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Have you ever played a match where it felt effortless? Your timing was right, your footwork great and your anticipation of where your opponent's ball was going to land was right-on target. Probably your head felt clear, time seemed to slow and the ball seemed to be twice its usual size. Did it feel great?

If you answered "yes", then you have experienced "the zone" or "the flow" and your body and mind have achieved the Ideal Performance State (IPS).

Do you know how you were able to play that way? Many players don't... Would you like to play in this calm, confident and easy way more often?

Improve your focus and concentration and learn to control your arousal (stress level) on the court and you can begin to experience the zone.

Players who have played "in the zone" describe the following:
* Playing without pressure
* Feeling confident
* Physically relaxed
* Mentally alert and focused
* Everything feels easy and effortless
* Playing instinctivel
* Time slows down
* Feeling challenged

Most players can feel the ideal performance state when they are in it, yet few have any idea how to get back into the zone. Champions have developed this ability and so can you using mental skills and practice.

Arousal - The Mind and Body Connection
The way you think and emotionally react to situations on the court affects your arousal or stress levels and can cause an increase in muscle tension, heart and breathing rate. Angry thoughts, worries and anxiety, analyzing too much, dwelling on something that happened earlier in the match are all emotions and thought patterns that can negatively affect your performance. These physical changes are a typical part of the stress response can result in decreased physical coordination, timing and tennis performance.

You can learn to stabilize your arousal, no matter what is going on around you. This is an essential part of achieving the IPS and playing at your best. Techniques such as relaxation and breathing; working on improving your self-talk to be more positive; stopping distracting negative thoughts and using recovery techniques like massage, can all help

CHAMPION CONCENTRATION CLUES
Find Your Focus
During a match, you need to be able to shift your concentration and focus to respond to changing situations. Like a camera, you zoom in and out on what is happening around you.

Concentration has two dimensions:
Direction:
Internal = what you think and feel or External = what is going on around you
Width:
Narrow = like a zoom lens on a camera where you target one thing (e.g. the ball) or
Broad = like a wide angle view (e.g. anticipate where your opponent will move)

These two dimensions of concentration interact together for different situations. You need:

* Broad-internal focus: Make decisions, anticipate your opponent's moves or solve a problem on the court. You refer back to a previous situation to determine your present response.
* Narrow-internal focus: Think about something, analyze a problem or mentally practice a situation.
* Broad-external focus: Evaluate the whole court and react. Pay attention to your opponent.
* Narrow-external focus: Zoom in on the ball and hit it accurately.

Decreased Internal focus + increased External focus = increased chance of Ideal Performance State / playing in the zone.

Why? If you are not thinking and analyzing as much (internal focus) you can more efficiently monitor what is going on around you (external focus). The result is that you slow the picture down and you feel you have more time to react.

You can only achieve this when your tennis skills are automatic. (i.e. you can play without conscious thought or analysis.)

Practice with Intensity
Apply all the skills you need in match conditions to your practice sessions:

* Identify those things you need to improve or find more difficult. Don't avoid them; now is the time to improve your ability to manage them!
* You will increase your ability to ‘automatically' execute and transfer your skills into a match situation when you need them.

Self-Talk
* Use "buzz" words or phrases to help you at critical moments. For example, try "move in" or "attack" to remind you to take the ball early; "bend" to assist you to make that low volley.
* Negative self-talk, e.g. "Don't miss this second serve" will focus your attention on what can go wrong and usually ends up as the result! To avoid this, keep buzzwords and self-talk positive.

Play in the Moment
* Focus on just this point, right now and give it your best effort, no matter what the score.
* This keeps you focused in the present, and allows you to let go of past errors.
* Keep your focus on the process (what you do now, where the ball is, strategy, etc.), not on the outcome (your ranking, winning or losing, or the score).

Deal with Distractions
Distractions can be internal (what you are thinking) or external (what is going on around you). Avoid distractions by focusing on something concrete, e.g. look at your racquet between points.

Manage distractions by:
* Change your perception, e.g. my opponent's bathroom break allows me to stretch and rehydrate and will help my tennis.
* Put them away - visualize putting them away somewhere (maybe in your locker) to think about after the match.
* Observe them passively - see them happening but don't form any opinion, just as if you were watching from outside.

This allows you to let them occur without affecting you emotionally and disturbing your optimal arousal level.

"You can't be out there in the middle of a tough match pleading to yourself, 'Concentrate!' The concentration that you need has to come way before your match. You must mentally treat your practice sessions as matches, concentrating on every ball you hit."
Martina Navratilova, former World No.1

Motivation

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Mind Power