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TennisOne Lessons 
Understand Focus and Win More Matches! Joe Dinoffer Whether or not you are a fan of the often controversial Jimmy Connors, there is one enviable skill he maintained at beyond genius levels — tremendous focus. In fact, in one of his many post-match grand slam interviews, he was asked how he kept his cool on an especially critical point in the match. He famously answered something like, “The ball doesn’t know the score, so I play every point the same!”
Tennis teaching legend Vic Braden once simplified winning at tennis into a similarly quizzical yet different statement, “Winning in tennis means hitting the same boring shot over and over again.” In this article I will try and take the mystery out of improving focus and show you how to minimize unforced errors through targeting. We’ve all experienced the feeling of good focus. And, unfortunately, we have also all experienced what it is like to be distracted and throw points away because of a lack of focus. Yes, one of the benefits of improving your focus is to reduce unforced errors. And, one of the ways to improve your focus and reduce unforced errors at the same time is to know where you are aiming each shot. Targeting to Minimize Unforced Errors You’ve heard the saying, “Failing to plan means planning to fail.” But a new twist to this expression is, “Failing to aim means aiming to fail.” After several decades of teaching tennis, one of the questions I have learned to ask players is, “Great shot. Where were you aiming?” At best, most players answer too vaguely or point to a spot too close to the lines. There is an art and a logical process to aiming your shots. Take a look at this video clip:
Understand Focus to Improve It Improving your targeting skills and reducing unforced errors is just one way to improve your tennis. And, it is true that focus is arguably the most important ingredient to be successful in tennis — no matter what level you play — since it touches every single aspect of the sport. Every ball, every shot, every move to the ball, and every recovery for each next shot requires focus to play your best. If you are like most players, this isn’t new. You already know that focus is important, that’s not the problem. The challenge you face is that your mind wanders, you get distracted, and you are frustrated that you are not playing up to your potential. So, if you are like most players and feel you have weak focus skills, there’s still hope. After all, it has been scientifically established that a goldfish is able to concentrate on one thing (like eating) for up to 8 seconds without becoming distracted. Since most tennis points are shorter than 8 seconds and is then followed by up to a 20-second break before the next point begins, one would hope the human mind can be trained to concentrate a bit longer than our distant golden aquatic relatives. The Good News To take the mystery out of this huge topic, let’s break down match-play tennis into bite sized pieces. Just keep remembering the goldfish as you read! How many shots in each point? — This may sound like a simple question, but it isn’t. It depends on playing level, style of play, and surface. And, our perception complicates everything, since we mainly remember the best and longest points we play. At pro levels, commentators always emphasize the longest points as well. I’ve charted point length for beginning juniors all the way through top professionals, including steady players on clay. The range of average shots per point including the serve is 2 hits all the way up to 8. To simplify things for the purpose of this article, let’s go with an average of 4 shots per point, assuming that most readers are not competing on the professional circuit. How long is each point? — It takes under 2 seconds for the average recreational player to hit a groundstroke from baseline to baseline. Considering that the serve is usually faster than most groundstrokes, let’s assign 6 seconds (once the ball is in play) as the average length of each point for recreational players. How many points in each set? — This is a relatively easy statistic to calculate. 55-65 points per set is the average, so let’s use 60 points for the purpose of this exercise. How many points in each match? — Let’s keep things simple but round up a little. For the purpose of this article, let’s use 150 total points as the average number of points you will play in a “best of 3” set match. How many minutes are you really playing in each hour? — Here’s where basic math skills come in handy (or a calculator!). 150 total points multiplied by 6 seconds equals 900 seconds or 15 minutes. Since the average match will take about 90 minutes, in every hour you play tennis, the ball will probably be in play only about 10 minutes! Some coaches will stretch this a bit and say that the range is 10-12 minutes, but you get the point. Most of the time we are on a tennis court, the ball is NOT in play! If you want to know what this has to do with improving your focus, read on. Concentrating for Short Bursts of Time is Relatively Easy Remember the goldfish? Surely, if a goldfish can concentrate for up to 8 seconds, we humans should be able to concentrate an average of 6 seconds per point! Keep it Simple The human mind is incredibly complex, but for such an intricate mechanism, we do better with focus when things are kept simple. Singular focus or concentrating on a single issue is best for success. Binary focus is the second choice. Adding more variables can be distracting. This explains why the best performers practice until most aspects of their performance are automatic and nearly spontaneous. This is also why when tennis players explain what it feels like to “play in the zone” they inevitably describe effortlessness and lack of thought, as opposed to saying, “I concentrated very well.” Practicing Focus When you go out for a hit with a partner, against a backboard, or with a ball machine, try to pick one focus issue for yourself. It might be early preparation. It might be lower playing height. I might be a quicker first step the ball. Whatever it is, keep it simple and practice focusing on one issue at a time for the best results. Warming Up Your Focus Most recreational players warm up too fast. But I would argue that it is not only how much time they spend warming up, but it is the fact that they don’t even think about warming up their focus. Yes, since focus is such a critical ingredient to good play, why wait until crunch time when you might be down in a tiebreaker to try and intensify your concentration. Pick your singular focus issue in the warmup itself and try to get in that singular focus “zone” that you have been concentrating on when you practice! Remember to warm up your focus and chances are you will raise your level of play with less effort and certainly with greater frequency. Focus and Unforced Errors It’s well known that making too many unforced errors is the “silent killer” in tennis. Here’s another video clip to give you a guideline on how many unforced errors in any single game will “kill” your chances of winning that game, along with a creative drill that will help all levels of play focus better on minimizing their unforced errors.
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