Dear Antoni I’m Feeling the Pressure?

Can you help me relax man!

 

                                TTC’s Editor under serious pressure.

 

 

 

CONCENTRATION IN TENNIS:

 Mechanism and exercises
by Antoni Girod (France)

Introduction

The 1997 Italian Open - Foro Italico - After snatching victory in the third round against Monica Seles in what had been a tough battle, Mary Pierce went on to win the final over Conchita Martinez. Pierce had had to wait for a year and a half to register a tournament victory. Her greatest satisfaction was that she had managed to stay focused during the entire match as well as the entire tournament. The following are some quotes from her post-match press conference:

"I’ve worked a lot on my concentration and I’m now starting to improve this aspect of my game. (...) I think the key is not to worry about the future or the past, not to think about whether you are going to win or lose. Before, I could not help thinking about those things. Now the only thing I think about is giving my very best. And when I can do that, I play well." (L’Equipe - 12/05/97)

Keeping focused

According to Mary Pierce, the ability to stay mentally in the present tense is the key to being focused in a match, i.e. the ability ‘not to worry about the future or the past’.

Basically, focusing means obeying the rule of the three unities:

1. Unity of person:

I am centred on myself.

2. Unity of place:

I am here.

3. Unity of time:

I am in the present tense.

It is not rare to hear players explain their lack of concentration by saying things such as:

"I paid too much attention to the public", or "Today, I was somewhere else", or "During the whole of the second set, I completely lost my concentration because I could not stop thinking about that easy volley I missed towards the end of the first set."

In these three examples, the unity of person (me), the unity of place (here), the unity of time (now) are not respected. Hence the player’s attention starts wandering. This is what we call loss of concentration.

The following summarises the mental mechanism of concentration:

 

Unity of person:

me - others

CONCENTRATION

Unity of place:

here - elsewhere

 

Unity of time:

past - present - future

Or to summarise this further:

ME HERE NOW

Every time I fail to focus during a match, it means that there is a leak in one or more of the three unities. It is then important to identify where the leak comes from.

  • Are people surrounding me monopolising my attention: the public, my opponent, the umpire, the players on the adjacent court, my parents, my friends, my coach, etc.?
  • Are my thoughts wandering to a place different than that of the match: the adjacent court, my house, the school, the office, my club, etc.?
  • Am I mentally going back to the past (the point that I’ve just lost) or am I projecting myself into the future (the next tournament that I intend to play, if I lose, I won’t be selected)?

Realising that there is a leak and identifying its origin is the first step towards recovering one’s concentration. The second step consists in switching back to:

ME HERE NOW

How can something as intangible as concentration have such an impact on the game? What role does concentration play for a tennis player?

The role of concentration is quite simply to concentrate at all times on the technical, tactical, physical and mental resources that the player possesses. Take a diffused beam of light for instance. Focus it on a spot. Condense it. Concentrate it to the maximum: what you will get is a laser beam. Laser is so powerful that it can pierce and cut steel. The power of mental concentration can be compared to that of a laser beam. Concentration helps to increase tenfold the usual resources of the conscious and make the connection with the resources of the unconscious, the creativity, and the intuition which only need to be activated. When a player says: "I was in a trance", or "I was playing in the zone", or "It was like in a dream," it simply means that he/she experienced a level of extreme concentration. The real champions reach this degree of concentration more frequently than other players. This is the reason why they are able to surpass themselves, go beyond their conscious limits and excel.

What does it take to reach this degree of concentration? Could it be a gift sent from heaven? Of course, every person is born with a mental configuration that predisposes to concentration or not. But as Mary Pierce would say, it is possible to work on concentration and improve in this field. The only thing you need is practice.

Practice

I need to practice to focus my mind on a single object. All my attention has to be centred on this unique object. The fundamental rule is:

ONE OBJECT AND ONE ONLY

The following are various objects that you can focus on during a match:

While the ball is in play:

- the ball

- the sound of the ball when it bounces and when it is hit

- my breathing

Between points:

- the strings of the racket

- a word or a sentence that you repeat to yourself

- your breathing

The player’s mental space needs to be fully monopolised by his/her object. No other conscious thought must be present in his/her mind.

Drills

Five drills for improving your concentration off the tennis court

Drill 1: Take a tennis ball. Place it in front of you. Stare at this motionless ball. Focus your attention on it. Let it take up the whole of your mental space. Increase progressively the duration of the exercise. (External Visual)

Drill 2: Close your eyes. Visualise on your ‘mental screen’ that same tennis ball. Focus on this virtual image. Increase progressively the duration of the exercise. (Internal Visual)

Drill 3: Take a metronome. Start the metronome. Focus your attention on its regular beats. Let the rhythm take up the whole of your mental space. Should any thoughts come to your mind, let them go past just like a passing cloud. (External Auditive)

Drill 4: Choose a word (or sentence), preferably a positive one. Repeat it to yourself. Go over it in your mental space as if you were playing the same record over and over again. Increase progressively the duration of the exercise. (Internal Auditive)

Drill 5: Be attentive to your breathing. Feel the air coming in and out of your lungs. Let your breathing lull you. Each time you breathe in, you amplify the level of your concentration. Each time you breathe out, you chase away the thoughts that could interfere. Breathe in using your nose. Breathe out using your mouth. (External Auditive + Internal Kineaesthetic)

Five drills for improving your concentration on the court

Drill 1: Focus your attention on the ball in play. Let the moving ball fill the whole of your mental space. Let any interfering thoughts go past. Keep focusing on the ball and on it only. (External Visual)

Drill 2: Focus your attention on the sound of the ball when it bounces and when you and your opponent hit it. Let yourself be taken up by this rhythm. (External Auditive)

Drill 3: Breathe in using your nose when your opponent hits the ball. Breathe out when you hit the ball. Focus on your breathing. Let your breathing lull you. (Internal Kineaesthetic + External Auditive)

Drill 4: While the ball is in play, mentally repeat to yourself a word such as: ‘step in’, ‘attack’, ‘100%’, or any other word, before you hit the ball. Let this word fill the whole of your mental space. (Internal Auditive)

Drill 5: Between points, let a motionless or moving virtual image pop up on your mental screen. Focus on this image. The image can be a specific tactical plan or a positive image of yourself. You can also visualise on your mental screen a written word such as: ‘CALM’, ‘100%’, ‘COME ON’, etc. In order to focus more easily on this written word, you need to choose a short word.

 

The Tennis Coach would like to thank Antoni for his contribution.

  CHECK OUT Antoni Girod’s site www.tennisperf.com