Yoga and Tennis

Yoga and Tennis

As a long-time tennis player and, more recently, yoga devotee, I am interested in exploring the connections between these two exercises.

Andy Murray strikes a pose similar to Warrior III at this year's Australian Open.

Because tennis is so damned lonely.

"Tennis is the sport in which you talk to yourself. No athletes talk to themselves like tennis players. Pitchers, golfers, goalkeepers, they mutter to themselves, of course, but tennis players talk to themselves — and answer. In the heat of a match, tennis players look like lunatics in a public square, ranting and swearing and conducting Lincoln-Douglas debates with their alter egos. Why? Because tennis is so damned lonely. Only boxers can understand the loneliness of tennis players — and yet boxers have their corner men and managers. Even a boxer's opponent provides a kind of companionship, someone he can grapple with and grunt at. In tennis you stand face-to-face with the enemy, trade blows with him, but never touch him or talk to him, or anyone else. The rules forbid a tennis player from even talking to his coach while on the court. People sometimes mention the track-and-field runner as a comparably lonely figure, but I have to laugh. At least the runner can feel and smell his opponents. They're inches away. In tennis you're on an island." Andre Agassi 'Opens' Up About Life, Tennis, NPR

one game and another

When I picked up yoga, I expected to be struck by its many differences from tennis, my sport of many years. I did find, of course, that yoga had many unique points.  I'm stating the obvious when I point to differences such as the fact that yoga is not as game and, therefore, there's no opponent, scoring, or winner. Yet, alongside such expected differences, I found unanticipated commonalities.

Both activities require agility and flexibility.

Both activities are, at once, communal and individual.

Both activities, done well, are as much mental exercises as physical ones.

I look forward, with your help, to dip into their convergences further.

Until her body started breaking down

By Adrienne Fawcett 

via gazebonews.typepad.com

Mindfulness and Acceptance

Most yoga courses feature some discussion of mindfulness, meditation, or buddhist teachings.  A typical blessing at the end of a course is "May all being have happiness..." During class, teachers often encourage students, don't push yourself too hard, honor where your body is today, stay at your limit, let go of any competitions with yourself or others, and so on...

In a competitve sport like tennis, however, such lessons of acceptance and equanimity are not the default.  When I think of teaching a skill sport, the focus is more on technique and repetition.

The Jan/Feb issue of Tennis Magazine promises, "New Year, New You!" Smaller headlines promises technical instruction to improve your game: "The 10 Shots That Matter Most: Master Them All" and "Six Steps to a More Powerful Backhand."

Reading this issue, I was pleased and encouraged to find that alongside some technical tips, there were no less than three articles encouraging a more gentle, mindful approach to the game. 

In "Brain Power" (p.51), Allen Fox makes a case for the importance of mental stamina in match play: "We all have limited reserves of willpower, and we can only withstand stress and concentrate for so long... We all want to overwhelm our opponents with aces, winners and flashy volleys, but in tennis, as in life, the ideal is not the norm. next time you're in trouble on the court, try Plan B (the mental option) rather than panicking or going from broke. You might like it so much that it becomes Plan A."

Chris Evert's "The Pressure Principle"

Tennis Magazine, Jan/Feb 2011, p. 4.

1. admit you have a problem: "you have to take your ego out of it, and simply face that you are a nervous wreck."

2. "you have to recognize what those nerves are doing to your body (passive serving? poor strokes? lead feet?) "Only by identifying what effects pressure has on you will you be able to negate them"

3. Don't overcorrect: "play well within yourself to limit mistakes caused by pressure."

4. "look positive. You'd be surprised what body language can do... do it enough times and you may fool yourself into believing it too."

"if you can learn to control the pressure instead of it controlling you this could indeed turn out to be your best year yet."

The Mental Game

In the last of three(!) articles in Tennis Magazine emphasizing the mental aspect of tennis over form, Nick Bollettieri emphasizes the following principles:

1. Be steady. [consistency is key. don't put too much pressure on yourself to improve your weaker strokes. just focus on playing the game that you do have]

2. Get in shape. [poor shot selection is often the result of not having the fitness to execute the smartest strategy]

3. Do what you do best [trust your best shots and go for them. don't be timid or conservative with your greatest strengths]

4. Play, don't pray [Stay mentally engaged. Make things happen on the court, rather than hope that your opponent misses]

5. Have an attitude. [All physical skills being equal, you need a mental edge to win a tennis match].

Never Too Old

I've taken a couple formal lessons recently, not in yoga (which I've only practiced for about a year) but tennis (which I've played for 20+ years).  The experience has been humbling, and great.

Through yoga, I've learned how to pay more attention to my body at rest and in certain poses.

The translation to tennis has often felt more smooth than I had expected. Most young men don't do things like dance or take gymnastics classes (and I was no exception there).  We do, however, many physical things like baseball, and basketball, and football, etc. (I was no exception there, either).  The result is that I was very familiar with activity and sports, but hardly aware of the kinds of bodily activity that cultivate a sense of awareness and stillness.  In other words, a cultivation of form.

to be continued...

The Serve as a Yoga Pose

I know I am not alone in having problems with my serve above the other tennis strokes.

It has been a baffling experience to have more trouble with this shot, which should be the most 'controlled.'

I've started trying to consider the serve a yoga pose and see if this reframing improves my shot.

So far, along with breaking the serve down into its essential compenents.

In order, I...

0. Establish grip. Commit to staying only on your side of the court.

1. Hold ball and try to avoid hitting w/ racquet.

2. Set up feet, lean slightly forward, and bounce ball three times.

3. After the third bound catch with the palm up.

4. Rest on the back foot and place the ball on the racquet, where it will be struck soon.

5. Toss the ball above the head or slightly in front.

6. Twist backward, moving your butt towards the ground until you feel a twinge there.

7. See the ball where you wish to hit it and strike at its peak.

8. Swing true, through the upper-right quandrant of the ball, flicking your wrist and shoulder over as in a baseball throw.

9. Follow through across the body, aiming to the opposite side of the court.

For the slice, or second serve,

0. Establish grip. Commit to staying only on your side of the court.

1. Hold ball and try to avoid hitting w/ racquet.

2. Set up feet, lean slightly forward, and bounce ball three times.

3. After the third bound catch with the palm up.

4. Rest on the back foot and place the ball on the racquet, where it will be struck soon.

5. Toss the ball slightly in front.

6. Slice across the side of the ball.

7. Listen for the whooshing figure eight.  Swinging harder and more downward also tends to result in more consistency.

middle_ground

In a revealing passage of OPEN, Andre Agassi writes that the challenge of tennis is to play in a middle-range where you are putting enough pressure on your opponent to make it difficult, but not trying to apply such pressure that you are committing errors.  It is far easier to err on one side of this equation-- to play either defensive or offensive tennis.  It is such a challenge to play both, as appropriate.

Case in point-- I've made a considered effort in the past couple years to play more relaxed.  I'm normally too warmed up and enjoyed running around more than is neccessary to play good tennis.  To address this, I cut out my warm-up routine and focused on playing calm & steady tennis rather than over-excited tennis.  This has gone well.  But now I notice I have a tendency to zone-out and notice the trees blowing beside the court or relax and not prepare the lower-half of my body. 

I'm trying to swing the pendulum back to the middle again . . .