Being the Ball
I have been commanded to "Watch the ball!" at least 10 thousand times. And while I am annoyed every time I hear that phrase, I nonetheless understand the generous spirit that motivates it's utterance and my own complicity. I do have an unfortunate tendency to shank, frame, or flag the ball, and some of my misses are, shall we say, unusual for a sighted person. But I have always felt that I assiduously look at the ball when I am playing - if only to avoid in the face. But then what do all of these well-meaning buttinskies really mean when they suggested that I should 'watch the ball'? Must I look into the ball's soul? Divine its intentions? Asses its needs? Yes, yes and yes.
Simply pointing your eyes at the ball does nothing to prevent errors. Most of us cannot actually focus on an object for more than a few seconds. Try it right now with any random object in the room! Back already? How long did you stare at it before curiosity dragged your eyes back to the page. Visual inattention is actually normal. Most of us live the greatest part of our lives inside our own heads, and if you are preoccupied with your own thoughts you tend not to see that which is right in front of you. Talentoids are different. They tend to live in, look at, and react to the world around them. A moving, yellow ball seizes and incarcerates their attention. Their eyes lock on the ball, follow it where ever it goes, and even allow it direct control over parts of their brains. This last is the most important. Talented players do not pre-plan the stroke they are about to hit; they wait for the ball to come and allow the speed, spin and flight path of the ball to dictate their response to it. Contrast this with what the rest of us generally do: Imagine that you are standing there waiting for a serve and thinking; "I should lob this one over the net-person's head. Yes, they are standing too close to the net so they won't be able to reach the overhead. If they should happen to ... Hey! What's that yellow thing coming at me? Why is it going to my backhand? My backhand lob isn't very strong, so perhaps I should try a drop ... Whoops! Too late! Panic time! Feet in cement! Where's the ball? "
Ideally, the behavior of the incoming ball should dictate which of the many strokes you own you will use to handle it. That decision should be made by the part of the brain that is responsible for memorizing and playing back strokes - the thalamus - so why not connect your thalamus to the ball though your eyes without allowing the cortex, and the troubling ego that dwells within, to interfere? The result would be a response that is astoundingly quick, always appropriate, and completely uncorrupted by cortical negativity.
So, how does one learn to asses each incoming ball, predict its behavior, and respond to it appropriately and in time? First, one learns and practices Transcendental Meditation (TM) to achieve mindfulness. Being not a Buddhist monk, I know virtually nothing about TM - except how to use it to vastly improve performance in virtually any endeavor, including Tennis.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness in tennis is the state of playing outside of your head. After all, outside of your head is where the game is actually being played. The first benefit of mindfullness is its ability to sideline your ego. Your ego doesn't play tennis. It's only contribution to your game is to force you to obsesses over the threat of committing errors and embarrassing yourself. Since it has no tennis skills, its participation is merely a distraction that promotes both errors and embarrassment. If you had an ego switch you would certainly turn it off well before the start of a match, but regrettably that is not so easy. Your ego believes that it is your Great Protector: the only part of your mind that stands between you and your complete humiliation. You need to turn your back on your ego and quit listening to its advice, complaints, and critiques. Mindfulness is the state of living in the moment without judgment. The keys to achieving mindfulness are awareness and acceptance - specifically awareness of the approaching tennis ball and acceptance of the very real possibility that you will shamefully mishandle it and be marked a pathetic klutz.
To enter the mindful state you must first open a portal into the world and then create a direct connection between the world and that part of the brain-pan responsible for dealing with it. Your eyes are the portal, the world is the ball, and the thalamus is the part of the brain that deals with troublesome moving objects. Importantly, this connection must completely bypass the ego, lest your ego-self chime in with all kinds of useful info, such as; "Watch out, looks like some spin on that ball! You know you aren't so adept at dealing with spin! Maybe you had better hold off preparing and watch it for a bit to see which way it bounces! Just keep your feet quiet, and don't start the backswing in case it kicks across your body! Look, its taking a kind of funny bounce! I told you! I am always right! Look at you trying to react to it! You are soooo slow! You are such a bad tennis player! Why do you insist on playing this sport!? Maybe golf would be a better choice for you!".
Applying TM to Tennis
The first step to opening a connection from the ball to the thalamus is to train your eyes. As you are waiting to return a serve, pick a convenient object behind your opponent and stare at it. Thats it. Don't take your eyes off of the object until you see the ball go up into the toss, then switch your gaze to the ball. From that moment on, your eyes must be locked on the ball till the point is over. Your mind must be totally 'blank' before, during and after the point. Don't look for interesting objects to stare at - the more boring an object is the better suited it is for clearing the mind. When you fix on a random object you are attempting to accomplish two objectives. First you want to train your eyes to fix on a single, real world object. This is hard for most of us. Our eyes are always flitting around looking for something interesting, or staring blankly out into space as we languish inside our own heads being entertained by our egos' constant yammering. Neither of these is acceptable for sports, so the 'eye-training' component of TM is particularly useful. You will get better at fixing your gaze on the ball as you practice this, but you will never, I repeat NEVER, be able to just relax and trust yourself to 'watch the ball' without the discipline of picking a spot to stare at before the point.
The second step is to put your ego, aka your conscious mind, completely to sleep. Like a baby, you can't get it to sleep by yelling "GO TO SLEEP!!" at it. You must bore it to sleep. That is why you must pick something boring to stare at before each point. The very act of staring at a paint splotch on the wall for some length of time assures the ego that there is 'Nothing to worry about.' Early in your exploration of TM you may notice that it works really well on the first ball of a rally, but as the rally wears on your eyes start to wander and you revert back to engaging your ego in inner dialogues. Floaters are also dangerous. The hours it takes for the ball to meander its way into your strike zone seem like the perfect time to start a casual conversation with your ego about the weather, upcoming engagments, or just how hard your ego wants you to smash this pathetic, wounded tweety bird. Actually the very few seconds between your brain's instantaneous decision of how you should handlethe ball and the moment you strike it are a perfect interval to clear your mind completely and let your thalamus shine. Practice is the key. Even Buddhist and Hindu Masters never actually 'master' their egos: They practice TM assiduously, and so must you if you wish to reap the benefits of this powerful technique.Payoff
TM is a lot of work. The benefits, however, are immediate, durable and profound. Once you let the ball control your brain directly, the ball's comings and goings, personality quirks, and misbehaviors inform and motivate your actions on court. You will discover your fast first step, quick hands, rock-solid balance, and ineffable composure. You will play with power, control, and sheer joy. Your ego will be miffed, having been rudely ejected from the game. But you can always mollify your ego by permitting it to falsly claim claim credit for your victories.
