Why I play
Why do you play - was a question on one of the tennis forums. When I let out the thoughts on this I wrote this:
I used to play to enjoy the fight, to beat someone, to prove to myself that I can play. This "era" lasted 10 years. Then I realized that I play such a good game (at least in my opinion) that I don't have to prove it or beat anyone.
No one can take that away from me. It's my reality, my view on the game and even if one beats me it has nothing to do with me or my tennis.
This may sound strange but I'm completely detached from outcomes of tennis matches (or points).
In reality they are just neutral events. We give them meaning, we make the stories around them. I lost the stories a while ago.
Now I play because I enjoy immensely to move in harmony and have my mind occupied with a ball and nothing else. I enjoy the feeling of the ball hitting exactly in the middle of the racquet. I enjoy hearing the sound of the ball leaving the strings.
I enjoy running fast, accelerating, stopping and changing directions on the court and at the same time keeping my thinking completely cool and not in anyway connected with the dynamic movements of my body.
I feel like am observing myself and using a superfast computer to calculate what my best tactics and shots are going to be. Then I focus only on the ball and experience that short moment of impact as something very special - an extraordinary event which in reality lasts 0,005 s but it expands in my mind for at least a second.
I play to give the partner on the other side one of the best experiences that they ever had on the tennis court. I play to show them the way - that tennis can be a joyous, fun and relaxing moment of your day.
Most people go on tennis courts to express their frustrations and anger and tennis doesn't look so great when they do that. I show them that tennis has nothing to do with your personality if you decide so.
I used to play to enjoy the fight, to beat someone, to prove to myself that I can play. This "era" lasted 10 years. Then I realized that I play such a good game (at least in my opinion) that I don't have to prove it or beat anyone.
No one can take that away from me. It's my reality, my view on the game and even if one beats me it has nothing to do with me or my tennis.
This may sound strange but I'm completely detached from outcomes of tennis matches (or points).
In reality they are just neutral events. We give them meaning, we make the stories around them. I lost the stories a while ago.
Now I play because I enjoy immensely to move in harmony and have my mind occupied with a ball and nothing else. I enjoy the feeling of the ball hitting exactly in the middle of the racquet. I enjoy hearing the sound of the ball leaving the strings.
I enjoy running fast, accelerating, stopping and changing directions on the court and at the same time keeping my thinking completely cool and not in anyway connected with the dynamic movements of my body.
I feel like am observing myself and using a superfast computer to calculate what my best tactics and shots are going to be. Then I focus only on the ball and experience that short moment of impact as something very special - an extraordinary event which in reality lasts 0,005 s but it expands in my mind for at least a second.
I play to give the partner on the other side one of the best experiences that they ever had on the tennis court. I play to show them the way - that tennis can be a joyous, fun and relaxing moment of your day.
Most people go on tennis courts to express their frustrations and anger and tennis doesn't look so great when they do that. I show them that tennis has nothing to do with your personality if you decide so.
posted by Tomaz at 3:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home