Playing Zensational Tennis Book Review

One of the two books that I read for the first semester was “ Playing Zensational Tennis”, by David Ranney. The genre of this book is Tennis/Sports Psychology and has a total page number of 353. To start off with, Ranney reveals the Zen Principles that lead to improving your game. The Zen Principles include playing in the present, non-judgement, enhancing focus, awareness, and relaxation. This book allows you to become more of a student of the game of Tennis by giving mini- lessons and Tips that will benefit any player that wants to improve their game. For example, Ranney writes about how the reader will learn to use zen techniques as powerful solutions to conquer your frustration. Romney writes about this breathing technique that is very helpful as I have used it many times after I read this book and gone out to play. It really allows you to loosen up and relax your body when hitting. Romney also writes about visualizing and conditioning your mind to attain quick and effortless movement. I liked that this book actually discussed the positive reinforcement to bad habits. Like when Ranney presented a problem many players have, which is being too tense and not being fluid, he gives positive reinforcement to the readers by telling them to practice breathing slower and letting go. This is a method that can also be used when taking tests, because we as students tend to get very stressed in situations, where if you were to read about the Zen principles, it would help to ease the frustration and stress. I also liked that this book allowed me to be more consistent and stronger mentally. My favorite part of the book was when Author David Ranney was talking about how Roger Federer will always be the greatest player of all time, because he shows no frustration while hitting any ball, and if you look at the photos of any other professional player in magazines, they always show their emotions on their face. While Roger always keeps a straight face. I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend any tennis player that would want to reflect and improve on their game.