The Joy of Tennis

by Karen
(Hockessin, DE, USA)

I started late (age 35) to learn the game of tennis but have been playing for a while now. I take clinics and lessons and have the basics down well enough to play competitive 3.5 tennis.

I realized that I needed to work on the mental part of my game so I went online and found the TennisMindGame site.

I signed up for the newsletter, read all the back articles and went out the next times I played with only one strategy: get back the joy that I experienced when I first started to play. I did not worry about anything except playing and having fun.

The first time was a round robin format with 3 women I really enjoy playing with but it was - no question - a competitive situation.

My first partner and I were making errors left and right, down 2-5 but I kept laughing and encouraging my partner(and myself). We ended up winning the set 7-5.

We switched around and my second partner and I were also struggling in the beginning, but as before I allowed myself and my partner to make errors while still thinking of the situation as a competitive match. We also came back to win.

The third woman (who happened to be one of my opponents for the first 2 sets - up both times only to lose in the end) was now paired with me.

I had watched how she got tight trying to close out the first two sets and how that interfered with her game. We only had 15 minutes but we were ahead when time was called, using that same relaxed but focused strategy.

That match made me realize that if you can allow yourself to play with joy and relaxation, allow the mistakes that everyone makes while staying focused and hitting with purpose the results will take care of themselves.

I had 2 competitive matches after that, a women's doubles league and a mixed doubles USTA match.

I applied the same strategy to those situations and both times I played so much better by relaxing and enjoying the game of tennis...

And yes, I came out with wins both times.