Eyes on the ball

[fleago]

Are there any lessons on the site that teaches techniques for steadying one's head and keeping the eyes on the ball through and after contact?

[johnyandell]

Not specifically that I recall. Good suggestion though. There is a guy who writes about this I have been wanting to work with.

My personal advice is to look for the spin on the ball at the top of the bounce. Make sure you see that. Also head position is related to posture.

You should visualize your spine and as erect--as if you were hanging from a wire drilled into the top of your skull.

[don_budge]

Keep Your Eye On The Ball!... by Bill Tilden

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL

We are now ready to take up the specific fundamentals of the game and the first definite one in tennis is the foundation of all games played with a moving object:

KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL!

I am certain that in every hour I work with a beginner in the game I repeat this instruction at least thirty times in some form. When I say, “Keep your eye on the ball,” I mean watch that ball from the time you first start to toss it to serve until the end of the point and never look at anything else.

Naturally the pupil decides this is exaggeration, that I am overdoing it. Let me assure you that I am not. The pupil always wants to know how he can tell where to hit a ball if he doesn’t look over to see. He doesn’t need to watch the court. He took a look at it when he went out on it. It is stationary. It isn’t going to move off or change its dimensions. The lines are permanent. He knows that the net is in the middle and stands three feet high in the center and three feet six inches at the posts and will not change height during play. The lines, backstops and sidestops are also fixed in position. They too, will remain there. Usually you can convince the pupil he need not watch the court or net quite easily, but his next hurdle is far more difficult.

“How about the guy I am playing?” he blurts out. “How can I tell where he is if I don’t watch him?”

A reasonable query certainly, but the answers to it are easy and should satisfy anyone.

First of all you must remember that you are not trying to hit your opponent but to miss him. You are attempting to put the ball where he isn’t-not where he is.

“Ah, but I have to see him to know where he is!” cries the pupil. Not at all. If he is a good tennis player you know where he is without having to see him because a good tennis player will be in correct position. Correct position for a back-court player is about on the backline of the court and near the middle of it. If you are facing a net player his correct position would be about eight feet back on his side of the net and at a point that would be about two feet toward the center of the court from a straight line drawn parallel to the sidelines from where you hit the ball down through his court. So if he is a good tennis player you know where he is without having to see him and if he isn’t a good tennis player it doesn’t make much difference where he is! After all the thing you are attempting to hit is a moving ball which requires the eye to change focus as that ball moves. Obviously if the eye once loses sight of the ball it is almost impossible to sight it again clearly in to hit it cleanly.

The eye functions very much like a camera. Any of us who have ever attempted to take action pictures with a small box camera know of the peculiar results we have produced. One of two things occurs. Usually we get a clear-cut beautiful picture of the background with a blurred streak where the moving object-train, car, ball or what have you-has passed unfocused by the camera eye. Occasionally we get the reverse, a blurred muddled background with an apparently stationary clear object stopped in motion. The eye works the same way when you watch a moving ball coming toward you. You can either see a clear background with a blurred uncertain ball or a blurred background with a clear ball. In the first instance your eye has not been kept on the ball during its entire flight with the result that by the time the ball reaches you your focus is lost and you will probably mis-hit it. In the latter, the eye is really on the ball and the chances are you will hit it cleanly. When I say, “Keep you eye on the ball,” I mean actually to include, “Watch it hit the strings of your racquet.”

Most players watch a ball until it bounces and then look away as they start to swing with the mistaken idea that by looking at their opponent’s court they will be better able to direct their stroke. Time and again if you watch, you will see a player’s head come up to look across the net as he starts to swing and the resulting shot is mis-hit and usually an error. The average player thinks he can judge the bounce of a ball when it comes off the ground but he forgets how many things can affect the bounce, any one of which will throw his calculations out of line and make him miss:

1. The ball may have been hit harder or slower than he judged, with the result that it will each him too soon or too late.
2. It may have been hit with more spin or more subtle twist than he judged, so that the bound goes off line a little more than he expected.
3. The wind may blow the ball off line.
4. The court surface may be rough and the ball may take a bad bound with the result that once more his guess is bad.

But if he still has his eye on the ball he can perhaps with difficulty, but he still can get the gut in his racquet head against the ball and gut, not wood, will return the most shots.

In these days of the modern, net-rushing power game, the importance of keeping the eye on the ball is growing even greater. One major advantage the net player has against the baseline player is the psychological pressure he puts on the baseliner to look up and see where the net player is. Actually, this is absolutely fatal and results in nothing but a deluge of errors on missed passing shots. When a player sets out to play a passing shot against a net player, he should never see the net player at all. He should make up his mind on which side he will attempt the passing shot and play it with his eye never leaving the ball. If the net player outguesses him and is in front of it that is too bad, but at least it puts the burden of making the volley on him rather than giving him the gift of an error from the passing shot. There are certain definite times at which most players are likely to be led into looking away from the ball. The most common occasions involving this error are:

1. Service. Few players actually see their racquet hit their service.
2. Attempting a passing shot. They look up to see the opening.
3. Volleying. They again look up just before they hit the ball to see in which direction their opponent is moving.
4. Smashing. They look down just before they hit the ball to see their opponent’s court.

Any of these is apt to be at the critical moment of a point. Every player should be most careful to keep his eye on the ball as the climax of each point is reached. When one stops to realize that in first-class tournament tennis about 70 per cent of all points end in error and that of all errors committed at least 65 to 70 per cent are due to the player’s not keeping his eye on the ball, you can readily see why coaches stress to all players from beginners to champions:

“KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL!”

[don_budge]

The book is Tilden...

I have a motto, fleago, which reflects my approach to the game of tennis and it goes like this...The book is Tilden and the model is Gonzales with the Budge backhand. The coach is Hopman and Federer is living proof.

The post above is a chapter from a book that was written by Bill Tilden and copyright dated in 1950. In the book Tilden devotes pages 23 through 26 to the fundamental importance of watching the ball. Of course the game has changed with the engineering but certain fundamentals will never change...at least not in our lifetimes. The name of the book is simply "How to Play Better Tennis...a complete guide to technique and tactics". It is sort of amusing to see some of the references that the author makes during his time period...such as referring to "the modern game of tennis" where he writes, "In these days of the modern, net-rushing power game, the importance of keeping the eye on the ball is growing even greater".

At any rate, if you can find anyone that has written a more comprehensive and easier to understand book on tennis please let me know. This book in combination with his epic "Match Play and The Spin of the Ball" earn him my tribute to him as the best author ever on the game of tennis. His writings are timeless and transcend all of the engineering, changes and man made manipulations that the game has endured since the time that he wrote them. If one has even a minimal ability to discern and interpret one can easily see the timeless nature and quality of his writings and how they apply still to the modern game of tennis.

The thread that you created went unanswered for several days until John made his comment and it is a good one too. His comment is supported by all of the video evidence that he has accumulated on his website. The evidence is in and the fact of the matter is that some players watch the ball better than others. There is one player who stands out in my mind as having a superior ability in this regard and it will come as no surprise to anyone when I say that player is Roger Federer. Just take a look at the video below.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/music_videos/federer_fh_not_gone/index.html

Here is a drill that you can practice without leaving the comfort of your chair. Just watch this video 50 times or so in a row. John Yandell recently made the comment that "Rog does an amazing array of things hitting 4 forehands in a row now doesn't he????" and in that he could not be more correct. One of those things in that "array of things" you will notice is that, as Bill Tilden suggests in his writings, the eyes are never leaving the ball.

John also says, "You should visualize your spine and as erect--as if you were hanging from a wire drilled into the top of your skull." To this I would add that I imagine and suggest to my students that they imagine that they have a pole that goes in the top of their head and out of their backside...which is a nice way of saying their ass. If one has the proper STANCE one will be rotating on this axis to make the best use of their potential energy and at the same time maintain the all important position of their head and as John suggests, and as Roger Federer always does and as Tilden writes about so eloquently. But clearly this video illustrates the beauty of Roger fully swinging full out around the axis. This one video is worth approximately one zillion words.

Recently a professional golfer that I am training emphasized to me to allow the shoulders to swing freely around the head and to keep the head still without sliding forward. This fundamental holds true in tennis also but once again one must realize that the same holds true when taking anything literally when it comes to reading Tilden or taking my advice...tennis is not a game of perfect as it is a game where it is as if you are playing golf on the run. Golfers have the luxury...or as they claim the hindrance, of hitting a standing ball so that concepts of swinging the shoulders around a fixed head are a bit easier to visualize and implement than when you are running at break neck speed from one side of the court to the other. But once again...the video of Roger Federer chasing down four forehands and smashing his racquet into them with perfect timing, while keeping his head perfectly still and in position...when he has less than perfect position himself...all things are possible and he is living proof.

[don_budge]

Drills to learn to watch the ball closer...

I would start by hitting against the wall. Start by hitting short balls...maybe even volleys, and hit slowly at first then pick up the pace. Move backwards and learn to swing the shoulders around the head as an axis while keeping your eyes on the ball. Look at Federer...he keeps his head fixed at the spot at where the ball "was" after it has left his racquet as if to over emphasize the importance of head position in watching the ball.

Have you ever played fetch with a chocolate labrador? Just notice how their attention is glued to that ball. I also mention to my students....particularly the younger and less initiated that they are like a mean and hungry little cat and the ball is a mouse. Once a cat has the mouse in it's sights it won't take it's eyes off it until it is securely cat food.

Recently I have begun to start teaching the game of tennis at the net and moving the student back until they finally reach the baseline. This is one of the advantages of this method in that I can over emphasize the importance of fundamentals...the correct position of the feet and the importance of watching the ball being among a couple of the most important.

Tilden points out the importance of watching the racquet hitting the ball, even on one's own service swing. I would add that when I am receiving service that I start to watch the ball as early as possible in my opponents hand and certainly by the time he begins to bounce it in his preservice routine, the ball is the object of my intense concentration.

[bottle]

Rhythm in The Famous Video

Fifty times seems about right. WITHIN the head to tail wisdom, the following sequence: KNEES, SHOULDERS, FLIP, SLINGSHOT?

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/music_videos/federer_fh_not_gone/index.html

[stotty]

Watching means watching

The secret of watching the ball is to...well...just watch it...never take your eyes off it. The head is sure to stay still as a result...

[ralph]

There is the trick of counting 1,2 during contact before looking to find the ball for the next shot.

Ralph

[bottle]

Seems so simple. Even obvious. But will people try it? Often these almost obvious prescriptions are the best tips of all.