1. When playing or practicing concentrate on one shot at a time. Although this sounds easy, the conscious mind can drift to many places (the crowd, wind, your strings, your opponent, etc.). All that really matters is the ball and what "it" is doing at the present moment. By allowing yourself (unconscious) to react to the ball in a relaxed manner, you can play your best. When watching a sunset you focus is on one thing, the sun. In tennis your focus must be the ball. And when you watch a sunset, you might feel at peace. The same is true when watching the ball. The sun is the sun and a ball is a ball. The more in tune you are with those two object you are, the more they will tell you without you having to ask.
2. Play at your pace which allows you to recover from the past and get ready for the future. Rushing yourself leads to making quick errors and your unconscious can not catch up with your body. That doesn't mean you should stall the game. It means, give yourself time to let go of the last point, and come back to breathing, settling down your body, and resting (not easy to do when you are in a competitive match; your training play effects your ability to recover quickly). When a point ends, slow down and regain the present.
3.Take your time when hitting a ball and complete the swing. Asking yourself to think of that sunset and breathing can help, or listening to a favorite song in your mind. Giving our mind a break will help you relax and flow completely. The strike zone is further back than we realize. Most errors tend to go in the net because we are not finding the proper strike zone. If you get tense you cant take a complete fluid swing, even though you know you own the shot in practice.
4. Less is more. There is no perfect way of hitting the ball for everyone. There are fundamentals that we must have. Regardless of how you hit the ball, adjusting to strike the ball, with good timing is number one. Its better to have any inefficient movements, hitches, back-swings removed from our shots. In the heat of battle one must be a well oiled machine. It s better to have a 10% back-swing with a 90% follow-through, than a 80% back-swing with a 20% deceleration after contact, with little follow-through. A simple block when close to the net is good enough. There is no need to hit a reverse spin volley that comes back over to your side of the net, after hitting on your opponents side first. Go with great tasting vanilla! Keep it simple. Quality over quantity, get the maximum from the minimum.
5. Schedule routines and rituals. Success demands repeat performance. Schedule practices and workouts specific to your needs. Take time before you serve by bouncing the ball three times before you serve. Sit down during breaks and drink ice water with lemon. Have your towel in an easy place to access during practices and matches. Take planned breaks and recover, using the same time intervals as a match. Practice for a designated period of time and move on. Train with intensity for short periods of time with short breaks. Schedule practices in your calendar weekly, monthly, and yearly, allowing for tournaments, leagues, indoor season, outdoor season, and teams.
6. Watch the ball. Observe it and see it before it comes off the strings of your opponent. This has the effect of slowing time down, and makes you faster! Look for reasons to watch the ball, despite anything else that happens around the court. Nothing else matters in the end. Don't look for reasons not to watch the ball, and blame something else on your error. Those distractions are part of the game. You only can control your reaction and focus. All that other "stuff" is a mine field of distraction. It can remain there, but it doesn't effect your focus on the ball; you are meditating on the ball, and you are aware of how it's behaving.
---Kevin
