Mental game - how can I enter my focus state?

[Tranqville]

Played a league match today, won first set easily 6:3. In the second set, my focus dropped, I was behind 2:5, but tried to give it a good fight to prepare myself mentally for the match tiebrake, held serve serving really well, and stil lost 3:6. I felt so extremely focused and confident in the beginning of the tiebrake. As if "confidence" was some kind of elastic energy that was flowing thru my body. Movement became fluid and precise. I took a lead 5:0, then that focus took a dip. At 5:1 I served my fastest ace of the match, and it seemed to deflate my opponent, but I also lost focus. Still won 10:7, but really struggled to close out the match from 9:4, overhitting and making silly errors.

Now to my question. How can I play in that state of elevated confidence more frequently? Is there a way to channel that state, or it only comes subconsciosly at critical moments? I try to calm myself down or activate with breathing, self-talk and movement, as necessary, but it has only small effect on my state of mind and play. Is it at all possible to sustain such a confident state during the entire match? From past experiences, I can only sustain it for several minutes. I read several mental game books but really do not find an answer.

 

[esgee48]

It is impossible to maintain the type of focus you described an entire match. From my own experience, I can only maintain focus one point at a time. During the point, I concentrate on my own preparation and try to recognize early where the ball was likely to go. When the point is finished, I quickly assess what I did right or wrong. Then blank out my mind and go to my next position to receive or serve. When I get there, I bring my concentration back. Playing one point at a time works for me cuz you need to win a minimum of 24 points for a set.

 

[Tranqville]

Some recommend keeping that focus between point by watching the strings. It's difficult for this kind of hyper focus. What if we could maintain good focus and then sometimes turbo charge it? Does it make any sense?

Looking at top players, they all approach things differently. To me, it looks like Nadal tries to maintain hyper focus on each point. Federer is just calm and relaxed on every point. Djokovich has a number of mental gears for different situations.

Interestingly enough, I can replicate the feeling of hyper focus by recalling past peak experience sitting here in front of my computer. I saw in the anime "Baby Steps" that is's a viable mental method.

 

[esgee48]

Yes, everyone is slightly different. But the trick is to let the mind relax periodically. You may be able to focus longer than me, but then lose it completely for a few points. To me, that is a formula for disaster since it could give confidence to your opponent as you start to make errors. YMMV, so good luck.

 

[user92626]

What exactly is going on when you're totally focused?

To me I only understand being focused means I watch the ball better.

 

[Tranqville]

What exactly is going on when you're totally focused?

To me I only understand being focused means I watch the ball better.

I feel very alert and respond immediately and precisely to the ball with technique. My vision of the opponent contact point and ball flight path does not get much sharper, but I start to see my own contact and the outgoing ball better. I also do not think about tactical decisions, they just happen, almost without me. I have elevated presence, kind of observing my own play.

 

[ratherlosethanpush]

Played a league match today, won first set easily 6:3. In the second set, my focus dropped, I was behind 2:5, but tried to give it a good fight to prepare myself mentally for the match tiebrake, held serve serving really well, and stil lost 3:6. I felt so extremely focused and confident in the beginning of the tiebrake. As if "confidence" was some kind of elastic energy that was flowing thru my body. Movement became fluid and precise. I took a lead 5:0, then that focus took a dip. At 5:1 I served my fastest ace of the match, and it seemed to deflate my opponent, but I also lost focus. Still won 10:7, but really struggled to close out the match from 9:4, overhitting and making silly errors.

Now to my question. How can I play in that state of elevated confidence more frequently? Is there a way to channel that state, or it only comes subconsciosly at critical moments? I try to calm myself down or activate with breathing, self-talk and movement, as necessary, but it has only small effect on my state of mind and play. Is it at all possible to sustain such a confident state during the entire match? From past experiences, I can only sustain it for several minutes. I read several mental game books but really do not find an answer.

Confidence becomes faith when you get better.

Then it doesn't dip, because if you miss a shot you're not missing the next one and if you miss that obe you're still not missing the next one.

 

[Jono123]

Focus, for me at least, is about being reading your opponent's body shape and racquet face to anticipate where he's going to hit and watching the ball.

 

[fuzz nation]

I feel very alert and respond immediately and precisely to the ball with technique. My vision of the opponent contact point and ball flight path does not get much sharper, but I start to see my own contact and the outgoing ball better. I also do not think about tactical decisions, they just happen, almost without me. I have elevated presence, kind of observing my own play.

That sounds to me like that elusive state of being "in the zone". It's a wonderful place to dwell, but even the killers on TV who are competing to earn their lunch money can't always jump into that high focus and easy flow on demand.

As a high school coach with a couple decades of helping the kids with striving for this more often, a couple of thoughts:

Vic Braden writes about managing our own expectations in his book, Mental Tennis. He also shares useful wisdom on several other topics across the tennis realm in these pages. If you haven't read it, I can't recommend it enough. Keeping expectations within margins that are more manageable can be a huge help with staying focused and motivated on the courts from one moment to the next. And that process does take a little work.

A decent local coach I know also likes to tell his girls - many have gone on to play in college - that "pressure" is going to happen and that it's important to understand this. If the tension ratchets up and we don't expect any pressure or anxiety to happen, we're more likely to freak out a little bit when it does.

I've found remarkable success with keeping myself more in the zone more often by practicing the mental ritual of revisiting a simple mental blueprint before almost every point whether I'm serving or returning. It might be as simple as "hit every ball cross court" or "keep hitting into that opponent's weaker side until I can attack a short ball". Maybe I'll occasionally decide to use a serve and volley attack to surprise my opponent.

The general idea here is to decide what I'm going to do in very basic terms - even what I want to do with my return of serve - before the point starts. That way I don't have to make many decisions once the ball is in play. I already know what to do to help me with controlling the action more often. I also recommend practicing this with a willing hitting partner. Plan the point, play the point, lather, rinse, repeat... This help to make if more of a routine.

This mental ritual can be tedious at first, especially if I use the same tactic for many points in a row. But if I do this, I'm more sharp and engaged from point to point regardless of the scoreboard. I can also say that when I can coax some of the kids on my teams to employ this ritual, the difference in their play can be substantially improved in short order. Instead of simply chasing every ball that comes their way, they play with a much stronger ability to dictate more of the action... and make their opponents chase more balls.

 

[Tranqville]

Thank you for your insightful response, @fuzz nation!