Introduction

The problems which most perplex tennis players are not those dealing with the proper way to swing a racket. Books and professionals are giving this information abound. Nor do most players complain excessively about physical limitations. The most common complaint of sportsmen ringing down the corridors of the ages is, "It's not that I don't know what to do, it's that I don't do what I know!" Other common complaints that constantly come to the attention of the tennis pro:

When I'm practicing, I play very well, but when I get into a match. I fall apart.

I know exactly what I'm doing wrong on my forehand, one just can't seem to break the habit.

When I'm really trying hard to do the stroke the way it says to in the book. I flub the shot every time. When I concentrate on one thing I'm supposed to be doing, I forget something else. Every time I get near match point against a good player, I get so nervous I lose my concentration.

I'm my own worst enemy; I usually beat myself.

Most players of any sport run into these or similar difficulties all the time, yet there are few professionals and fewer books that deal with the mental side of sports with any depth of insight. The player is usually left with such warmed-over aphorisms as, "Well, tennis is a very psychological game, and you have to develop the proper mental attitudes. You have to

be confident and possess the will to win or else you'll always be a loser'. But how can one "be confident" or develop the "proper mental attitudes"? These questions are usually left unanswered.

So there seems to be room for comment on the improvement of the mental processes which translate the knowledge of how to hit a ball into the corresponding bodily action. How to develop the mental skills, without which high performance is impossible, is the subject of The Inner Game of Tennis.