Yepp, that’s me after an intense 1hr tennis session in a recreation club in Chennai
(I’m not a poser, so ignore my sweaty face :p)
Tennis changed my life.
My mindset.
My approach to life.
Here are the top 6 things I learnt from the sport –
#1 Take baby steps -> focus on the next point
1 point can change the whole game.
Bring the momentum back in your favour.
You could be losing the whole match and “boom” suddenly things flip after a single point.
There is a saying in tennis.
“Focus on your next point & next point only, not the match”
I couldn’t agree more.
Very early in the game, once you start playing, you realize how true this statement is.
Take baby steps to win the match.
Point by point.
#2 Focus on your inner game
There are 2 minds
– conscious mind (this is the active mind that does the actual work)
– unconscious mind (this is the part of the mind that raises self doubt)
You see 2 people on the court playing singles
I see 4 people (including their inner minds)
The more you learn to silence your unconscious mind -> the more you win.
By silencing the unconscious mind, you let go of all judgements
By doing this, thinking stops and action takes over
#3 You can learn from anyone
I will never forget my first match.
Ajay, my opponent was 10 years old. The smallest kid in the club.
(probably the racket was much heavier than his weight)
Well, he CRUSHED me guys.
When I mean crushed, I mean destroyed
I lost all 3 sets
My “ego” got hurt. I just couldn’t accept it
He has been practicing tennis since he was 6 (that’s more than 4 years in the game)
I started watching him play
Oh boy, it was a treat to see him play. His form. His rhythm.
So much to learn from him.
Very soon, I became one of his biggest fans 🙂
#4 Team effort is ridiculously powerful
Well, the most annoying part of the game.
Is collecting the balls in the court after a ball feeding session.
I hate this part.
A basket can hold roughly about 150 balls.
If you start collecting them, it takes about 10mts to complete the task.
You do this same activity with 5 folks.
You can complete it in less than 2mts and you don’t even realize the effort.
Team effort >>> solo effort
You can not just move quicker.
The process just gets hella fun.
#5 It’s okay to lose
Losing sucks.
No one likes to lose.
But it’s really not about losing / failing.
It’s about what you learn from every single failure and course correct along the way.
Federer didn’t get to #1 without losing.
#6 Get your basics right
3 months into the sport, I wanted to “up” my game.
Something was wrong.
I could tell it.
Hired a coach and learnt that I had mastered some bad techniques very early in my training.
I was not supporting my forehand stroke with a follow-through
My serve swing movement was wrong
Phewwwwww! It took me a lot of time to unlearn the bad techniques and re-learn the right way of doing it
It’s always the basics that is important in any art form
Brush up your basics!
Evolving perceptions 