The wildcard is your opponent and what he or she is doing, but that’s almost irrelevant when your mind is totally quiet. The goal for this player is not how to quiet the mind, but to maintain that level of calm for an entire match (or sometimes an entire tournament). A tip here that works well is to have a keyword or key phrase you can repeat to yourself if you feel your mind going sideways; something soothing, or motivating, or comfortable. One word that I found myself repeating was the word “poise”. For me, it worked because my tendency was to get too excited and too revved up – so that word allowed me to maintain almost a stoic nature that would allow me to play my best. Both my junior and college coaches used to say it to me, and so I just kept using it for many years!
A lot of what people do in their own meditation or yoga practices comes in quite handy on the tennis court, too. Those disciplines and the sport of tennis go together naturally since tennis is not only amazingly physical but also intensely emotional. As with so many things in tennis, the lessons you practice on the court can be applied to life situations as well. Try to realize what’s happening, set goals, and have proper mental imagery to return to when the stress starts to mount.
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handling unfair situations
BY: Leo Rosenberg
I played my very first 12 and under sectionals tournament in St. Louis, Missouri. For my first round match, I checked in with the tournament desk 45 minutes early, then went outside to jump rope and get mentally ready. Ten minutes before my match time, I went back inside. The director told me they were calling for me and I explained I was outside. No big deal. The referee accompanied us to the court. After our coin toss, the referee tells me that he will penalize me one game for being late. But, as he was leaving the court, the referee turns back and says that I should get a two game penalty. No further explanation. So, I played my first tournament in the United States being down two-nil before hitting a single ball.
In tennis, and life in general, we encounter unfair obstacles. You may have encountered players who played mind games, would cheat, or try to get other people to help them win against you. Sometimes referees begin insidiously working with your opponent against you. However, no matter the transgression, you should not allow anything to affect you and your game. Tennis is a wonderful sport because it provides students with a safe space to learn to deal with unfairness. So, here are some guidelines on how to manage any unfair situation:
(1) Be respectful. Showing respect and sportsmanship is a display of a strong character. It also shows your opponent that the problem does not affect you.
(2) Dispute the problem but drop it as soon as you get a resolution or realize you won’t win the argument.
(3) Conserve your mental and emotional energy. When you spend too much time and energy fighting the behavior of a cheater, you take away energy from your game. Your mind and body don’t have unlimited resources, so conserve what you can for the points by keeping your disputes low drama.
(4) When your opponent plays unfairly, you should accept it as part of the game. If they cheat, it is almost as arbitrary as hitting an unforced error. That said, it doesn’t mean you should not put your foot down. Certainly question your opponent and call a referee if you don’t have one on your court. This will put a little pressure on your opponent. But do not let it affect you. Acceptance will help you let go of the negative situation sooner.
(5) Do not tell yourself that you lost the match because your opponent cheated or the director put you on the court you dislike the most. Unless your opponent claims to have won a set without actually winning it (which I have seen happen once), the outcome of the match is still dependent on your performance. Think about it. If your opponent makes a bad call, you still have dozens of other points to fight for. If you get in the habit of making excuses you will start finding unfair conditions where there are none.
Hopefully, you will not have to deal with unfair situations. But, if you do, I want to you to be prepared and deal with the problem without losing focus on your game.
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Play tennis - Why now?
BY: TennisCT/Mike
Tennis is a socially-distanced sport by its very nature! In singles, you are well more than 6 feet from the person on the other side of the net. Tennis compares favorably versus fitness studios, health clubs, and large recreation centers where there are naturally more people.
Playing tennis is a great way to exercise outside! Indoor facilities remain closed in the State of Connecticut, but outdoor courts across the state are open. Find information from your town or local government about restrictions and guidelines for play. Then, grab a racquet!
Tennis has great physical benefits! It keeps your heart healthy, improves your flexibility, and studies have shown that tennis players actually live longer.
Tennis has great mental benefits! Studies have shown that playing tennis more than any other sport helps you deal with physical, mental, emotional and social challenges which in turn increase your capacity to handle stress. That can come in handy nowadays especially.
Playing tennis keeps you socially well-adjusted but not physically close together. You can enjoy fun laughs or friendly competition all at a safe distance.
As with any activity in our COVID-19 world, there are safety precautions you should take when playing tennis. The USTA does a great job listing guidelines for both players and facilities which you should become familiar with prior to playing.
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staying motivated
By: Leo Rosenberg
Motivation helps you succeed. It gives you energy to work hard and inspiration to pull through when things get really challenging. But sometimes you find yourself feeling alone or like there is no point in working hard as all your efforts seem fruitless. Your mind thus enters a tunnel and you lose sight of all the good things you may be doing and the great things you could be doing.
Loss of motivation happens to every tennis player. You work hard but you don't get the results you want or you're set back by an injury. You may even have lost motivation because of the coronavirus. While it's not a great feeling, feeling less love for the game is not unique and it doesn't mean you should quit. There are strategies you can use to change your perspective and influence the way you feel about yourself and your game.
Below are some things you should think about if you're low on motivation.
(1) More often than not, a lack of motivation comes from thinking too much about the end goal. You feel like you're putting in a lot of effort but you're not anywhere near where you want to be. The thing about end goals is they tend to be the biggest goals you imagine. It takes years of dedicated work to get close to your goals. But if you're only thinking about that finish line, you'll lose sight of the milestones you need to reach to get closer. You thus begin to feel small and unaccomplished. To overcome this trap, create mini-goals and keep thinking about them.
For example, Joe Sampson, a professional mountain climber, broke his leg and was left for dead in the middle of a blizzard. He crawled to camp by setting mini targets and a 20-minute timer to reach each target. It took Sampson three days to crawl five miles. If he had thought of the finish line without setting any mini targets in between, he would have drained all his motivation on his first day.
So, work on your long term goals but assess the steps to get there. With each baby step accomplishment, you're closer to your big goal.
(2) Make sure you're eating, staying hydrated, and sleeping enough. Sometimes we feel down because we're physically sapped and not doing enough to recover. The side effect of not recovering properly is a loss of motivation.
(3) Talk to a mentor who can help you understand the process of getting better. If you don't have anyone to talk to, write to me, find books on performance, and/or watch videos to inspire yourself.
(4) Don't stop working. You need to continue working on your game, fitness, and mental strength. You should understand that, to succeed, you need to continue improving. You won't improve if you're doing nothing. So, no matter how you feel, you need to find the strength to continue working on your actions.
One final thought: if you don’t feel motivated, have the faith that it is the right thing to do and go ahead and do it, motivated or not. In other words, trust your training!
I hope you find these tips useful and that you're staying safe and healthy. Please reach out if you have any comments or questions. Thank you for reading.
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GETTING BETTER…FROM YOUR COUCH
BY: LEO ROSENBERG
The rate at which COVID-19 has been spreading is terrifying. I truly hope that you, your family, and friends are staying safe. I am also sorry that you have to miss out on tennis practice. But do not despair, you can continue improving at home if you practice deep visualization.
Since the 1980s, studies have been conducted on mental visualization. Researchers would enlist volunteers, randomly put them into one of three groups, and then conduct a pretest on a skill, usually of basketball free throws. The researchers would then enter the results and assign a task to each group for the next 30 days before testing them again. One group will get daily training in that skill while another group doesn't do anything. The third, however, don't get to physically practice the skill but, instead, they spend 30 to 60 minutes each day visualizing the skill. In the oft-cited mental visualization study conducted by Dr. Judd Biasiotto, the group that did nothing did not improve their free throw score. The other two groups did. More importantly, the group that visualized practicing free throws did just as well as the group that physically practiced free throws.
Visualizing for tennis works. In my sophomore year playing college tennis, my win-loss record was 18-1 because I had spent at least 20 minutes a day visualizing the things I needed to improve. This speaks to how important it is to keep our minds engaged and sharp. In your time at home, away from the tennis court, you can actually improve your game.
Here are a few pointers:
Start with baby steps but do not get stuck in your comfort zone. If you're doing it right, you will find visualization difficult. So, you may start with 30 seconds in deep visualization before getting distracted. Reel yourself back in and try again.
Make sure your environment is right. It can be very difficult to visualize if your environment is distracting. This is especially true if you're not experienced. Find a comfortable place to dive deep into your game. After a few months, you will find that you have enough control over your mental faculties to visualize almost anywhere.
Engage in deep visualization. Do not just go through the motion by daydreaming how you want to play. People spend a lifetime going through the motion and thus never attain mastery. This is your time to start applying your mind to a deeper level. To do so, you need to bring in your senses and visualize as many details as possible. Try to make it feel real. Deep visualization means you need to take a granular look at what you're imagining.
Get examples of what to visualize by studying professional players. I recommend putting on highlights on YouTube and studying what you feel you need to improve. Make mental notes for when you start your visualization.
Finally, workout! If you practice visualization correctly, you will improve your game. But tennis requires good fitness. So, workout at home, and when you get back to the tennis court, you'll find yourself an improved player.
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