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

by W. Timothy Gallwey

The next time your opponent is having a hot streak, simply ask him as you switch courts, “Say, George, what are you doing so differently that’s making your forehand so good today?”

So it is with the greatest efforts in sports; they come when the mind is as still as a glass lake.

In short, “getting it together” requires slowing the mind. Quieting the mind means less thinking, calculating, judging, worrying, fearing, hoping, trying, regretting, controlling, jittering or distracting.

Judgment results in tightness, and tightness interferes with the fluidity required for accurate and quick movement. Relaxation produces smooth strokes and results from accepting your strokes as they are, even if erratic.

The first step is to see your strokes as they are.

A child doesn’t dig his way out of his old grooves; he simply starts new ones!

By learning to focus while playing tennis, one develops a skill that can heighten performance in every other aspect of life.