The Super Mental Training Book (7 page)

Many tennis players are more interested in reducing their opponent than their stress level. This being the case, we must reiterate that hypnosis can be a particularly powerful tool for tennis players seeking improvement through mental means. Charlie Lundgren, a psychologist possessing a college tennis coaching background as well, discussed the technique's advantages in a June, 1970 Tennis magazine article called "Hypnosis in Tennis." The article assumes a question and answer format, and contains a lot of good ideas.

The first question Lundgren answered concerned the U.S. Davis Cup team: would hypnosis help them play better? Yes, Lundgren replied, because "even players of this high caliber have their off days, and some have definite weaknesses that break down under the tremendous pressure of international competition." But, he continued, by using "hypnosis or autosuggestion, the player can be made to perform optimally most, if not all, of the time." Lundgren's conclusion therefore was: "hypnosis could help the members of the Davis Cup team or anyone else."

Another questioner asked, "Do you consider it ethical to hypnotize athletes?" This is one of those recurring questions which can be best answered by turning the coin over, which is exactly what Lundgren did. He countered, "If an athlete has a physical impediment that is correctable, should it not be dealt with? Clutching (freezing, choking) is a mental impediment and should be treated in the same manner. Therefore I think it is quite ethical to treat the psychological problems of the athlete." Lundgren drove his point home even further with this reasoning: "Because (the) mind controls all the functions of the body, if one accepts the idea that a tennis stroke is going to go off, it will. When confidence wanes, fear steps in to tighten the muscles and thereby ruin one's performance. Why let such negative suggestions take hold?"

I always wonder about those people who claim that hypnotizing athletes is unethical. I seriously doubt that they themselves ever actively participated in sports. Otherwise, they too would have suffered at one time or another the humiliation of performing terribly before a large crowd—an inevitable disaster every full-time athlete has experienced. When this happens, all you want to do is hide; in fact, many athletes feel so bad they actually burst into tears.

Lundgren concluded his discussion by detailing how the tennis player can use autosuggestion (self-hypnosis) to improve his performance. His procedure definitely works, as we'll shortly see by the example of one good college player. So, if you are into tennis, you might want to give

Lundgren's approach a try:

When falling asleep at night and when awakening in the morning, start repeating over and over suggestions such as the following:

1. My concentration on the court is intense and enduring.

2. My muscles respond perfectly and automatically to the commands of my mind.

3. My response will be most perfect on pressure points.

4. My eyes follow the ball and I see impact at all times.

Bob Payan, now a computer programmer, was the number four man on the University of California, Irvine tennis team in 1970 and 1971. Both those years Irvine won the small college division in tennis; the team possessed a powerhouse line-up then. Payan told me a most striking story about his successes using Lundgren's suggestions. Here is what he said:

In the summer of 1970 I drove a truck for my dad, from 5 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon. So, I had a lot of time on my hands for thinking things over. I put it to use because I had found an article on self-hypnosis for tennis in a tennis magazine. The article mentioned four suggestions to repeat, like "my eyes will follow the ball and I'll see impact at all times." There was one about concentration, one about pressure points (that you'll do better on pressure points). I know that when you go to bed, that's when your mind is most relaxed. So, I repeated each suggestion 10 or 20 times before I went to sleep. I also tried to do this as much as I could while driving the truck, because driving is boring. I did this especially if I had a tournament coming up, or if it was between the first and second weeks of the tournament. Then you know who you're playing; so, you can key on one guy and gear yourself for that match.

Anyway, that summer was the first summer I really enjoyed good success: I won three trophies in a row. For example, my third tournament was in Fullerton, and that was a great tournament for me. In the finals ("Open" division) I upset Greg Jablonski, who played number one for us at Irvine. I beat him, 8-6, 7-5. That was the best match I had ever played. I had a lot of adrenaline flowing, but was still loose, ready and fast.

The whole week before this match, when I was driving the truck, I repeated the four suggestions over and over; in fact, I was going crazy with that stuff. But, I was so determined that I'd just do it and do it. It paid off.

In general, before any tournament match that summer I'd lie down or sit down in some peaceful place, and repeat the suggestions a few times. Then, I'd walk onto the court, and say to myself a couple of the suggestions while I warmed up. This took my mind off being nervous, or off the situation. I mostly repeated the watching the ball suggestion, and also the "My concentration is intense and enduring, yet effortless" suggestion.

There is one special point in Payan's self-hypnosis experience we should keep in mind: he was able to give himself suggestions while warming up. Many people have the idea that you can only give yourself hypnotic suggestions if you are lying down with eyes closed. This perhaps might be the case with the beginner who is just learning self-hypnosis. Most regular practitioners of self-hypnosis, though, are able to give themselves suggestions under almost any circumstance. Payan, in just the short span of one summer, developed this capability. He did it on his own, which, given the effort, is something you too can accomplish.

Payan's success shows why there is little reason for one to learn self-hypnosis from a hypnotist; for you can easily learn the technique on your own (reading a book on the subject is a good way to go about it). As we observed, all Payan did was read a short article on self-hypnosis

which he found in a tennis magazine. He had some time on his hands, and decided to try out the article's recommended suggestions. Payan started playing great tennis, continued practicing self-hypnosis, and finished the summer with three trophies. It sounds very simple, and it is.

If you are beginning to think that almost any tennis player can benefit from using hypnosis, you have got the basic concept I am expressing. A well publicized story of nine Miami housewives, members of the David Park Class C team in a women's doubles league, is the best case in point I can make. As originally reported in the Miami Herald (December, 1977) and subsequently related in Tennis magazine (May, 1978), these ladies were hypnotized by Cheryl Weisberg, a hypnotherapist. The women's objective, of course, was to improve their play, which up to then had quite disgusted them. Once the ladies were hypnotized, Weisberg had them go through a simple visualization drill: "Imagine you're in a tennis game where you are at your peak. You're at the baseline. Imagine your eye on the ball. Step into the ball and follow through. You feel so confident. So strong." This visualization message neatly packages some very helpful hypnotic suggestions. Notice how these suggestions are similar to those Lundgren recommends. Most importantly, they proved equally effective. [12] The women players started cleaning up on their opponents—even those they had never beaten before.

Before long their David Park team took over first place. Said Marie Bursch, one of the players: "I played more relaxed and determined, and with confidence. In one match, we were down 5-2 in the first set but won 7-5, 6-3, and we had lost the last time to the same opponents. I believe that the hypnosis helps you concentrate on watching the ball and on your game, instead of watching what's going on at the other courts."

So, here we see ordinary C players using hypnosis, and playing like they belong in the B's. Unfortunately, though, an even more common sight is to see truly fine players not use hypnosis, and play like they belong in the C's. I discussed this problem with Glenn Bassett, coach of the UCLA men's tennis team, and author of The Bassett Method, Even though his team perennially contends for the NCAA title, and is comprised of the top college players in the nation, Bassett continually witnesses his players "choking." He told me:

My guys look super if they're playing a pro out here, or something like that. Then they get against someone who's poorer than they are, and they get very very excited and tight, tense, and can't do the job. And I see that all the time.

"Choking" is a mental, a "head" problem. Its conquest, therefore, can be accomplished only through mental means. There is no point in taking any more expensive lessons, or putting in additional hours of practice under the lights if mental toughness is your objective. Such sessions primarily concern themselves with the physical and technical aspects of the game; while valuable in their own right, they provide scant assurance that you will play up to your potential when the big match rolls around. Many experts, such as Coach Bassett, are coming to realize the limitations of such endless practice sessions. As Coach Bassett says, "Physically we're really accomplishing an awful lot. I think mentally—mentally we got a long way to go. And I think hypnosis is one of the ways to go; I really do."

There are other, though not necessarily better, ways to go besides hypnosis. Tim Gallwey in The Inner Game of Tennis (1974) presents his alternative. He advocates that the player allow his subconscious, which Gallwey calls Self 2, to take over during play. To achieve this Gallwey tells you to just "let it happen." Well, there is no question that the subconscious can direct your actions. However, it is something that does not "just happen." One's state of mind must undergo certain changes, such as the induction of areas of inhibition in the cerebral cortex, for the subconscious to come to the fore. Hypnosis brings about this required change in the cerebral cortex, and it does this much faster than most other mental means. In any case, Gallwey reports that many players have benefitted from his passive philosophy. Not all, however; and, as Coach

Bassett points out regarding Gallwey's inner tennis, "I've given clinics with him—you know, all that stuff is good. I think hypnosis would be a heck of a lot better myself."

Barry Tarshis, writing in Tennis magazine, found Gallwey's approach impractical, if not unworkable, for competitive situations. While playing a real match, Tarshis discovered that his conscious self, which Gallwey calls Self 1, could not be held in check. He relates:

I found, for instance, that when I was simply rallying or hitting against a wall or with a ball machine, I could slip into an inner tennis groove without much trouble; my conscious mind was content to let things move along at their own pace. But once I got into an actual match, my Self 1 wasn't as cooperative. It cared. It wanted to contribute, to give orders, to control. And my efforts at keeping Self 1 out of the limelight were only occasionally successful. And after a while, I stopped trying—which is to say stopped trying not to try.[13]

Tarshis noted that "many people I've spoken with, who were initially turned on to Gallwey, have since abandoned inner tennis;" also, he observed that "most of the tennis instructors who were using Gallwey's concepts have pretty much abandoned them. . ." The main reason for the exodus appears to be the difficulty players had in allowing the subconscious (Self 2) to assume control during a match. Tarshis contends that while playing tennis one has to deal with a huge amount of information: an opponent (often unpredictable and uncooperative), the nature of the game itself (one second you are serving, the next you are hitting a volley or groundstroke, etc.), playing conditions (it may be windy, sunny, hot, cold, all of which the player must compensate for), and so on. This enormous amount of information the mind must constantly process frustrates "let it happen" attempts to bring the subconscious to the fore. Says Tarshis, "Asking the mind to disengage itself from the goings-on in a typical tennis match is asking for the moon." My personal judgment of inner tennis is that the "let it happen" approach might work during competition if the player sits down between changeovers, closes his eyes, and clears his mind (with as little effort as possible). Constant practice of the technique when play is stopped might be the key. But, employing a passive mental approach during a point in a highly competitive match does not seem to be the appropriate time for one to tune in to his subconscious.

You cannot lose by trying out various mental rehearsal techniques. But self-hypnosis most likely will provide you your best results. This has proven to be so with me. Initially, I used self-hypnosis to study for tests while attending California State University, Fullerton. From my sophomore year through my doctorate degree I never scored lower than a "B" on any test. Before learning self-hypnosis, though, my mind sometimes would go blank while taking a test, and after a terrible struggle I would end up scoring a "C". The self-hypnosis, however, eliminated this problem. I would give myself suggestions such as "You will remember everything you study, and during the test recall all of it," and "You will be completely confident and relaxed while taking the test." These suggestions worked. My memory retention improved dramatically, and no difficult test questions could ever faze me.

But, it was not until much later that I applied self-hypnosis to my sports. It took an extremely disappointing performance during a tennis tournament for me to become enlightened. In early 1976 I was seeded number one in the B Singles in a respectable local tournament (the Eastern Tennis League Tournament, held in Fullerton, California). I had prepared hard for it, practicing my serve and other strokes for hours upon hours. Befitting my number one seeding, I drew a bye the first round. Meanwhile, I knew my first match would be a breeze; after all, two weak players were battling each other to determine who would face me in the second round.