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The Inner Game of Tennis, Revised Edition (Paperback)
by W. Timothy Gallwey
| Category:
Tennis, Sports, Strategy |
| Market price: ¥ 198.00
MSL price:
¥ 168.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
This all-time classic on tennis goes beyond the court because it deals with the most important aspect of learning - You and how you interfere with your own progress. |
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Author: W. Timothy Gallwey
Publisher: Random House
Pub. in: May, 1997
ISBN: 0679778314
Pages: 144
Measurements: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.5 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00362
Other information: Revised edition
ISBN-13: 978-0679778318
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- Awards & Credential -
An all-time bestseller with 700,000 copies sold. It ranks #56 in books on Amazon.com as of December 31, 2006. |
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- MSL Picks -
This book first became famous as a tennis guide. But readers began to realize that book talked more about tennis. This book, as you go through the pages, will help you improve your concentration, deal with nervousness, anger and frustration, and overcome boredom.
Yes, this nice book enables us to approach pretty much everything (not just tennis) with a Zenlike approach. It reminds us all of the importance of being mindful in everything we do, every moment of our lives. It helps us remember that our ability to trust ourselves is the most important ability of all. When we trust ourselves, we can stay in the moment and we naturally maximize our present abilities. We all know this somewhere inside but tend to lose perspective and perform below our potential many times. Whether you are a tennis player or not, I think there is something in this book for everybody.
If you'd like a book that explains how and why these experiences occur, read The Ever-Transcending Spirit by Toru Sato. It is just a superb book discussing many of our important inner experiences in life in a way that everyone can understand!
This book is also frequently referred to by business people for strategy insights.
MSL carries two classics on the great game of tennis: The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey and Winning Ugly by Brad Gilbert. Technically, The Inner Game of Tennis focuses more on the inner or mental side of the game, based on Eastern or Zen philosophy, while Winning Ugly represents an analytical or Western approach.
(From partly quoting an American reeader)
Target readers:
Anyone who like the exciting game of tennis. Piano students are often also ardent readers of this book. It's also highly recommended as a perfect gift to tennis-loving friends or co-workers.
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- Better with -
Better with
Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis - Lessons from a Master
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W. Timothy Gallwey's teaching methods, originally put forth in his international bestseller The Inner Game of Tennis, have been applied to the fields of business, health, and education, as well as sports. He has worked with such major corporations as AT&T, Apple, Coca-Cola, and IBN. He lives in Agoura Hills, California.
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Tim Gallwey is one of the great teachers of our time. His aspiration is the realization of genuine potential, not miracles, but the gap between that potential and our current performance is often so great that the results are nothing short of miraculous. In this day, when many talk of accelerating learning in organizations but few have actually done it, the words of a master are timely indeed. - Peter M. Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
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A phenomenon when first published in 1972, the Inner Game was a real revelation. Instead of serving up technique, it concentrated on the fact that, as Gallwey wrote, "Every game is composed of two parts, an outer game and an inner game." The former is played against opponents, and is filled with lots of contradictory advice; the latter is played not against, but within the mind of the player, and its principal obstacles are self-doubt and anxiety. Gallwey's revolutionary thinking, built on a foundation of Zen thinking and humanistic psychology, was really a primer on how to get out of your own way to let your best game emerge. It was sports psychology before the two words were pressed against each other and codified into an accepted discipline.
The new edition of this remarkable work - Billie Jean King called the original her tennis bible - refines Gallwey's theories on concentration, gamesman- ship, breaking bad habits, learning to trust yourself on the court, and awareness. "No matter what a person's complaint when he has a lesson with me, I have found the most beneficial first step," he stressed, "is to encourage him to see and feel what he is doing - that is, to increase his awareness of what actually is."
There are aspects of psychobabble and mysticism to be found here, sure, but Gallwey instructs as much by anecdote as anything else, and time has ultimately proved him a guru. What seemed radical in the early '70s is now accepted ammunition for the canon; the right mental approach is every bit as important as a good backhand. The Inner Game of Tennis still does much to keep that idea in play.
(From quoting Jeff Silverman)
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| View all 9 comments |
Thomaz Macinger (MSL quote), Slovenia
<2006-12-31 00:00>
The main point of the book is that neither mastery nor satisfaction can be found in the playing of any game without giving some attention to your inner game. This game is played against such obstacles as lapses in concentration, nervousness, self-doubt and self-condemnation. The goal of the inner game is to overcome these obstacles which inhibit peak performance.
As my journey of a tennis coach began I started looking for more and more books on this topic. It doesn't take much searching before you find this extraordinary book. I read it in two days and many pieces of the mental puzzle finally came together.
We have to agree with him that most problems with players of any level are not technical or tactical. Even a total newbie to tennis quickly realizes that when he passes the local courts and overhears many inappropriate words and emotional outbursts.
Gallwey masterfully explains his concepts of Self1 and Self2; there is an inner dialogue in our mind - and it's usually not the friendliest one. When we learn to find harmony between both parts of our mind is when we discover the harmony in our mind - body connection.
His next very powerful concept is letting it happen vs. trying hard . It comes very counter intuitively since that what we believe that we have to do when things are not working yet. We try harder. In tennis that translates to tension, narrow awareness and emotional hitting.
I've personally discovered this fact before reading this book and called it less is more . When you learn new things in tennis whether they are a technique, tactics or movement your first tries rarely succeed. But instead of trying harder try less. Hit slower, grip your racquet lighter, move more lightly and don't try to be good or even perfect. Accept your current level and stay with it for a while. Suddenly you'll experience improvement which happens by itself.
This approach is closely tied to his final concept of non-judgment. It means seeing things as they are without adding our labels of good and bad. The biggest problem is the consequent thinking which comes after the label bad . It spreads like a virus from a bad shot to the bad stroke and then to the bad player and finally to the bad person.
If we investigate our thinking we realize that there is no logical connection between bad backhands and our inner self. And the best way of investigation of our thinking and making yourself free from these concepts is Loving what is by Byron Katie. |
L. Smith (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
This book is simply a gem. I would highly recommend it for anyone seeking to improve their tennis game, but the scope of its content goes far, far beyond mere tennis. In fact, I picked up this book after several of my colleagues recommended it to me. As a professional musician, I find myself confronted by the same mental games Tim Gallwey brooches here. Though The Inner Game of Music was inspired and written in conjunction with Tim Gallwey several years later, I find The Inner Game of Tennis infinitely more inspiring. It is direct in its approach, highly concentrated, and easy to make the leap from tennis to any other discipline. In no uncertain terms, this book changed the way I make music, and changed my life. For anyone who, despite all your best efforts, all of your hardest "trying," still doesn't manage to get the ball over the net, hit the high note, or otherwise succeed at something because your own mental noise is getting in the way, this is the book for you. After reading this, I became engrossed with the philosophies behind Gallwey's experiences, and I continued to pursue other books in the same vein: Zen and the Art of Archery, Effortless Mastery, etc. None of them hold a candle to this one, however. It is earth-moving in its simplicity and has the power to change how you approach almost any discipline. I continue to re-read and refer to it on a regular basis. |
S. Duncan (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
I'm in my late 30's and have been playing tennis my whole life. I'm a self-rated (USTA) solid 4.5, maybe even a low 5.0 for singles, 4.5 for doubles.
I read this book when I was 14 or 15 and it changed my tennis game first, and then it gradually impacted other areas of my life. I've just purchased this relatively new edition because I lost my original copy long ago, and also I'm teaching my daughters to play tennis now and wanted to apply the techniques for the first time as a coach.
I tend to be long-winded but I'll try to put this succinctly: Before the book, I had the shots in my arsenal but they weren't frequently surfacing in my matches. I lost many matches against players with lesser skills. After applying the lessons learned from the book, I started consistently winning against these same players, and sometimes winning against superior opponents that I should not have been able to beat.
More importantly, tennis became much more enjoyable for me, and at times even like an out of body experience during which it seemed like part of me was kicking back in my mind and just enjoying watching myself play. I never self-destruct anymore, and I generally have a feeling in tennis that there's nothing I can't accomplish when I'm feeling well.
It's not always that perfect, and sometimes my "Self 1" imposes its will on my game, but it's fairly easy to pick up on when that's happening and there are some techniques in the book for bringing myself back on track.
For competition purposes, I've been trying to find ways to merge the faith in "Self 2" that this book teaches with the strategies outlined in Brad Gilbert's book Winning Ugly, which is almost an opposite approach to the game. Anyone else out there have this challenge? My approach has been to think strategically like Brad suggests between points (i.e., employing Self 1), then try to apply Gallwey's "bounce-hit" exercise at the beginning of each point so that Self 2 takes over during actual play. I'm having mixed results with that but improving over time.
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R. Spell (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-31 00:00>
I am the person for which this book is written. I started tennis late but being athletic quickly could play above my experience. Eventually I hit the wall, getting beat repeatedly and having the complete inability to be a human on the court. This book simply showed me what was really going on in my mind. And, more importantly, that it goes on in everyone's mind to some extent. Not being a philosophical person nor a follower of Eastern Spirituality, these very basic concepts were Greek to me. But they make certain logical sense.
Having said all that, I'm still not sure exactly what I need to do for a complete change. I know I need to stop the Self 1 and 2 conflicts occurring in my mind and I need to concentrate on minor things like breathing rather than let my mind wander to failure. But how I will be able to apply this is still somewhat of a quandary as I am so regimented in my approach. One thing is for sure, I need to make the attempt.
Overall, I recommend this book highly whether a tennis player or not to look at your activity from a totally different light. To me the most compelling statement is that this book was written due to a "dumped" volley on match point to win the Boys National Championship. Having "dumped" and choked many points on a much lower level, I can understand the inspiration for the book. Read this book for a different perspective.
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