Memory like a fish

I heard this said a couple of days ago while listening to commentators on Wimbledon. It was in respect of a player who was having a bad session. The balls just were not going where they should. At which point the comment was made, what defined a good player was the need to have a memory like a fish.  They were talking about being in the moment, or being in the zone as it is otherwise known.  When you shouldn't think and just act.  At this time, a memory like a fish is needed, but especially needed when having a bad run.  The reason for this, if you are dwelling on the lost point from a previous ball and how you should of improved or done better this takes the player out of the zone.  Hence having a memory like a fish.  It is in effect a comment made about the context of a situation.  Having a memory like a fish wouldn't be much good if sitting an interview or an exam, just when it was necessary to pull out of memory all those important things you need to mention. However, in the context of a sport such as tennis it seems appropriate.  But, and a big but even having a memory like a fish is no good if a game has an element of strategy.  For example, if a football team keeps playing in the same formation and strategy as it has from the start of a game to the end of the game they could well be duped into losing.  Especially if their opposition is prone to adapt and change their method of play.  Which could of course be helped by substitutions coming onto the pitch.  In a similar way if your errors mean you are losing at something, then repeating those same errors time and again will mean you fail.  It is necessary to understand this.  If memory like a fish means not dwelling on a mistake will result in better play then this could be valuable advice. However, equally it could be argued if you know what your error was, then the value is in putting in an effort not to repeat it, and having a memory like a fish would be counter-intuitive.

The only thing which should have a memory like a fish, is a fish, end of story.