Saturday, September 15, 2007

Be Brave

Are you one of many tennis players for whom tennis is an exercise in moving and swinging properly? Players whose thoughts are 95% about technique? Who think about their form while they're playing matches? Who remind themselves to "watch the ball" or "bend your knees" before every serve or service return? Who turn their backs on a shot of theirs that is going out before it even lands and taking a little practice swing to demonstrate to themselves what flaw in their form to blame for that error? Players infatuated with the fine points of technique and totally disinterested in strategy and tactics? Players who think they know strategy and tactics by knowing a handful of rote rules like "Get your first serve in"?

if so, the next time you are playing a match, ask yourself why you take this attitude. It's a distraction, isn't it? A distraction from the game itself. Which is a bit scary, because you might lose.

Be brave. Get your mind on the game. Get INTO the game. Instead of thinking about bending your knees before you return serve, think about the score. Think about how you can mess with that server's mind. Think about what he or she has done in this situation before. Think about.... Well, I could give a couple dozen things to think about during that moment and none of them would have anything to do with how to swing the racket.

The game's the thing. That's where the fun is.

You have worked hard to develop the strokes that enable you to play at your level. So, don't cheat yourself out of the payback for all that work. Those strokes are just your weapons. In match play, it's time to use them. As they are.

This is the voice of experience. I used to obsess about form. And I never realized how much fun and how intriguing tennis can be till I cut it out.

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