The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

by W. Timothy Gallwey

focus your eyes and mind on the seams of the ball and let it happen. Then observe what happened. Once again, don’t analyze; simply see how close Self 2 came to doing what you wanted it to. If your racket didn’t follow the path you had imaged, then re-create the image and let the stroke happen again.

Letting go of judgments, the art of creating images and “letting it happen” are three of the basic skills involved in the Inner Game.

THE IMPORTANCE of quieting the thinking mind by letting go of mental self-instructions, focusing attention and trusting the body to do what it is capable of doing.

if we let ourselves lose touch with our ability to feel our actions, by relying too heavily on instructions, we can seriously compromise our access to our natural learning processes and our potential to perform.

Bottom line: there is no substitute for learning from experience. However, even though we have the ability to learn naturally, many of us have forgotten. And many of us have lost touch with feel. We may need to learn how to feel again and learn how to learn again.

a valid instruction derived from experience can help me if it guides me to my own experiential discovery of any given stroke possibility. From the point of view of the student, the question becomes how to listen to technical instructions and use them without falling into the Self 1 traps of judgment, doubt and fear.

Let’s begin with a very simple yet common instruction given by many teaching professionals: “Keep the wrist firm when hitting the backhand.” I would guess that this instruction originated from someone’s accurate observations of the relative consistency and power of backhands hit when the wrist was firm compared to when it was loose or wobbly. As obvious as this instruction might sound at first, let’s analyze it before casting it into the bronze of dogma. Can the backhand be hit with a wrist that is too loose to give control? Certainly. But can it also be hit with a wrist that is too firm? Yes, of course it can. So as helpful as this instruction might appear, you cannot use it successfully by merely “obeying” it. Instead you use the instruction to guide your discovery of the optimal degree of tightness of your wrist. This of course can be done by paying attention to the feel of your wrist during your stroke and does not necessarily have to be put into language. You will hit some shots with too loose a wrist, others perhaps with too tight a wrist, and automatically you will find what is comfortable and works best for you and settle with that. Obviously the exact degree of tightness you discovered worked for you would be very hard to put into definitive language; it is remembered by its feel. This is a very different process from obeying the instruction.

I believe the best use of technical knowledge is to communicate a hint toward a desired destination.

A partial ground stroke checklist Backswing Exactly where is the head of your racket at the back of your swing? Where is the ball when you initiate your backswing? What happens with the face of the racket during the backswing? Impact Can you feel where the ball is meeting the racket at impact? How is your weight distributed? What is the angle of racket face at impact? How long can you feel the ball on the face of the racket? To what extent can you feel the kind and amount of spin being imparted to the ball? How solid does the shot feel or how much vibration is sent up your arm at impact? How far in front of or behind you is the ball at impact? Follow-through Where does your racket finish? In what direction? What has happened to the face of the racket since impact? Is there any hesitancy or resistance experienced during the follow-through? Footwork How is your weight distributed during preparation and at impact? What happens to your balance during the shot? How many steps did you take to get to the ball? What size are the steps? What kinds of sounds do your feet make on the court as you move? When the ball approaches you, do you retreat, advance or hold your ground? From how solid a base are you hitting the ball?

THE TOSS How high is it? How far does it drop, if at all, before contact with your racket? How much forward or behind, right or left of the toe of your front foot? BALANCE Is there any time during the serve when you feel off balance? What is the direction of your momentum at follow-through? How is your weight distributed during the serve?

Power Because power is so sought after on the serve, it is not unusual for players to “try too hard” to produce it, and in the process to overtighten the muscles of wrist and arm. Ironically, the overtightening of these muscles has the opposite effect on power.

Your teaching pro can be helpful in pointing out the best focus of attention for your particular serve at its current state of development. As long as you take his guidance as an opportunity to explore your own experience, you really cannot help but learn in a natural and effective manner.

In summary, I believe someone who has discovered his or her best stroke can help you discover your best stroke. Knowledge of technique learned by one person can give another an advantage in discovering what technique works best. But it is dangerous to make that person’s stroke or any stroke description into your standard for right and wrong. Self 1 easily gets enamored of formulas that tell it where the racket should be and when. It likes the feeling of control it gets from doing it by the book. But Self 2 likes the feeling of flow—of the whole stroke as one thing.

STROKE TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION AWARENESS INSTRUCTION GROUND STROKES Follow through at shoulder level. Notice the level of your follow-through relative to your shoulder. Take your racket back early. Observe where your racket is when the ball bounces. Get down to the ball. Feel the extent of knee bend on the next ten shots. Take the racket back below the level of the ball to produce topspin. Notice the level of your racket in relation to the ball at impact. Feel the contact and notice the amount of topspin produced. Hit the ball in the center of the racket. Sense (not with your eyes) where the ball makes contact with the racket face. Plant your back foot when setting up for your ground stroke. Notice what percent of your weight is on your back foot as you prepare to hit your ground strokes VOLLEY Hit the ball in front of you. Notice where you are making contact with the Volley the ball deep into the opponent’s court. Notice where your volleys are landing in relation to the baseline. Don’t take a backswing. Punch the ball. How far back are you taking your racket? What is the minimum amount possible? What amount of backswing provides the best opportunity to punch the ball? Whenever possible, strike the ball before it drops below the level of the net. Focus on the space between the ball and the top of the net. Notice the differing amounts. SERVE Hit the ball with your arm fully extended. Notice the degree of bend in your elbow at the moment of impact with th...

When one learns how to change a habit, it is a relatively simple matter to learn which ones to change. Once you learn how to learn, you have only to discover what is worth learning.

By the word “learning” I do not mean the collection of information, but the realization of something which actually changes one’s behavior—either external behavior, such as a tennis stroke, or internal behavior, such as a pattern of thought.

It is not helpful to condemn our present behavior patterns—in this case our present imperfect strokes—as “bad”; it is helpful to see what function these habits are serving, so that if we learn a better way to achieve the same end, we can do so.

when we stop trying to suppress or correct the habit,we can see the function it serves, and then an alternative pattern of behavior, which serves the same function better, emerges quite effortlessly.

Because these patterns are serving a function, the behavior is reinforced or rewarded and tends to continue. The deeper the groove in the nervous system, the harder it seems to be to break the habit.

Step 1: Nonjudgmental Observation

Awareness of what is, without judgment, is relaxing, and is the best precondition for change.

Step 2: Picture the Desired Outcome

Let’s assume that what is desired in your serve is more power. The next step is to picture your serve with more power. One way to do this might be to watch the motion of someone who gets a lot of power in his serve. Don’t overanalyze; simply absorb what you see and try to feel what he feels.

Step 3: Trust Self 2

Begin serving again, but with no conscious effort to control your stroke. In particular, resist any temptation to try to hit the ball harder. Simply let your serve begin to serve itself. Having asked for more power, just let it happen. This isn’t magic, so give your body a chance to explore the possibilities. But no matter what the results, keep Self 1 out of it.

one reason is that you are holding your racket too tightly to allow for flexibility. The habit of holding the racket tightly and swinging with a stiff wrist usually comes from a conscious attempt to hit the ball hard.

Step 4: Nonjudgmental Observation of Change and Results

During this process it is still important to have a certain lack of concern for where the ball is going. As you allow one element of a stroke to change, others will be affected. As you increase your wrist snap, you will alter your rhythm and timing. Initially this may result in inconsistency, but if you continue with the process, simply allowing the serve to serve itself while you remain attentive and patient, the other elements of the serve will make the needed adjustments.

Negative judgment of the results of one’s efforts tends to make one try even harder; positive evaluation tends to make one try to force oneself into the same pattern on the next shot. Both positive and negative thinking inhibit spontaneity.

When you try hard to hit the ball correctly, and it goes well, you get a certain kind of ego satisfaction. You feel that you are in control, that you are master of the situation. But when you simply allow the serve to serve itself, it doesn’t seem as if you deserve the credit. It doesn’t feel as if it were you who hit the ball. You tend to feel good about the ability of your body, and possibly even amazed by the results, but the credit and sense of personal accomplishment are replaced by another kind of satisfaction. If a person is out on the court mainly to satisfy the desires and doubts of ego, it is likely that in spite of the lesser results, he will choose to let Self 1 play the major role.

the instant I try to make myself relax, true relaxation vanishes, and in its place is a strange phenomenon called “trying to relax.” Relaxation happens only when allowed, not as a result of “trying” or “making.”

Fighting the mind does not work. What works best is learning to focus it.

In spite of the fact that I deliver my most effective performance when I permit the spontaneous Self 2 to be in control, there is still a recurring impulse to think about how I did it, make a formula out of it and thus to bring it into Self 1’s domain where it can feel in control.

To still the mind one must learn to put it somewhere. It cannot just be let go; it must be focused.

As one achieves focus, the mind quiets. As the mind is kept in the present, it becomes calm. Focus means keeping the mind now and here. Relaxed concentration is the supreme art because no art can be achieved without it, while with it, much can be achieved.

In tennis the most convenient and practical object of focus is the ball itself.

The focused mind only picks up on those aspects of a situation that are needed to accomplish the task at hand. It is not distracted by other thoughts or external events, it is totally engrossed in whatever is relevant in the here and now.

It’s easy to see the ball, but not so easy to notice the exact pattern made by its seams as it spins. The practice of watching the seams produces interesting results.

The ball should be watched from the time it leaves the opponent’s racket to the time it hits yours. (Sometimes the ball even begins to appear bigger or to be moving slower. These are natural results of true focus.)

The mind is so absorbed in watching the pattern that it forgets to try too hard. To the extent that the mind is preoccupied with the seams, it tends not to interfere with the natural movements of the body.

“Say the word bounce out loud the instant you see the ball hit the court and the word hit the instant the ball makes contact with the racket—either racket.”

Focus is not achieved by staring hard at something. It is not trying to force focus, nor does it mean thinking hard about something. Natural focus occurs when the mind is interested. When this occurs, the mind is drawn irresistibly toward the object (or subject) of interest. It is effortless and relaxed, not tense and overly controlled. When watching the tennis ball, allow yourself to fall into focus. If your eyes are squinting or straining, you are trying too hard. If you find yourself chastising yourself for losing focus, then you may be overcontrolling.

When the ball hits your racket, it makes a distinct sound, the quality of which varies considerably, depending on its proximity to the “sweet spot,” the angle of the face, the distribution of your weight and where the ball is met. If you listen closely to the sounds of one ball after another, you will soon be able to distinguish a number of different kinds and qualities of sounds.

If you become sensitive to sound in practice, you will find that you will then use sound automatically during a match to encourage the repetition of solid shots.

There are many ways to increase one’s awareness of muscle feel. One is to take each of your strokes in slow motion. Each can be performed as an exercise, in which all attention is placed on the feel of the moving parts of the body. Get to know the feel of every inch of your stroke, every muscle in your body. Then when you increase your stroke speed to normal and begin hitting, you may be particularly aware of certain muscles.

Expanding sensory knowledge of your body will greatly speed the process of developing skill.

Right now your consciousness is aware through your eyes and mind of the words in this sentence. But other things are also happening within the range of your attention. If you stop to listen closely to whatever your ears can hear, you will no doubt be able to hear sounds which you previously weren’t aware of, even though they were going on while you were reading. If you now listen to these sounds closely, you will hear them better—that is, you will be able to know them better. Probably you were not aware of how your tongue feels in your mouth—but in all likelihood after reading the foregoing words, you now are. While you were reading or listening to the sights and sounds around you, you were not aware of the feeling of your tongue, but with the slightest suggestion, the mind directs the focus of attention from one thing to another. When attention is allowed to focus, it comes to know that place. Attention is focused consciousness, and consciousness is that power of knowing.

The light of consciousness can be focused either externally to objects available to the senses or internally to thoughts or feelings. And attention can be focused in a broad or narrow beam. Broad focus would be an attempt to see as much of the forest at one time as possible. Narrow focus would be directing attention to something very specific like the veins on a particular leaf on a particular twig of a branch.

Watching the seams of the ball is a narrow focus of attention, and can be effective in blocking out nervousness and other possible irrelevant objects of attention. Sensing the feel of your body is a broader focus, and takes in a number of sensations that might aid in the learning of tennis.