Tennis Improvement Memo 126: "The Infallible Way to Improve at Tennis" (Between the Flood and the Confusion)

▶ How to "get one step ahead of the crowd"?

The process of working hard and trying your best to improve may be noble, but if the direction of your efforts is wrong, you will not get the results you desire.

In this day and age, it goes without saying that information is flooding in, and it is truly difficult if you do not have the eye to discern correct information.

Even when it comes to how to hit a tennis ball, what is said on one side is often explained as the opposite on the other.

And the recipients of this information—the tennis school students, the tennis club members, the tennis magazine readers, the viewers of YouTube tennis lesson videos—become confused and lose track of what is what.

Some say, "Swing big and dynamically" to increase swing speed, while others say, "Swing small and wrap it around in one go."

It becomes a question of "Which one?"

Between the flood and the confusion.

"It doesn't matter which," though.

In this era of information overload, precisely because so many people are confused right now, if you have the eye to discern correct information, you can get one step ahead of the crowd.

▶ "Subtracting" information

To avoid being misled by information, there is no mistake in pursuing the "essence".

If an exception is allowed, it is not the essence, so the choice is to not adopt that methodology.

The previous talk about swing size is the same.

Even if they say "swing compactly on volleys," there are times when you swing big depending on the situation, so that advice is rejected.

When you "subtract" information in this way, the remaining things to do are "very simple".

▶ The essence "admits no exceptions"

So, what is the essence? Like the "Law of Effort Reversal" that I answered in an email inquiry yesterday, it is something that admits no exceptions. It is like the formula for finding the area of a triangle, base × height ÷ 2; the argument that "no, there is also base × height ÷ 3" does not hold water.

So, what is the essence of playing tennis well? Generally, it is

focusing on the ball. To put it more loosely, it can be rephrased as

"watching the ball with your eyes" (I add the caveat "generally" because in blind tennis, played by players with visual impairments, the focus is on the ball heard with the ears). No one, whether it be Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, or Jannik Sinner, can play tennis well without focusing on the ball;

it is impossible for anyone. This is the essence for not being misled by information.

▶ The antonym of essence is "phenomenon"

And "what is essential is invisible to the eye" is also exactly the essence.

Because if you open a dictionary, the antonym of essence is (visible) "phenomenon".

In other words, to summarize everything so far in one word, the essence of playing tennis well can be rephrased as "(invisible) concentration on the ball".

Therefore, the "infallible way to improve at tennis" that is not misled by various information can simply be determined as "increasing your concentration on the ball".

▶ "That is enough"

When you first started playing tennis, weren't you told over and over to "watch the ball carefully!"?

"That is enough."

Because you are not watching the ball, you are admonished to "watch it carefully" every time.

However, the trap you tend to fall into here is thinking that to get better and get one step ahead of the crowd, "that alone is not enough," and then you start trying to "add" things.

In addition to focusing on the ball, you try to be conscious of "pulling the racket back quickly," "keeping the contact point in front of your body," "swinging through to your back," and so on.

These "forms" and "ways of hitting" that conventional tennis instruction conveys are, according to dictionary definitions, visible phenomena, so they are not the essence.

Even if you are told that "taking the racket back quickly is the essence of tennis improvement," doesn't it feel a bit too light?

When you are conscious of such added methodologies, you cannot focus on (are not seeing) the ball.

In other words, that is effort that will not be rewarded for anyone.

It is a trap where you admit an exception to the "Law of Effort Reversal," saying things like "sometimes effort is rewarded."

▶ If you try to "return" it to the opponent's court, it "won't return"

When you try hard, consciously trying to make something happen, the result is "counterproductive."

When you listen to someone while trying to solve their problems, self-talk starts in your own head, and you stop listening to them, didn't you?

In tennis, if you try hard to return the ball to your opponent's court, it won't go back.

If you try to increase your swing speed to hit a fast ball, you will mistime the shot, andbecause it's a conscious movement, it will actually be slower.

If you try to hit a passing shot down the line, you won't be able to.

And because you can't hit the down-the-line pass, you start "focusing more on the angle of your step" or "being extra careful not to open your body," and as youmake these efforts, you drift further and further away from the essence.

The tennis that started with "Watch the ball carefully!" has become increasingly complex.

What's more,it even feels like your tennis has become worse than it was back then.

Between the flood and the confusion.

For most of you,"this kind of flow", isn't it?

▶ What if you "try" to concentrate!?

If you don't try to return the ball to the opponent's court, but just focus on the ball, your body will automatically hit it back.

However, if you "try" to focus on the ball, it backfires again.

This is the"trap"I mentioned earlier.

Does that mean if you "try not to return it" to the opponent's court, it will "actually return because of the law of reversed effort"? It's not that simple.

Because, in reality, there is a latent image of wanting to return it to the opponent's court.

▶ Postscript 1: "Image" is also the essence of tennis improvement

Furthermore, the "image" that serves as the blueprint for your play is also an invisible essence for improving at tennis.

To use a plastic model as an example,the image is the blueprint, and the assembly work is like concentration.

In the case of tennis, it is the product of both, soif the image is wrong, no matter how much you concentrate on the ball, the play will not be completed, and no matter how accurate the image is, if you don't concentrate, it still won't turn out well.

If the blueprint is accurate and you can concentrate on the assembly work, the result will be that"the two axes of improvement" are achieved.

▶ Postscript 2: Today is the youngest day of your life

The "two axes of improvement" are satisfying the "speed" and "height" of perfection.

You shouldn't peak early and hit a wall, and if you only get better in the twilight of your career, it will have been a "tennis life of endurance" until then.

It's not too late to start now.

In fact, "starting now" is the fastest way.

After all, for everyone in the life they have left,"today is the youngest day".

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