The present moment.

How are elite tennis players like great actors?

What unites Andy Murray and Andrew Scott?

Serena Williams and Dame Judi Dench?

After all the hours of rehearsal and practice, training, trial and error, agility, dexterity, focus, craft, imagination and dedication, there is one thing left that only the very best have mastered:

The ability to be in the moment.

For actors, the holy grail is the feeling of being wholly present to the situation, the audience, the story, the character, the other actors and the world of the play.

To eschew all feeling of pretence, repetition, familiarity.

To live it - live.

Watch top tennis players and you see the same thing.

A complete acceptance of the positive potential of the present.

The last point lost? Forgotten.

The two-love scoreline? Irrelevant.

The relentless ball-bouncing and face-towelling of your opponent? Inevitable.

All that matters is this point.

The one that is happening, right now.

Watch a player that is living even a few seconds in the past - reliving the double fault - or just a moment in the future - one point from victory - and you’ll witness a disharmony that ultimately leads to error, frustration, fear, arrogance and self-destruction.

So what can us mere mortals take from this Venn diagram of tennis and theatrical excellence?

That whilst the past can teach us valuable lessons; planning preparation and practice are essential; and projecting positive possible futures propels us towards them - ultimately, performance only ever lives in one place.

The present moment.