Tennis Improvement Note 119. "Focus" means "I don't want to focus" (Subtitle: Love and money also run away if you chase them)

▶ "Wanting to hit" vs. "Being made to hit"

Assuming your spatial awareness is correct, if you hit the ball at the moment you feel "Now!"—the moment you "want to hit" (the timing of the hithitting time—your shot will be successful, whether it is a stroke, serve, volley, or return.

On the other hand, if you cannot feel that and instead feel like you are "being made to hit," the shot will be a miss.

When put this way, the feeling of "wanting to hit" might seem active, as if you are initiating it yourself, while being made to hit might seem passive.

However, that is not the case.

It is the exact opposite; if you do not consciously try to hit, the feeling of "wanting to hit" is drawn out passively.

On the other hand, if you actively try to hit, you end up with the feeling of "being made to hit"のです。

▶ When told "don't do it," you "want to do it"

From have to to want to.

Play not by feeling "I must hit," but by feeling "I want to hit."

To use an extreme example, it is similar to how when you are told "do it," you don't want to because you are being forced to act actively, but when you are told "don't do it," the feeling of "wanting to do it" is passively drawn outのに似ています。

『The Inner Game』にたとえると、セルフ1が「ああやれ」「こうしろ」などとセルフトークを発するほど、ポテンシャルを発揮するセルフ2は「やりたくなくなる」のです。

When Self 1 stops giving self-talk, Self 2 freely "wants to do it"のです。

▶ Love and money "run away" if you "chase" them

As mentioned here, if you actively chase them, both love and money will run away.

Conversely, the idea that they come to you when you run away is the "true value hidden in being passive," so you must not try hard actively yourselfのです。

Or, "if pushing doesn't work, try pulling."

The reason this idiom isn't the reverse, "if pulling doesn't work, try pushing," is likely because in many cases, the (treasure chest) door doesn't open because you are trying to act actively (pushing)教えなのだと思います。

You don't have to push so hard; you switch to a passive stance where it opens quickly if you just pull gentlyのです。

▶ Do not consciously try to "hit"

A shot where you felt "I want to hit" will not miss (as long as (it does not exceed the threshold of speed and distance))ミスしません。

So what should a player who "doesn't feel" like hitting do to "feel" it?

You stay in a "passive stance" where you do not try to hit activelyのです。

Since you aren't even consciously trying to "hit," if you consciously try to "hit well," the feeling of "wanting to hit" will not emerge at all.

You "want to do it" because you are told "don't do it," not because you are told "do it."

▶ "Captivated" by the ball

Do not try to hit actively.

On top of that, please focus on the ball.

However, this is the same; if you actively try to focus on the ball, that is not focus.

If someone else tells you "Focus!", you won't want to focus.

It is the same even if you use self-talk to tell yourself "I have to focus!"。

Instead of trying to enter a state of focus actively, leave it to a "passive stance" where you end up in a state of focus before you know it once your heart is captivated by the spin of the ball.

Not by trying to enter it yourself.

Just like the analogy of the (treasure chest) door, you don't try to "push out" the feeling of wanting to hit; the feeling of wanting to hit is "drawn out"のです。

▶ "Focus" means "I don't want to"

While being passive might sometimes give the impression of laziness, the more you try to actively focus, the more it feels like a "have to."
Have you ever had the experience of being told "Focus!" by a teacher, parent, coach, or advisor, only to feel annoyed and unable to focus?

That is because
when you are told to "do it," you "don't want to do it." Instead, if you focus your eyes on the spin of the ball, it becomes a "want to" where

you want to focus without even trying to. Of course, I am not saying you should "not focus," but the more you try to focus, the less you can.
However, when you focus on the object of perception, you "want to hit" and

your body "wants to move."

▶ You always want to fit in the "last piece of the puzzle"

It is exactly the "last piece of the puzzle" mentioned here.

The feeling of "This is the only place for it!"

Even if you don't actively try to move your hand, your hand will want to move.

In the case of a puzzle, it is a "place," but in tennis, "This is the only place!" is "hitting time = time (timing)."
It doesn't feel like "I have to hit" or "I am being made to hit."

When you surrender yourself to the spinning ball and leave it to your "body that wants to hit,"
the quantity and quality of information coming from the ball increase, allowing you to play tennis well.

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