The Inner Game of Tennis: The classic guide to the mental side of peak performance
W Timothy Gallweyamazon.com
The Inner Game of Tennis: The classic guide to the mental side of peak performance
You could think of it as throwing tennis balls into a trash can from ten feet away. Imagine that I gave you three tennis balls and told you to throw them one at a time into a trash can ten feet away. The most productive way to perform the task is something like this: You pick up a tennis ball, look at the trash can, and toss the first ball. If the
... See moreThomas M. Sterner • The Practicing Mind
Days after a quarterfinal loss in the 2010 French Open, Novak Djokovic told his coach, Marián Vajda, that he had decided to quit playing tennis. He was No. 3 in the world, a grand slam winner, and a favorite to win Wimbledon. After Djokovic said he was quitting, Vajda asked, “Why did you start playing this sport?” Vajda immediately sensed what the
... See moreThe point of the analogy is that the ball itself, though central to the game and apparently the focus of everyone’s attention, is actually indifferent—meaning that it could take a variety of colors and shapes, be made of different materials, or be of different sizes, but it isn’t valuable in itself. The ball is only a means to an end and isn’t the
... See moreMassimo Pigliucci • How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life
Everyone at a high level has a huge amount of chess understanding, and much of what separates the great from the very good is deep presence, relaxation of the conscious mind, which allows the unconscious to flow unhindered. This is a nuanced and largely misunderstood state of mind that when refined involves a subtle reintegration of the conscious m
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