Customer Reviews

The Inner Game Of Tennis

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As most people can guess by the title, the "inner game" of tennis is the game that takes place iin the mind of the player and is played against barriers such as nervousness, self-doubt, etc.

To gain clarity on the mental problems in tennis, the book looks at the concepts of "Self 1" and "Self 2". Self 1 is the name that is given to the conscious ego-mind which likes the tell Self 2, you and your potential, how to hit the ball and play the game. Or, to put it another way, Self 1 is the "teller" and Self 2 the "doer". I found this to be an interesting idea, as we have all caught ourselves talking to ourselves or have seen others talking to themselves during a game. If you ask someone who they are talking to, they will usually say "I'm talking to myself." This, of course, implies that there are 2 "selves", "I" and "myself"- and so is born the idea of Self 1 and Self 2. Pretty astutue observation in my opinion.

Now according to the book, to achieve peak performance, the key is to resolve any lack of harmony between the two selves, as it is the contrary thinking of Self 1 which causes interference with the natural abilities of Self 2. This requires the learning of several inner skills, such as the art of letting go of self-judgements, letting Self 2 do the hitting, recognizing and trusting the natural learning process, and so on- which is what much of the books spends discussing.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who plays tennis (or any other sport for that matter) as it does a great job in dealing with the fact that many of our difficulties in tennis are indeed mental in origin. Other helpful books for tennis players I've come across include Treat Your Own Tennis Elbow.

This book cuts right through to what all tennis players inherantly know, your success on the court is directly related to what is going on in your mind. You realize that your body knows how to play, and needs no gratification or instructions by your inner critic. The less you interfere, the better your body will perform. When your mind is quiet and trusts your body's abilities is when it is has the freedom to perform.

My game improved dramatically since my first match after I read the book, one technique is to occupy your mind into silence by focusing it on something. The thing I focused on was the spin of the ball as it came to me. When I began to concentrate on that, my mind was silent and focused on the ball. When I do this, the ball seems slower and bigger. All of my strokes improved by doing this. Another thing I got out of this book is to let go of all of your lessons and ideas of how to move your feet, how to hit the ball, how to angle your raquet head. A match is no time to ponder these things it is a time to do them. When in a match, just let your body do what it knows how to do. Don't focus on details, just focus on the goal of making a good tennis shot.

All of this is wonderful, but the best thing this book has to offer, is giving the reader the understanding of how to learn in a natural way without your inner voice giving approval or disaproval. And that is a skill that will apply to all things in your life.

I can't wait to read the Inner Game of Work.

I remember clearly the first time I read this book. It was the summer before 9th grade, almost two decades ago. I'd been playing tennis for about a year. My trusty wooden racquet in tow, I had taken lessons, read every how-to book and tried to follow all the step-by-step pictures. Also, I was getting soundly beaten by friends who'd be playing longer than myself.

I found the book in the library and was surprised at how thin it was. Then I noticed there were no pictures. I thought "What kind of tennis book has no pictures? " I started to read there next to the shelves and my life has never been the same. I wound up captain of my highschool tennis team, all-state selection, and along the way crushed the bums who used to beat me.

Now I'm almost 30 and a tennis has-been but still play a pretty good game. And whenever I go on the court (be it tennis, basketball, squash) I apply the same principles. I stop trying, stop forcing. Quiet the mind and let it happen.

As others reviewers have written in this space, this book will transform your game. It will also broaden your appreciation for what the human body can do. It will enrich your life. This is a classic and indispensible work.

This book is simply a gem. I would highly recommend it for anyone seeking to improve their tennis game, but the scope of its content goes far, far beyond mere tennis. In fact, I picked up this book after several of my colleagues recommended it to me. As a professional musician, I find myself confronted by the same mental games Tim Gallwey brooches here. Though "The Inner Game of Music" was inspired and written in conjunction with Tim Gallwey several years later, I find "The Inner Game of Tennis" infinitely more inspiring. It is direct in its approach, highly concentrated, and easy to make the leap from tennis to any other discipline. In no uncertain terms, this book changed the way I make music, and changed my life. For anyone who, despite all your best efforts, all of your hardest "trying," still doesn't manage to get the ball over the net, hit the high note, or otherwise succeed at something because your own mental noise is getting in the way, this is the book for you.
After reading this, I became engrossed with the philosophies behind Gallwey's experiences, and I continued to pursue other books in the same vein: "Zen and the Art of Archery," "Effortless Mastery," etc. None of them hold a candle to this one, however.
It is earth-moving in its simplicity and has the power to change how you approach almost any discipline.
I continue to re-read and refer to it on a regular basis.

Gallwey's book was an instant classic when it first came out. It was somewhat revolutionary at the time as few sport psychology books were available for the tennis public. It still makes good bathroom reading and it still applies to a general lifestyle, not just about tennis. However, there are currently more practical mental toughness or mental zone books out there which are easier to read and use. Still Gallwey's book is interesting philosophy more than psychology as he works with your automatic and analytic selves (self 1 and 2) which conflict each other.
Gallwey addresses why negativity and self-analysis inhibits the creative, automatic self. Readers become more aware of how being in the "zone" really works. Recently, there have been advances in sport psychology which pushes some of Gallwey's ideas a bit out there although he is still on the right path. I would recommend "Zennis" (Peter Spang) over the "Inner Game" since it is more practical.

This book has had a very positive impact on my life. I have suffered with concentration problems for all my life and was recently diagnosed with ADD. I was always told at school that i was intelligent but didnt "try hard enough" and thats why I was failing. But funnily enough trying hard seemed to make things worse for me. My difficulties have led me to being fired from several jobs due to lapses of attention. After reading this book I have been putting the ideas in to practice through the medium of chess (I am an expert level player) and have noticed an improved abiltity to focus my mind. I hope now to move forward in life and repair my shatterd self esteem and gain confidence to take on new challenges. This is a great self help book!.

The main point of the book is that neither mastery nor satisfaction can be found in the playing of any game without giving some attention to your inner game. This game is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self-condemnation. The goal of the inner game is to overcome these obstacles which inhibit peak performance.

As my journey of a tennis coach began I started looking for more and more books on this topic. It doesn't take much searching before you find this extraordinary book. I read it in two days and many pieces of the mental puzzle finally came together.

We have to agree with him that most problems with players of any level are not technical or tactical. Even a total newbie to tennis quickly realizes that when he passes the local courts and overhears many inappropriate words and emotional outbursts.

Gallwey masterfully explains his concepts of Self1 and Self2; there is an inner dialogue in our mind - and it's usually not the friendliest one. When we learn to find harmony between both parts of our mind is when we discover the harmony in our mind - body connection.

His next very powerful concept is »letting it happen« vs. »trying hard«. It comes very counter intuitively since that what we believe that we have to do when things are not working yet. We try harder. In tennis that translates to tension, narrow awareness and emotional hitting.

I've personally discovered this fact before reading this book and called it »less is more«. When you learn new things in tennis whether they are a technique, tactics or movement your first tries rarely succeed. But instead of trying harder try less. Hit slower, grip your racquet lighter, move more lightly and don't try to be good or even perfect. Accept your current level and stay with it for a while. Suddenly you'll experience improvement which happens by itself.

This approach is closely tied to his final concept of non-judgment. It means seeing things as they are without adding our labels of good and bad. The biggest problem is the consequent thinking which comes after the label »bad«. It spreads like a virus from a bad shot to the bad stroke and then to the bad player and finally to the bad person.

If we investigate our thinking we realize that there is no logical connection between bad backhands and our inner self. And the best way of investigation of our thinking and making yourself free from these concepts is Loving what is by Byron Katie.

Tomaz Mencinger
http://www.tennismindgame.com

Not a book of technique but one which transformed my attitude to playing tennis. Gallwey explains his transformation from a an ego-driven win-at all-cost player, to a yoga-player who played for the experience without desire to win, to a player who concentrates on making the effort to win. The latter concept, as opposed to being concerned about winning, was the most profound part of the book for me. It explained paradoxes I had felt in competing as purely social player, where often I had not wanted to win. The book has taught me to think less, to concentrate more, and to focus on playing in the present without harse self-judgement. Gallwey insists that he has not written a self-help book, but his philosophy is certainly applicable to wider spheres, not the least learning new sports such as, in my case, roller-blading. I'm trying to just 'let it happen". A book that needs to be kept and read over.

I'm in my late 30's and have been playing tennis my whole life. I'm a self-rated (USTA) solid 4.5, maybe even a low 5.0 for singles, 4.5 for doubles.

I read this book when I was 14 or 15 and it changed my tennis game first, and then it gradually impacted other areas of my life. I've just purchased this relatively new edition because I lost my original copy long ago, and also I'm teaching my daughters to play tennis now and wanted to apply the techniques for the first time as a coach.

I tend to be long-winded but I'll try to put this succinctly: Before the book, I had the shots in my aresenal but they weren't frequently surfacing in my matches. I lost many matches against players with lesser skills. After applying the lessons learned from the book, I started consistently winning against these same players, and sometimes winning against superior opponents that I should not have been able to beat.

More importantly, tennis became much more enjoyable for me, and at times even like an out of body experience during which it seemed like part of me was kicking back in my mind and just enjoying watching myself play. I never self-destruct anymore, and I generally have a feeling in tennis that there's nothing I can't accomplish when I'm feeling well.

It's not always that perfect, and sometimes my "Self 1" imposes its will on my game, but it's fairly easy to pick up on when that's happening and there are some techniques in the book for bringing myself back on track.

For competition purposes, I've been trying to find ways to merge the faith in "Self 2" that this book teaches with the strategies outlined in Brad Gilbert's book "Winning Ugly," which is almost an opposite approach to the game. Anyone else out there have this challenge? My approach has been to think strategically like Brad suggests between points (i.e., employing Self 1), then try to apply Galwey's "bounce-hit" exercise at the beginning of each point so that Self 2 takes over during actual play. I'm having mixed results with that but improving over time.

This is one of the pioneering books that brought about the field known as sports psychology.

A great self-help book, in my opinion, because it has an action plan you can follow. Basically, it will help you achieve total self-confidence if you don't already have it. The author talks about each person having a self1 and a self2. The former is your conscious ego and the latter is your potential. Self-confidence comes when we suppress self1 and allow the excellence in self2 to come out. We should trust ourselves to do what we want to do because everything we need is in self2. It is when we allow self1 to judge, we doubt ourselves. An important concept in getting rid of self1 is the art of being able to focus. If we focus on the here and now, this place and time, self2 will have a better chance to perform. How many times have we start to wonder about our cat or our past mistakes or day-dream how nice it is for something to happen when what we should be doing is to focus on the task at hand. In a way, self1 and self2 are similar to the conscious and subconscious mind. Whichever way you choose to believe is not what's important. What is important is that by conceptualizing this way, the complexity is reduced, and results can be produced quickly. How else can humans conceptualize confidence? Confidence without doubt, is nothing. Just like you cannot have hot without cold or fast without slow.

Lastly, we should cherish competition and our opponents. Our opponents are not our enemies but can be viewed as obstacles that allow us to grow and become better at what we do. Humans love to accomplish great things because they like to test their limits. Although this is fine, those who set out to overcome an obstacle should find out if the result they get is what they really want before they go about trying to overcome the obstacle.