This guest post is by Don Macpherson. Don is a UK based mind coach who has been involved with sports personalities for more than 22 years. Over the years Don has worked with all sorts of athletes including Tennis Grand Slam winners, Ryder Cup Golfers, Premier League soccer players and Formula One Champions. He’s one of the best at what he does.

Top tennis players in the world don’t just accidentally get into the zone (or “flow” as some call it). Professionals all take specific steps to enter their zone. This starts well before walking on the court by preparing their bodies (proper sleep, good diet, hydration, etc.) and is followed by getting their mind right (visualisation, meditation, routines, etc.). This is true not only for top tennis players but for professionals of all types.

So assuming you’ve taken care of preparing your body what can you do mentally to enter the zone? Here are 5 steps from Don that’ll show you how.

Keep in mind that this technique is applicable for any situation that requires you to focus and perform at your best. Simply modify what you’re visualising to suit your circumstance. Enjoy…

The 5 steps that’ll help you enter the zone

The easiest and fastest way to enter your zone or flow state is to follow this five step process:

• Step 1: Find a quiet place and get as comfortable as possible. Relax and keep your body perfectly still.
• Step 2: Once comfortable and relaxed close your eyes, if it is safe to do so.
• Step 3: Turn your awareness to your breath, and slow it down. Make sure you are breathing diaphragmatically with your tummy going up as you breath in, and going down as you breathe out. Now make sure the out breaths are longer than the in breaths. Count to 3 as you breathe in, hold at the top, then breathe out slowly to 5,6,7. Take your time, never force a breath.
• Step 4: After just a few of these deep zen breaths you’ll feel calm and in control. Your muscles are soft and free from tension, your shoulders move freely and your legs feel light, fast and full of bounce.
• Step 5: Now visualise going on the court and playing dazzling wonderful winning tennis. Feeling the flow of just doing it without thinking. Everything in slow motion and yet so fast at the same time. You’re just gliding across the court. It feels effortless and yet you are playing wonderful tennis, your very best, because you are in your zone.

Now, lets see how this works in practice…

The zone in practice

You are playing a tough match, lost the first set and are now 1-4 down in the 2nd, and it’s a best of 3 set match. It’s only one break of serve but this score always mentally feels worse, because if your opponent holds serve its 1-5, so clearly you must do something about it now or this match could quickly be over.

What can you do?

Use the changeover time to access your Zone……your very best tennis. Put your towel over your head, and go through the 5 steps to enter your zone. Do exactly the same again on the next changeover.

Visualise doing what you have to do in order to break his serve, before holding your own serve. Really see it happening, use all your senses………then get up, grab your racket………and just do it. You are now in your Zone……here comes the best tennis you can play.

A Few More Tips and Benefits

Zen breathing plus positive visualisations are the two fastest ways of getting into your zone or a flow state. The combination is magical and it’s why top performers do it. This technique is also very effective at helping with and preventing mental fatigue.

You can use these 5 steps during every changeover in the match. You can use it to stay in the zone for long periods of time as well as reentry. Practice this mental skill as often as you can, it’s really powerful and will give you an edge over your opponent.

There are also other amazing thing about this fast track method to entering your flow state. Even if you don’t quite hit the sweet spot of your zone, you’ve still prepared yourself to play the best tennis you can no matter what the score is………and being the best you can be is all you, or anybody else, can ever ask for.

Even just having a crack at getting into your zone will prepare you to do the best you can whatever the circumstances, or the challenge you face.

You might also like…

• Control the Controllables – How to Beat Mental Fatigue
• 5 Steps To Master The Vital 7th Game
• How To Overcome & Prevent Mental Fatigue In 3 Steps

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Photo: Tennisace

It’s always interesting to hear the top tennis players give their opinion on the greatest forehands in the game. There are some incredible forehands out there and obviously Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer rate highly. And what about Juan Martin del Potro? However, in my opinion the greatest pound for pound forehand of modern times comes from Fernando Gonzalez. He could hit a winner from anywhere on the tennis court at any time. But his forehand wasn’t just a one dimensional flat power slap, it has a degree of fineness and versatility that’s rarely appreciated.

Fernando Gonzalez

When Fernando Gonzalez retired in 2012, the Chilean with the atomic forehand made the tennis circuit just a little less interesting. In a world of much the same type and style of tennis, Gonzalez stood out as a tennis player who’s forehand was so amazing he made me shake my head in amazement. He was a player I enjoyed watching.

One of the most thrilling tennis matches I have seen was watching Fernando Gonzalez play Andy Roddick on a cool Melbourne night at the Australian Open. Roddick was desperately trying to get the ball to the Gonzales backhand but just couldn’t get it there consistently. It was only Roddick’s powerful serve that got him through in the end. It was a great match and I remember laughing out loud after some of the ridiculous forehands Fernando Gonzalez was pulling off.

For essentially being a one trick pony, Fernando Gonzalez did incredibly well in his tennis career. A Grand Slam final and a top 10 ranking is an amazing achievement. So How did Gonzalez do it?

The Genius of Gonzalez

Fernando Gonzalez forged his forehand on the slippery clay as a junior. Realising his strengths early, he built the rest of his tennis game around his atomic bomb of a forehand. Instead of focusing on his weaknesses, Gonzalez focused on perfecting his forehand and footwork. His quick feet and speed enabled him to run around his backhand to hit a forehand from almost anywhere.

When Gonzalez had time his swing was big and round, other times when the ball was coming fast at him, he shortened the backswing. But whatever the swing, his biomechanically solid technique generated phenomenal racket speed which produced a superb amount of pace and spin when necessary.

Once Fernando Gonzalez had a weapon his opponents feared he turned his attention on fixing his backhand, the obvious weakness in his game. Over the course of his career, his backhand developed into a very solid shot. His strong backhand combined with his improved volleys quickly made him a real threat to the top players in the world.

Takeaway: Focus on Your Strength

The key takeaway from this is to focus on your strengths first. Develop your weapon of choice early and work on your weaknesses after. In other words, find what you’re already good at and double down on it. Remember, maximising your strength will, to a degree, compensate for your weakness.

Do a quick YouTube search and watch this beast of a in action and you’ll see why I think this is the best forehand in modern tennis. Am I exaggerating? Maybe a tad but only a tad:)

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This guest post is by Don Macpherson the Mindbender

Andy Murray played possibly his best ‘big’ Grand Slam match yet at the Australian Open last month. True he still lost, but he came very, very close to beating Novak Djokovich, and played well…..much better than in previous ‘big Slam matches’…..at the semi-final, or final stages.

How did Murray do it? Was he technically or biomechanically better? No, not really. Was it the Lendl factor? Well yes, it was, but not in the way you may think………

Mind Management

Andy Murray’s much improved performance was all about better mind management. This time he was able to control the ‘voice in his head’, his monkey mind, which prevented mental fatigue from setting in.

Monkey mind is what the Chinese call the chattering voice in your head…..the analytical, logical, thinking part of your mind. This voice is like a monkey swinging aimlessly from tree to tree in the jungle. This is your conscious mind. When you are playing your best tennis you are playing subconsciously, the voice in your head, the monkey, is quiet and under control……so now you can play your best tennis.

Against Rafael Nadal in the 2011 semi-final at Wimbledon, Andy Murray totally failed to control his monkey. This for sure cost him a place in the final and possibly a place in history as the first British Wimbledon Champion for thousands of years.

The Lendl Factor

Had Lendl given him a better serve, a winning forehand, a wonderful new backhand? No. Had he created a new mind management program so Murray no longer mentally imploded in big Slam games? No.

So what did Lendl do? The answer is…….nothing.  He just sat in the stadium, where Murray could see him. This was enough for Murray to be able to control his monkey mind, and have the correct mindset that allowed him to keep on playing the winning tennis everyone knows he is capable of.

The reason it was this simple is down to one thing……..respect. Murray was no longer shouting abuse at his ‘team of helpers’ up in the players box, he had too much respect for Lendl. This forced his monkey to behave.

The same thing happened whenever McEnroe played Borg…….there was none of the ‘you cannot be serious’ episodes because he had too much respect for the Swedish maestro. The difference is McEnroe was very unusual in that his monkey mind was not as destructive as Murray’s.

So, there you have it. As long as Lendl is present in the players box at the semi and final stages of Grand Slams, Andy Murray has a great chance of finally breaking his Slam hoodoo.

The lesson to all you competitive tennis players is…….control your monkey mind, or he will control you!

Don Macpherson is a UK based mind coach who has been involved with sports personalities for more than 22 years. He has appeared on television and radio several times for the BBC, and has been a regular contributor to various UK national newspapers such as the Sunday Times. Over the years Don has worked with all sorts of athletes including Tennis Grand Slam winners, Ryder Cup Golfers, Premier League soccer players and Formula One Champions. Visit his website to learn more.

This guest post is by Don Macpherson. Don is a UK based mind coach who has been involved with sports personalities for more than 22 years. He has appeared on television and radio for the BBC, and has been a regular contributor to various UK national newspapers such as the Sunday Times. Over the years Don has worked with all sorts of athletes including Tennis Grand Slam winners, Ryder Cup Golfers, Premier League soccer players and Formula One Champions.

It is said that tennis is mostly a mental game. Almost all the the top 100 players are fast, strong and have biomechanically sound technique. What separates one player from another at this level of tennis? The answer is mental toughness.

So what can the top tennis players such as Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic teach you about mental strength? Here is what Don has to say along with two incredibly simple tricks you can apply instantly to improve your focus. The great thing is that these two tips apply on and off the court. So even if you don’t play tennis you can still apply these principles to your daily life. Without further ado enter the mind of Don…

Physical and Mental Fatigue

If you have ever played a tennis match or watched a Grand Slam final, you know tennis can often be long and tiring. When your body gets tired it lets you know. Your legs feel heavy, muscles ache, joints twinge and you’re short of breath – so you adjust as best you can. This happens to everyone, even the best in the world.

However, unfortunately your brain tends to let you know what’s going on too late. Before you know it, you’re out of mental juice, and your concentration is on a downer. Suddenly you’re making mistakes that you were not making earlier in the match. Recognising when you are running low on mental energy is very difficult. This is where the best tennis players seem to have something extra that gives them an edge over their opponent.

Rather than dealing with mental fatigue once it sets in, players like Djokovic, Federer and Nadal do something else. They prevent mental fatigue from occurring in the first place.

Control the Controllables.

So how do you prevent mental fatigue from setting in? You may have heard the phrase “control the controllables”. Typical psycho-babble stuff. What does it actually mean though? Essentially it means knowing what is within your control and what is not. More on that in a little bit…

OK here is a two step exercise that will help combat mental fatigue:

1. First, make a list of the things you truly cannot control. Most are obvious such as the weather, bad line-calls, windy conditions, what your opponent is doing, cheating, etc… You may be surprised at how many things really are outside of your control.
2. Next, make a list of the things clearly under your control, such as your serve, what you are saying to yourself, what you are eating and drinking, time you spend between points, how you react when things don’t go to plan, etc…

Why Does This Work?

Simply making these two lists will raise your own awareness of what you can and cannot control. The key is to take full responsibility for what they are, and practice letting go of the things you are now aware you cannot control.

This is the best way of conserving valuable mental energy for more important things such as good concentration. So you are now making less errors….and winning more games, more sets and more matches….which will build your confidence and stroke the fire of self-belief.

This is one of the things that separate great athletes from the rest of the herd and allows them to focus even when they are physically exhausted.

Have fun….look after you brain and it will look after you!

You might also like…

• How to Overcome and Prevent Mental Fatigue in 3 Steps
• 5 Easy Steps to Enter Your Zone
• 5 Steps To Master The Vital 7th Game

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this post why not sign up for my newsletter. It’s where I share all my best content not found anywhere else. You’ll receive the occasional email packed with tennis tips, health & fitness exercises, gear recommendations and interviews with fascinating people I meet on my travels. Get access here.

I have had great success during my professional tennis career and I am very proud of my achievements. But how much more could I have accomplished if I was injury free? That is a question I have often asked myself. It’s a pointless question which we’ll never know the answer to. But this question sent me down a path of discovery that led me to Brad Langevad and the keys to improving my tennis while injury proofing my body.

Meet the Biomechanic.

Brad Langevad is a man of science. He has degrees in biochemistry, genetics and physiology and has one of the highest ever registered IQ’s in Australia. But more importantly, he’s a tennis player/coach who wants to help.

Brad has literally helped redesign my technique to prevent injury while increasing the power and accuracy of my shots. Without his help there is no way I would be able to compete on the ATP Champions Tour today. Brad opened my eyes to the secret world of tennis science and biomechanics.

Over the course of many years Brad has scientifically analysed, studied and interviewed hundreds of professional and amateur tennis players. What he found has defined much of modern coaching. He’s now compiled this coaching philosophy into a book now available to the general public.

The Biomechanics of Tennis.

This little known book is hands down the best book on tennis technique and biomechanics out there and I highly recommend you pick it up if you want to take your tennis to the next level. Here is a taste of what’s in the book:

• How to hit the ball like a professional
• How to prevent injuries
• How to get more power and accuracy
• Insights and analysis such as why Monfils keeps getting injured
• And much more

You can order the book over at Brad’s website here.

If you want to learn all this and more I recommend pick up this book. You can order it at Brad’s website here.

You might also like…

• Biomechanics – What It Is And Why It’s Important
• Review: The Biomechanics Of Tennis
• The Correct Head Position for Better Tennis Technique

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