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From tenistalk of tennis-warehouse.com
By SystemicAnomaly
Roger doesn't really "watch the ball" at the contact point. Instead, he keeps his eyes at the contact point. This is an important distinction since the human eye is incapable of tracking a ball all the way into the contact point. Our smooth pursuit tracking system actually loses sight of the ball several feet before it reaches us. For a (baseball) batter facing a 90+ MPH pitch, the ball becomes "invisible" about 15 feet (4.5 meters) before it reaches home plate.
At best, with his eyes trained on the contact zone, Roger may pick up a yellow blur. In looking at high-speed (slow motion) video of Roger "watching the ball", I've noticed that his eyes actually get to the contact point slightly before the ball does. Therefore he is not really "watching the ball" at that time, he is "watching the contact zone".
The most important thing, for both Federer and for Djokovic, is not where exactly they are looking but the fact that they are not moving their head & eyes (much, if at all) just before contact, at contact, and just after contact. Take a look at Andre Agassi. His head & eyes stop moving a little before the ball reaches him. His eyes are probably looking several feet (or a couple of meters) in front of the contact zone. However, just like Federer & Nadal, he keeps his head still for a while.
By SystemicAnomaly
Roger doesn't really "watch the ball" at the contact point. Instead, he keeps his eyes at the contact point. This is an important distinction since the human eye is incapable of tracking a ball all the way into the contact point. Our smooth pursuit tracking system actually loses sight of the ball several feet before it reaches us. For a (baseball) batter facing a 90+ MPH pitch, the ball becomes "invisible" about 15 feet (4.5 meters) before it reaches home plate.
At best, with his eyes trained on the contact zone, Roger may pick up a yellow blur. In looking at high-speed (slow motion) video of Roger "watching the ball", I've noticed that his eyes actually get to the contact point slightly before the ball does. Therefore he is not really "watching the ball" at that time, he is "watching the contact zone".
The most important thing, for both Federer and for Djokovic, is not where exactly they are looking but the fact that they are not moving their head & eyes (much, if at all) just before contact, at contact, and just after contact. Take a look at Andre Agassi. His head & eyes stop moving a little before the ball reaches him. His eyes are probably looking several feet (or a couple of meters) in front of the contact zone. However, just like Federer & Nadal, he keeps his head still for a while.
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