Finding the Zone

The zone is an elusive place. It is the place that you find in any sport where self realization leaves and you just play well. It seems like whatever you want to do you can do it. That 100 mph running forehand down the line, no problem.

The in between the legs winner passing shot you always wanted to try, why not?

That down the line shot from out wide that goes around the netpost, who loves ya baby!

The Zone is different from momentum because when momentum shifts one person plays better and the other worse. In the Zone, it doesn't matter how well the other person plays, unless they are in the zone too.

One thing is for sure, you can't be amazing all day. Fortunately in tennis, if the zone lasts for 20 minutes, you will be off the court pretty fast. Two problems with the zone. Getting there is very difficult. And dealing with it when you leave is harsh sometimes. So lets look at those two cases examples.

Getting there - The best you can do to get to the zone is concentrate. If you make enough successes in a short amount of time, your confidence might get pushed into overdrive...MIGHT. Concentration means paying attention and focusing on the task at hand. No jokes, no commentary to yourself, just think about your plan and execute. At some point, you will have executed the plan so much that you can do it without thinking. If a few more things fall in place (weather, good relationships, health), the zone will occur.

Being there - Once you get there everything will fall in place. Ride the zone as much as you can for as long as you can. While you are there though, it doesn't hurt to let your opponent know how great you are feeling...indirectly. Later on in the match, you can duplicate this behavior when you are just playing well and not in the zone and you might scare the mess out of him/her. A really offensive bully type player might crumble. It might not work so well if the player really loves a good fight (like me).

Falling out - When you fall out of the zone it is rough. It's like losing all your money in a gamble, you just didn't see it coming and now you have to regain your poise and start again.

The big problem many people have is that they place their value as a player on how they play in the zone and not how they play when they are having problems. So when they hit the zone they say "now I'm playing like I NORMALLY play." Once they fall out of the zone they spend their whole match trying to find it again or "play normal." The problem is that they put way too much stock on how well they play and go for more shots instead of working their way slowly back up to the zone. So next time you fall out of the zone, back off a little on your shots to find how confident you are and work your confidence up again. You might not find the zone again, but at least you won't make as many unforced errors.