Energy
Energy is everything, and everything is energy. What we discuss here applies to every sport, everyone and every aspect of life. There is no task or challenge in life that cannot be conquered by those who manage their energy. In the psychophysics of tennis, Energy is where psychology and physics meet. It is, therefore, the most fundamental of fundamentals.
It took me nearly half a century to find the source of energy in tennis and bend it to my will. As per usual, its source was hidden beneath a mighty paradox; anxiety is energy. The thing we most fear in tennis - which is fear itself - is the key to success in the sport and just about everything else. Studies of arousal and performance have shown that the best way to improve performance on any complex, anxiety-provoking task is not to try to reduce your level of arousal but instead to embrace it and convince yourself that you are actually excited, not anxious- a process called "emotional reappraisal". Every time you have told yourself to "Keep calm and carry on!", "...chill out!", "...relax!", or "...calm down!" to stop hitting balls over the backstop you were probably going the wrong way. According to researchers you would have had better results telling yourself "I just can't wait to learn how I will fail to live up to my own expectations!"or"I am so excited for this severe threat looming on the horizon!" Anxiety and excitement are two sides of the same coin: arousal. Arousal is absolutely necessary for high-level performance. Without it, you feel logy, lazy, sloppy and slow. Adrenaline, the principal hormone secreted in both anxiety and excitement, increases alertness, shortens reaction time and increases strength and quickness.
So what is the apparent difference between anxiety and excitement? It is control. When you are anxious, you feel breathless, dizzy, tired and disoriented. Any attempt to "come down" leads to depression and near shut-down. We are programmed to feel anxiety when a perceived insurmountable threat is looming. It is an all-out, no-holds-barred reaction and has virtually no place in civilized society much less on a tennis court. There is nothing to be afraid of. It is, after all, only a game. Excitement, on the other hand, is a type of arousal that we cultivate and enjoy. It is what children feel when they play. It is never more or less intense than we need it to be. Excitement is, therefore, the ultimate tool for victory. Without it, you won't do what you have to do to perform. You will go flat-footed, prepare late, fail to anticipate and hesitate to do those things you know how to do. Insufficient arousal causes that feeling of real laziness, clumsiness, paralysis and slowness that typifies the "walkabout" state that we all fall into from time to time.
Tapping In
So how does it feel when you have achieved optimum arousal? Time slows down. Note that I didn't say it seems to slow down - it actually slows down. Everything - the ball, your opponent, the game - all move in slow motion. Meanwhile, you are moving at normal speed; getting to the ball early, getting your racket back in plenty of time, taking full, smooth strokes, contacting the ball in the center of the racket and handling balls that normally get by you. You also feel a peaceful sensation of control and power. Most importantly you feel deep pleasure just to be playing the game and, win or lose; you feel you are playing up to your potential.
If this all sounds very familiar to you it is because this state of play is not new. One of the most important talents held by the talented is the ability to find their optimum state of arousal quickly and consistently. This desirable state of being goes by many names, but the most popular is the Zone. We have all experienced occasional visits to the Zone, albeit brief, but only a few fortunate individuals make a home there. Talented athletes are born in the Zone - the rest of us are just tourists. We occasionally get close enough to briefly taste of life in the Zone and then have to come home to our own, squalid, pathetic games and can only dream of getting back to that state of transcendence and bliss. The question we keep asking ourselves is how do we mortals get into the Zone and stay there.
The solution is eerily easy. We merely embrace the arousal that arises naturally from competition and then recast our negative attitude towards it to a positive one. First, we must realize that whenever we feel any arousal in tennis, we are conditioned to interpret the sensation pejoratively as the product of fear and anxiety. This pessimistic appraisal represents the prey aspect of our predator-prey dual nature. When the hairs stick up on the back of your neck, you immediately look around for a saber-toothed tiger in the weeds. This reaction was essential for survival 10,000 years ago when there were many more mortal threats then there were compelling opportunities for advancement. Once the Neanderthals had diligently searched the horizon for all of the possible threats, they could then turn to the possibility that they might be feeling optimistic about something - perhaps a tasty and not-too-fetid wilder-beast corpse.