The Super Mental Training Book by Robert K. Stevenson Read Free Book Online

try to totally relax during these moments and shut out all distractions," Ashe said. "If you try to do too much during a changeover, it will tire you out even more, not rest you or help your concentration."!!]
    In meditation your first objective is to clear the mind and achieve some degree of relaxation. Ashe at Wimbledon strove for this, and succeeded. It was reported in World Tennis that Ashe sat "motionless in his chair, eyes closed like some meditative Buddha, letting his whole body and mind sink into a state of total relaxation for 30 seconds."[2] The TV cameras picked this up quite clearly, and it drew the attention of the sportscasters who informed the viewers that Ashe was "concentrating." Ashe probably did more than just concentrate. Most likely he briefly entered a meditative state. Alex Metreveli, the 1973 Wimbledon finalist, thinks not, however. He shares the sportscasters' opinion. I asked him if he thought Ashe used meditation during his match against Connors. Replied Metreveli:
    I don't think so. It was probably just good concentration. I saw him in the dressing room before the match, and he was just concentrating for the match. He was preparing a couple of days before the finals. So, when he come to the center court at Wimbledon, he was already prepared. During all the match he don't lose any concentration. He was just, you know, concentrating for each point for each game.
    Despite the opinion of Metreveli and the sportscasters, the weight of evidence continued to mount that Ashe used some form of meditation during the '75 Wimbledon final. For example, Barry McKay, a top professional player of the '60s and former Junior Davis Cup Coach, contended that Ashe used meditation on several occasions. Speaking to Bud Winter, author of Relax and Win (1981), McKay stated:
    One obvious player who has used meditation during matches, and did it very successfully, especially in winning the 1975 Wimbledon final, was Arthur Ashe. The players all have ninety seconds in a changeover between games and Arthur used a lot of that period to simply sit and meditate, and it was shown on national and international television. . .
    In an attempt to move from speculation to certainty, I wrote Ashe, asking him if he employed meditation in his Wimbledon match against Connors. I received no direct answer, but the query was addressed several years later. Ashe, writing in the Foreword to James Loehr's Mental Toughness Training for Sports (1986), clarified the matter:
    During my 1975 Wimbledon finals match with Jimmy Connors, I was occasionally seen with my eyes closed when resting between games. This prompted the post-match inquiry, "Were you meditating?" My answer was always "yes and no." "Yes" in the sense that it was a formalized technique of mental and physical relaxation. "No" in that I was not reciting any special words or mantras to myself for ninety seconds.
    Whether we wish to call Ashe's "formalized technique of mental and physical relaxation" meditation or "good concentration," what remains unquestioned is the fact that he played tremendous tennis in the '75 Wimbledon finals. Ashe dumped Connors in four sets. This happened during a period when Connors had been virtually unbeatable; in fact, people were calling him the greatest tennis player of all time. Ashe's triumph, therefore, was a true shocker.
    Nine years later at the '84 Wimbledon, visualization helped bring about another minor miracle. Paul Annacone, then age 21 and playing in his first professional tournament, reached the quarterfinals before losing to Jimmy Connors. Annacone, who has gone on to enjoy a good career in the pros, did something very similar to what Arthur Ashe did in the '75 Wimbledon. "It's called 'visualizing.' I try to empty my mind," explained Annacone at the time, who performed his visualization while sitting on the chair between changeovers and in the locker room before the match.[3] L. A. Times correspondent Rick Reilly, who reported the story on