My favorite style of tennis is to play without style. The idea is to play points without sticking to a predetermined plan. We can call this intuitive tennis. This concept is not novel, as it has been presented in Timothy Gallway’s 'The Inner Game of Tennis.' However, I got inspired to explore tennis without attaching myself to a particular style before reading Gallway’s book.
I came across Bruce Lee’s work on martial arts. He developed Jeet Kune Do, which is a martial art without a style. Lee’s logic stems from the fact that you’re dealing with reality (i.e., physics), and it doesn’t set any preferences for a style. A punch is a punch, a kick is a kick. That idea can be applied to tennis. If you see an opening, you take your shot. Need to play defense? You do it.
I was motivated to play in this manner during college tennis. We played different teams, and I often played someone I hadn’t seen before. I rarely knew what my opponent’s strengths and weaknesses were until a few games into the match. Without knowing your opponent, it’s difficult to plan for anything. Typically, I would stress myself over how I should play. In setting expectations, I made myself rigid and felt more stressed when the match wouldn’t go as planned. It’s slightly different when you know your opponent; you can visualize playing your strengths against their weaknesses and neutralizing them when they attack. That kind of visual training helps you get ready. Still, being ready for anything is the best approach.
Reading Bruce Lee’s philosophy on martial arts, I began incorporating bits of that into my tennis mindset. I spent months contemplating what it means to have no attachment to a style. His philosophy was based on Tao and Zen. So, mindfulness training became an essential component of getting rid of attachments to any particular style. I eventually learned that the best preparation is to keep an open mind and be ready for anything.
If you want to try this out, you will need to prepare your mind to let go of any thoughts and concerns about controlling outcomes. People lose their intuition when they are drowning in thoughts about outcomes. So, learn to meditate and remain in that state throughout the day. You observe what is going on without making any judgments on what you see. Your mental state will be ready and adaptive.