Relaxation cannot be a goal. It cannot be something you try to achieve or strive for. It is the absence of tension. So, we need to see where there is tension in our lives off and on the tennis court. The only way we can do this is by being super alert and bringing our attention to ourselves.
On the tennis court, tension manifests in many different ways, however I will focus on simply one.
As you play, bring your attention to your hands and how tightly they are holding onto the racket, both as the ball is coming to you and through contact.
Give yourself a number from 1-10 correlating to the tightness of your grip and then experiment with different numbers both up and down and see how you feel.
By experimenting in this way, you will be amazed how well you hit the ball when you simply loosen the grip and then you can experiment playing matches and yet focusing on this as you play. A loose grip gives us a feeling of a loss of control and that is why we grip onto the racket so tightly, to feel in control.
In a match our attention goes to different places, usually all of them are outside of ourselves. If we can instead keep our attention on ourselves even as we compete, we may discover many interesting things. This will take tremendous trust.
Players constantly, tell themselves to relax as they play, but judging by the frequency these words are heard on the court, all to no avail. It could be fun to instead focus on something tangible and real, our bodies, and see where it takes us!
happy hitting!