FEPSAC
12th European Congress of Sport Psychology
GAZE CONTROL & MENTAL SKILLS DURING THE HITTING PHASE IN TENNIS
Halkidiki Greece 2007
Damien Lafont
A.S.Montferrand Tennis, Ligue d’Auvergne de Tennis, France damien_lafont@yahoo.fr
INTRODUCTION
ABSTRACT Recent observations suggested that great tennis players (with significant results in the Grand Slam tournaments) have specific gaze behaviour when they hit the ball. These players differ significantly from other players in having a longer fixation on the ball combined with a fixation on the contact zone until the end of the follow through, whereas in the same time most of the professionals seem to abandon the ball with their eyes as it approached the hitting zone. This study reviews the effects of such fixation upon the fundamental mental skills needed in high level competitive tennis. In order to understand how gaze control interacts with the mind, this article incorporates state-of-the-art theory on mental skills in tennis and the on-court knowledge with information gathered from top coaches on the professional tour. In particular, it is shown that with the eyes fixed on the contact zone during the hitting phase, the mind can focus on the process, creates an ideal state for concentration then favours flow and peak performance. Thus, through proper gaze control, the player can enhance the mental skills needed to handle challenging tennis situations. Keywords: Tennis; Contact; Fixation; Concentration; Flow; Confidence;
CONCENTRATION Consistently achieving a concentration state throughout a tennis match is a problem for many tennis players. In reality, this is a common error of many players, believing that they have to be concentrated with the same intensity throughout the match. However, the problem is not to stay focus but to know how to refocus efficiently. Thus, if it is assumed that the player will have inevitable periods of loss of focus, rather to maintain concentration for a long period of time or to try to resist to the loss of focus, the player should let it happen, then refocus on relevant cue. Le Scanff (2003) highlighted that gaze control represents a good technique to focus his attention during the between-point time. Since it is essential to develop appropriate strategies while hitting, this technique should be extended to during-point time and especially during the hitting process. The pioneer work of Gallwey (1974) suggested that during play a ballfocusing technique helps to reach concentration. However, due to physical limitation, ball-focusing is not always the most relevant strategy. Only two significant studies (Braden and Bruns, 1977; Ford et al., 2002) have suggested a shift of focus from the ball to the contact zone. It is not only to focus on the contact zone which helps to concentrate, but especially the fixation until the end of the follow-through. Hence, fixation can be viewed as a performance-relevant cue (as defined by Taylor, 2000).
Only great tennis players achieve a fixation on the contact zone during the follow-through…
… whereas most of the professionals abandon the ball as it approached the hitting zone and show a “head shift” at impact.
FLOW and ZONE Once the player feels confident, his mind is free to focus on the task at hand, one of the main components of the special internal mental state named flow or peak performance (Le Scanff, 2003). In tennis terminology, this is commonly called “playing in the zone” (Young, 2000). Few methods are entirely devoted to increase the occurrence of this flow state in tennis. Gallwey (1974), Spang (1998) and Ford et al. (2002) have tried to help players to reach this ideal state of performance through different on-court techniques mainly based on cognitive-behavioural techniques like performances routines. These routines trigger the ideal state of performance, especially through more efficient cognitive strategies. The fixation can create the delicate synergy between all mental states leading to the flow state. Indeed, focusing on the contact zone could be viewed as an efficient performance routine because it reinforces the concentration on the task at hand and the sense of control, both fundamental dimensions which best describe the mindset in flow. In addition, maintaining fixation helps follow a natural rhythm while hitting the ball, resulting in more fluid stroke production. Therefore, it was hypothesized that the fixation of the contact zone during the hitting process would promote flow and would have a positive impact on performance.
CONTROL Achieving consistency in play revolves around the mental and emotional control. Mentally efficient players remain in control or at least feel in control (Higham, 2000). However there are many areas where players can experience a loss of control. These situations include wind, sun, temperature, spectators or types of playing surface. If the player fixates on them, this will take his focus out of the game, and at the same time increase his anxiety. In this context, it is important for the player to recognize and then to control what Jackson & Csikszentmihalyi (1999) named the controllables. Unfortunately, most of athletes either do not recognize that they are free to choose how to respond or they have learned ineffective reactions. In tennis, due visual limitations, the ball is inevitably lost before contact (Stein and Slatt, 1981). Therefore the players will never achieve a visual control on the ball. Once the player has recognized this physical evidence, he has to focus on the most relevant cue. What is entirely within his control is how he chooses to react to what happens. In particular, the player can control the strategies and the techniques of performance, i.e. having a process focus. Through fixation, the mind is only focused on processing input. Moreover, it teaches a certain ritual of repetitive body movements which gives the player the feeling that everything is under control. Fixation allows the player to exclude irrelevant thoughts and to tune into the task at hand, but also sends a sign of control to the opponent. Finally, the mind preoccupied with the contact zone tends not to interfere with the natural movements of the body. The mind is so absorbed in watching the contact zone that it forgets to try hard. Thus, if low skills can create uncomfortable, negative feelings and lead to feelings of being out of control, conversely achieving the fixation with consistency leads to better control.
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Despite the tennis community has a much better understanding of the principles of mental training (for a review see Weinberg, 2002; Crespo et al. 2006), the vast majority of mental-oriented studies are dedicated to manage the pre-match, post-match or between-point time. However, if the mental skills are important during the off-task time which represent 80% of current matches (Moran, 1994), when the player hits the ball certainly remains the decisive part of the stroke (Brabenec and Stojan, 2006). So it remains 20% of the time which require to be totally focused. In this context, not many people have suggested what are the relevant mental states needed during the hitting phase. This is due in part because the ball is seen as the only natural cue. However, great player’s behaviour shows us that the ball is not always the relevant cue. Indeed, great tennis players have a typical gaze behaviour when they hit the ball. Recent research in tennis has shown that they differ significantly from other top players (Yandell, 2005; Murphy, 2007; Lafont, 2007) in having a longer fixation on the ball combined with a fixation on the contact zone until the end of the follow through, whereas in the same time most of the professionals seem to abandon the ball with their eyes as it approached the hitting zone. It is well illustrated by Roger Federer focusing on the contact zone at - and after impact, holding his head still and in the direction of the contact zone. In tennis, maintaining the head on a vertical axis and keeping the upper body stabilised is recognized as one of the characteristics of high-level players (Elliot, 1989; Groppel, 1986). In particular, keeping the head still during the preparation phase and at impact helps insure a consistent hit on the center of the strings (Braden and Bruns, 1977; Saviano 2003) and better balance. More than physical effects, recent observations tend to go in favour of the mental benefits to prolong the fixation of the contact zone to the entire duration of the follow-through. This means players should avoid following the ball just after impact. Thus, the main objective of this study is to examine the relationships between gaze and head fixation during the hitting phase and mental states of potential relevance in high level competitive tennis (for simplicity, the term fixation will be state as fixation of head and gaze on the contact zone).
CONFIDENCE Concentration and control can only be achieved if the player has confidence in what he is doing. In interviews with top tennis players, they consistently refer to selfconfidence as a key factor in their success (Weinberg, 2002), one of the most important components of a player’s psychological state prior to and during a match (Harwood and Dent, 2003). Self-confidence is the general belief that one has the ability to perform successfully (Weinberg and Gould, 1999), for example the confidence in one’s own strokes (Samulski, 2007). Since the fixation phase is the same regardless of whether the player is winning or losing, it reinforces the player’s belief that he has the skill necessary to perform well. Using specific and repetitive body and visual control during points, he can maintain a confident mental attitude then execute strokes under increasing competitive pressure. Therefore, during the hitting process, the player can gain confidence in his abilities to perform well.
STAYING in the PRESENT
FIXATION on the CONTACT ZONE Reuters
STRESS & ANXIETY A consistent factor relating to tennis players’ anxiety is their feeling of control. When players feel out of control, their anxiety levels tend to rise and they can easily become frustrated, annoyed, and impatient. During a match, when the attention begins to wander, it is not easy to choose effective response when under stressful conditions, and this often leads to a decrease of performance (Le Scanff, 2003) due to physically and psychologically negative effects (Weinberg, 2002; Fazey and Hardy, Hardy and Parfitt, 1991). Thus, at all levels, matches are often decided by the ability to cope with stressful conditions. Unfortunately, under stress people forget the more recent instructions causing them to revert to old software which impacts the consistency of their stroke production. To cope with pressure, top players often employ specific and individual routines based on relaxation, proper breathing or self-talk (Weinberg, 2002), all of which well adapted to between-point time and changeovers. Another way to reduce the anxiety is to redirect the focus onto the process (Taylor, 2000). A process focus takes the mind off things that cause over-intensity and give a greater sense of control. This control reduces the physiological response, decreases the stress response, and ultimately frees the athlete from fear of failure. Since the fixation gives the player more control, it can be an efficient way to counteract pressure. By focusing on mechanics the player will deflect emotional content from the moment and he will not fall victim to motor paralysis. Instead, he will be able to send messages to his brain that will allow him to hit the ball correctly, and that he controls the situation.
Living in the present is a very efficient tool to regulate the stress during competition (Dubier, 1998; Dubier and Inchauspé, 2005). Indeed, under stress the mind likes to wander away from the point at hand and the greatest lapses in concentration come when the player allows his minds to project what is about to happen or on what has already happened. It is why the ability to stay mentally in the present is the key to being focused in a match (Girod, 1999). Many athletes have attributed their best performances to their ability to stay in the present – they often refer to it as being in the here and now (Higham, 2000). A common error in golf consists to turn the head in order to immediately follow the first part of the ball trajectory. This head movement is the sign that the player mentally plans too soon in the future, that disturbs the swing. The same type of observations can be made in tennis where players all the time lift their eyes and pull their head up before the ball even reaches the racket. The usual ways to practice the maintenance of momentby-moment focus during a match is to learn meditation, yoga or deep breathing (Quinn, 2004). During play, the focused concentration required for staying in the present can be achieved by proper gaze control. Indeed, what is very helpful in tennis is that before long the player is going to hit a ball. Then the fixation after the impact helps the player to stay in the here and now. Focused on present, the physical sensations usually remain stable (Murray, 1999), what reinforces the feeling of control. In a sense, gaze and head control provides an extended period of control. So, it is essential for concentration to well keep the eyes some fraction of seconds on where the impact takes place.
CONCLUSIONS This study builds on earlier research that has investigated mental skills in tennis and contributes to the expanding knowledge base of psychological factors related to optimal performance in tennis. More specifically, this study supports the hypothesis for specific gaze control as a fundamental tennis skill allowing optimal mental states. In particular, the fixation of the contact zone during the hitting phase has determinant psychological effects: • Great players’ fixation on the contact zone help them to achieve efficient and consistent concentration during play. • Fixation during the follow-through will also help keep focus on the task at hand which leads to increase the feeling of control. Specifically, this control can impact the hitting response which in the past was believed to be out of control because of visual limitations. • Fixation helps to control both the emotions and thoughts. Thus it reduces stress and anxiety, therefore increases self-confidence. • In addition, the post-impact fixation participates to the fixation of the player in the present, what promotes flow and would have a positive impact on performance. Thus, in adopting this “fixation strategy” the player can enhance the mental skills needed to handle challenging tennis situations and tends to be what Weinberg (2002) named “a mentally tough tennis player”.