Mental Tennis Essay

Coming towards what most likely is the end of my tennis career, I have begun to reminisce on how I have adapted and grown as a player. I think one of my biggest growth periods in my game came after I really started to focus more on my mental tennis. It is one of those things that you don 't think about much when you are just learning the game but becomes an essential part of developing into a better player.

I think my uncle, Vic Braden, explained mental tennis best in his book, Mental Tennis: How to Psych Yourself to a Winning Game. He separates mental tennis into four concepts which include mind-body connections, psychological states, intelligent tennis, and strategies. To be honest I haven 't read the entire book yet but I think I have a good grasp of what Vic was trying to say. The mind-body connection is the part of tennis that deals with the different parts of the body working together to hit the ball. It is how your brain reacts with your body to help you hit a certain ball or anticipate a shot. Psychological states are probably what is thought of most when thinking about mental tennis. This is how your attitude and nerves can affect you

I know that only through practice will I develop my toss again. I also remember reading in Vic 's book about how a new concept can take two months before it starts to feel natural. That 's one reason I think so many people quit tennis so quickly. I think for someone who doesn 't know anything about tennis has an idea of how to hit the ball which is completely wrong but since that 's how they mentally imagine it that 's what feels natural. Then they get on the court and sail balls over the fence and when you try to fix their strokes they think it feels weird and unnatural. Then they usually give up before the two months is over because they are getting too frustrated because it still feels foreign to