Getting in the Zone Versus Over Thinking the Match

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How do you get in the zone when you play matches and perform on autopilot? Hi, I hi, I'm Dr. Patrick Cohn for the Tennis Psychology Podcast session number 80. And today I answer a question from a player about getting into the zone and performing on autopilot or feel versus trying to overthink the match. Here's our question.

How can I stay in the zone and play as if I'm on autopilot? I heard that I should not think and just play with feel instead. Improve your mental game quickly by visiting sportspsychologytennis.com today and claim a free tennis psychology report titled Six Unforced Mental Game Errors Tennis Players Make Between Points.

There's a bit of a misconception about performing in the zone that's going around that you can just snap your fingers and get into the zone magically or mythically. And first of all, I'd like to say that the zone is probably overrated. It's overrated because how often can you really play in the zone? Even the top athletes in the world, they might play in the zone for one tournament or one round and then lose it. So you're constantly making adjustments as an athlete and playing somewhere between poor to good and really, you can't be in the zone consistently or all the time. Now you can set up the conditions or the foundations for getting into the zone with a proper mental game like I teach in tennis. Confidence Mental Toughness for Tournament Players. That's my new CD and workbook program for tournament tennis players. How do you set up the conditions to get in the zone? Well, well, you want to be focused, confident, composed and have trust in your game. The other part of your question is relating to how do you shut off the conscious mind, the overactive mind, and just play tennis? That's a great question. And Tim Galloway in the Inner Game of Tennis, which he wrote in the mid-70s, really addressed that particular question and is what he found out as a tennis instructor is if you reduce the amount of conscious control of thought processes and allow yourself to just react, you're going to perform better in that situation. So I think that's what you're talking about. Tim Galloway talks about Self 1 and Self 2. Self 1 is the overactive mind. Self 2 is the creative. Just do it. Mind what he postulated is if you give self one a task to do, like bounce, hit something to occupy the conscious mind that allows the body or the creative part of the mind to just do it. So your question about playing more on feel is correct or it's in the right direction. But you might not be a feel player per se. You might be more of a visual player, for example. But in any event, yes, one of the things that you want to do is have full trust in your skills, the ones that you've practiced week in and week out when you go and perform. So less is always better. When it's time for playing a match, you're not thinking about nothing though. It's not a zero sum type of a thought focus where you're just trying to blank out in that situation. Instead, you're focused on one or two small objectives. It could be being aggressive, it could be your tactics, for example, it could be maybe taking the ball early or pushing your opponent back. But typically you do have one or two small objectives. The key point to your question is how do you let go of all that trying and conscious intervention that the mind wants to get involved in? The key is to use images rather than verbal commands. In other words, see the point in your mind, see the serve in your mind, and try to react to the images that you have in your mind. If you call that playing by feel, then great. You certainly want to go out there and play by feel. But bottom line is you have to trust in your strokes. Become a performer and an athlete by reacting to the ball and allowing your performance to flow from your tactics and your strategy instead of trying to overthink everything. Thanks for the question and good luck with your game.

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