The Inner Game of Tennis: The ultimate guide to the mental side of peak performance

by W. Timothy Gallwey

The seams focus awareness more exactly in space than merely the ball itself does, and as you add awareness of one element of the game of tennis after another—from the sound of the ball to the feel of each part of each stroke—greater knowledge is gained. But it is also necessary to learn to focus awareness in the now. This simply means tuning in to what is happening in the present. The greatest lapses in concentration come when we allow our minds to project what is about to happen or to dwell on what has already happened. How easily the mind absorbs itself in the world of “what if”s. “What if I lose this point?” it thinks; “then I’ll be behind 5–3 on his serve. If I don’t break his serve, then I’ll have lost the first set and probably the match. I wonder what Martha will say when she hears I lost to George.” At this point it is not uncommon for the mind to lapse into a little fantasy about Martha’s reaction to hearing the news that you have lost to George. Meanwhile, back in the now, the score is still 3– 4, 30–40, and you are barely aware that you are on the court; the conscious energy you need to perform at your peak in the now has been leaking into an imagined future. Similarly, the mind often draws one’s attention into the past. “If the linesman hadn’t called that last serve out, the score would be deuce and I wouldn’t be in this mess. The same thing happened to me last week, and it cost me the match. It made me lose my confidence, and now the same thing is happening ag...