Eyes on the ball.

In its literal sense, tennis requires that you keep your eyes on the ball at all times. Kinda logical if you think about it – the whole premise of the game is being where the ball will also be. Staring it like a hawk or taking your eyes off it can either increase or decrease your odds for a good shot quite significantly. Despite only playing tennis for *checks notes* little over one year, tracking and then subsequently loosing track of the ball has been my single greatest help and my one of my biggest downfalls at the same time. And the thing is that it’s something that cannot be half-assed because if you lose focus, you have already lost the point as well.

“Pikk jutt, sitt jutt” as we say in Estonian so the 1st takeaway from my public tennis related word vomit: look at the ball. Just stare at it with the same intensity as you watch gym crush or a hot co-worker. The benefits (for keeping eyes on the ball, not on crushes) can be reaped with the speed of light and the shots will immediately feel 10x more cleaner and better prepared.

However, I do think it’s possible to draw parallels between the literal sense and the figurative meaning of the phrase. Achieving greatness no matter on what scale requires dedication and therefore focus and that is easy to lose. It’s bound to happen from time to time. Comes with being a human I guess. But the focus can be brought back and so can also the commitment to the task. Real success seems to happen when one has sights clearly set on something and commits to keep pushing towards it. That’s what I’m trying to do.

Key takeaway nr 2: if you really want something, locking in appears to be the only option.

~ peace and love, S.