Tennis- Zone State

The Zone

When you get to a "zone" state, it’s almost magical how easy it is to accomplish even the most difficult shots. However, not many tennis players can enter the zone at will or maintain being in the zone once they realize that they are in it because they allow emotions to dominate or control them.

The first step to playing in the zone is to allow your mind to become totally process oriented –(I will explain this in a moment.) By being process oriented you optimize your brain's chemistry, which enhances all of your natural abilities and functions. It is possible to enter and stay in the zone with staying process oriented.

To optimize your brain's chemistry you have to eliminate all of your negative emotions and increase your positive emotions. Easier said than done because of your mind's past programming of outcome thinking and associating negative emotions to facts.

So how do you get to the zone with this process oriented thinking? If you focus on the outcome, you open yourself to negative emotions of fear and anger of missing a shot. The only value an outcome provides is feedback to help you improve the process. It makes common sense that who ever executes the process the best will be the winner. So why focus on the outcome and rob yourself of the opportunity to play in the zone.

To be ‘process oriented’ thinking is to be focusing solely on the process of improving, it is a lot easier to be objective and realize that everything that happens is a fact. A fact is merely a fact. A fact provides information that you can use to improve the process. Don’t allow yourself to justify a reason to allow a fact to cause a negative emotional reaction in your mental makeup.

For example, if your forehand shot misses long that is a fact. An outcome thinker will more than likely feel upset or disappointed because he missed it, and his frustration level goes up!

However, a process thinker will be anxious to look for adjustments within himself- with an internal focus on his game or being in the moment – not focused on external outcome. Example; He quickly reviews his preparation to the ball, body movement, balance and follow-through after he missed the shot to see how it felt and will examine what minor adjustments he might do next time to bring the shot in the court This is process thinking.. Searching inward examining your body movement and feeling how you are performing and Not letting emotion dominate the outcome.

The same fact causes different emotional reactions and brain chemistry depending upon your thought process.

If you train your mind to be process oriented, you can start focusing on how you feel and develop the ability to stay relaxed (no negative emotion to make you tense) feel your way into the zone and maintain it. The greater your mechanical ability, the better your outcomes will be when you are in the zone. (That’s where hitting a lot of balls in practice come in)

This is how Roger Federer plays exceptional tennis. He has excellent mechanical skills (from practice) and anticipates being able to play in the zone during a tournament. He is not concerned with the outcome. His primary concern is to enter the zone because he expects the outcome to be there when he d