The Inner Game of Tennis Summary - With Notes and Highlights
A practical guide to master your mental game and competitive performance. Including techniques, recommendations, and a full summary of the book.
Products featured here are from partners that compensate us. This may influence which products we write about and how the product appears on a page. However this does not influence our evaluations and opinions.
🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences
Mastering one’s game requires maximum mental and physical effort. It means determination, concentration, and trusting your body to let it happen. Don't worry about winning or losing, but whether you are making the maximum effort during every point.
🎨 Impressions
The Inner Game of Tennis is a practical guide for getting the most out of your mental training, and your competitive performance. It helped me realize that we play to overcome ourselves and explore our hidden skills. In true competition no person is defeated, both players benefit the most from the obstacles presented by each other.
✍️ The Inner Game of Tennis Quotes
“Those who win are those who can keep their head while everyone is losing theirs”.
“Sport is a process of self-discovery that makes its own contribution to the whole as we learn to make the simplest basic contribution to ourselves”.
“A man is a thinking reed, but his greatest works are done when he is not thinking or calculating”.
🧭 How I Discovered It
The book came out to me mid-COVID-19 pandemic. I was looking for a means to finally overcome my performance anxiety.
👤 Who Should Read It?
The Inner Game of Tennis is definitely for athletes who are looking to optimize their mental toughness, confidence, and discover what sport means to them.
👶🏻 Young Athletes - people who recently started into the competitive side of sports.
🏋️♂️ Elite Athletes - long-time athletes who want to reach new heights of performance.
☘️ How the Book Changed Me
I used to put so much pressure on myself to try to win. Truly, I can’t control the outcome of the match, but I can control the effort that I put into every point.
I understood that losing and taking risks are essential to the growth of an athlete. Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.
I now enjoy competing against tough opponents rather than being scared about them. Embracing big waves and obstacles to get the most learning and experience.
📒 Summary + Notes
Relaxed concentration is above all other skills. It is the true basis for self-confidence. The secret is not trying hard, but making no effort at all.
1. 🔥 The Zone
“It’s not that I don’t know what to do, it’s that I don’t do what I know!” Sounds familiar? This is perhaps the most common problem in sportsmen, and it originates from trying too hard. Overthinking, self-judgement, and too much instruction kill your ability to play your best game.
It is through relaxed concentration that one truly enters the mental space known in the sports community as the “zone.” Reflect on players who are said to be “crazy”, “on a streak” and “out of their mind.” Are these players thinking about how they should hit each shot? Are they thinking at all?
2. 🔎 The Discovery of the Two Selves
Most players are talking to themselves on the court all the time. “Keep your eyes on the ball”, “bend your knees.” The commands are countless. It usually goes like this too: You clumsy f*$* your grandmother could make that shot. “I’m talking to myself,” say most people. But just who is this “I” and who the “myself”?
Obviously, the “I” and the “myself” are separate entities or there would be no conversation, so one could say that within each player there are two “selves.” One, the “I,” seems to give instructions; the other, “myself,” seems to perform the action. For clarity let’s call the “teller” Self 1 and the “doer” Self 2.
The relationship between Self 1 and Self 2
Self 1 and Self 2 are in constant conversation, and Self 1 loves to be the one who gives instructions. “Okay, dammit, keep your stupid wrist firm,” he orders. How do you think that Self 2 feels? It seems that Self 1 thinks Self 2 doesn’t hear well, has a short memory, or is stupid.
The truth is, of course, that Self 2, which includes the unconscious mind and nervous system, hears everything, never forgets anything, and is anything but stupid. After hitting the ball firmly once, it knows forever which muscles to contract to do it again. That’s its nature. Self 2 is always with you, it is your friend and best ally in your athletic journey.
3. 🧘 Internal Skills
Trying too hard results in negative outcomes, and it happens when Self 1 tries to take control of your thoughts, movements, and execution. However, it is when we let Self 2 do its own thing that successful experiences happen. It is extremely talented.
Getting it together mentally then involves balancing the two selves inside your mind, and in the pursuit of this mental state an athlete needs to learn how to:
Get the clearest possible outcome and picture — learn from mental images, not from words.
Trust Self 2 to perform at its best — learn from both successes and failures.
See “non-judgmentally”— that is, just be an observer, and don't think about how well or how badly it is happening.
4. 🤫 Quieting Self 1
To be in the zone, you must not think about the zone. Paradoxically, calculation creates miscalculation. When you allow Self 1 to judge your natural talent, the harder it is for Self 2 to use its potential. Quieting Self 1 means then to let go of judgment. Less thinking, calculating, fearing, controlling, and regretting.
Embrace your mistakes and celebrate them! Relaxation improves your technique and errors are just part of the learning process. Genuinely accept your abilities as they are, and allow the changing process to begin.
⚠️BE CAREFUL⚠️
Self 1 gets enamoured with formulas. There are no plans that work 100% percent. Life is unpredictable. Allow Self 2 to guide you towards the flow of natural learning, as it emerges from within.
5. 🙈 Trusting Self 2
To understand the nature of Self 2 and its origins, we must look back to our childhood. As youngsters, we possess what’s called a natural learning process. Without much effort, we acquire new skills by simply trusting ourselves. After all, did we need to read a book to learn how to walk or talk?
This is Self 2’s superpower: effortless learning. It is a subconscious body that keeps a record of every outcome, good or bad. It stores experiences, thoughts, and emotions, and accesses them when a similar situation happens again. Every time we hit the ball. Self 2 is picking up information for future use.
To maximize Self 2's talent and potential, we must achieve balance. Forget about Self 1 and its instructions. There are no manuals for perfecting your strokes. Instead, absorb the images before you, and let your instincts guide you. It is Self 1's mistrust that interferes with our natural learning processes.
Support and build your Self 2, help it get stronger. Abandon the fear to lose, and go all out. It is caring yet not caring. Effortless total concentration.
6. 🥋 The Art of Relaxed Concentration
To still the mind, one must learn to put it somewhere. It cannot be just let go, it must be focused and kept in the here and now. The greatest lapses of concentration occur when the allow our mind to project on the future or past.
Remember that natural focus occurs when the mind is interested. Our minds love to be entertained and have fun. Discover what interests your mind the most. Challenge yourself, and consciously direct your focus until you are able to maintain it unconsciously. It's a transition from thinking to not thinking.
The secret is not thinking. That is not being stupid, but having the ultimate ability to discipline your mind so it doesn't interfere with what your body has been trained to do.
Sources of focus can be:
Your breath — The rhythm of breathing absorbs the mind. Slowing down your breathing can help center your mind and improve your focus.
The ball or your opponent in motion — The movement of objects can be intriguing to the mind, and serve as a valuable point of focus.
Sounds and feeling — Paying attention to sounds and sensations can help enhance your movements and overall performance.
Find what interests you the most, and give it your undivided attention. You'll learn to quiet your mind and perform much better.
7. 💡 The Inner Game of Tennis
We live in a world where people qualify performance with self-worth. But love and respect don't depend on winning. A score doesn't define you nor make you less or better than someone else. It is just a score.
When competition is used to create a self-image compared to others is that the worse of a competitor comes out. Instead, appreciate your opponents for doing their best, so that you may become your best.
The true value of an opponent is having someone who is there to put in the time and effort to bring your true potential. Only by playing the role of your greatest fears and your enemy is that an opponent becomes your friend. It is your sacred duty to create the greatest difficulties for them as they do for you.
It is the obstacles that help you manifest your greatest powers. The greater the obstacles, the higher the opportunity to discover yourself. Although your potential always resides within you, it remains hidden until you take real action.
Thus, the inner game is not showing the world how great you are but discovering your greatest capacities. Winning is merely a result of overcoming obstacles and reaching your goals, and the process is more rewarding than the victory itself.
Reflect on what is you really want from the game and what makes you happy. It could be overcoming the fear. Trying new moves and being creative. Testing your abilities and bringing your body to the limit. Whatever it is, discover it out of ego and judgment. And if there is an existence of such an inner game, play to win!
Works cited
This booked changed my perspective of sport and reading it was the first step towards controlling my nerves before competitions. I encourage you to read the full-version and get the most out of it! You can purchase it using the link below.