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Ask the Pro: How can I improve my concentration in watching the
ball? |
Any good tips on how to
improve concentration in watching the ball into the hitting zone?
At first blush,
this is a seemingly innocent question but the reality is central to
taking your game to the next level. Roger Federer or Justine Henin
are great examples of players who have mastered this art. The common
denominators: early racket preparation, focussed eyes on the ball,
and a steady head on the actual hit AND follow through -- seemingly
unaware of the opposition. At least that's the result we observe.
Here's a recent shot of Roger courtesy of Getty images:
I think your
question then is more about "what's going on under the water" that
allows them to achieve that result. In tennis, 'concentration'
simply means 'attention to the ball'. I say simply because
there are several conflicting psychological and physical factors
that have to be 'managed'.
Playing on 'court
central' near the Manly clubhouse is particularly difficult with all
the noise and interruptions before you even hit a ball. Even
without the stress of competition, your eye will naturally wander to
any movement, and under stress, with your mind screaming at you,
your vision will be ANYWHERE except on the court.
Psych factors:
When confronted with an interruption, it's always best to STOP,
walk away, regroup and come back to play when you're settled.
Stolle's dad used to have him watch his shoes to keep his
vision/mind on the court. The modern equivalent courtesy of the
sports psychologists is to have a regular pattern of play.
Sharapova, Nadal, and Hewitt all have their little routines that
they go through before they play each point. The real basic
psychology issue for any of us is to take our time and 'find a
routine or a rhythm' that you feel comfortable playing at. Agassi
and Federer play fast, Nadal, Sharapova and Djokic play slow.
Physical factors:
Now moving to physical factors, you'll notice that Roger's head is
usually steady and he hits the ball out in front of himself even
when pulled wide as in the photo. By keeping his head steady,
he keeps his eyes in a single plane, similar to a cheetah in full
flight.
The end result is
his timing is significantly improved because his eyes are steady and
he is able to watch the various flights, spins and elevations of
the ball during the points better than his opponents. In fact Roger
is a master at changing speed and spins to confuse his opponents. At
the US Open, Djokic couldn't handle the deep 'no-pace' ball as an
example. In fact it is much harder to hit a slower ball because of
its declining profile rather than a faster ball which has little
deviation in flight. Moon balls and high lobs are the worst.
The basics then are
to keep your head steady with your eyes at a common elevation as you
watch the ball in flight all the way from your opponent's end of the
court through to the end of your swing. Above all, keep your head
steady as you stoke the ball and DO NOT lift your head to see
whether your shot has gone in until you have completed the full
stroke. This is a common mistake that most of us make particularly
when nervous, under pressure, or playing in the wind. Don't compound
your problems by jumping up and down particularly when you're
receiving serve!
(c) Rob Muir, USPTA
October 26, 2007
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Ask the Pro:
How can I improve my service return? |
A
server last week was one of the strongest I think I've ever faced.
I changed my position to stand well behind the baseline, something I
rarely do since I usually try to catch the ball as early as I can.
In addition, she was serving wide, with me on the deuce side. I
tried to watch the toss, took note of what her racquet swing was
telling me, and the spin of the ball. But I'm not nearly as
consistent as I'd like to be. How can I improve my service return?
On your return of
serve, I would suggest you're trying to process TMI (too much
information). Specifically, it sounds like you’re trying to
‘deconstruct’ way too many elements. By all means, watch the server
prepare and pay particularly attention to the ball toss and any
specific mannerisms or recurring patterns. After that the key is to
try to watch the flight of the ball. The simplest way to maximize
the chances of this, particularly on the forehand side, is to open
up your stance so that you’re perpendicular to the server as they
prepare to serve to you – of course this depends where they stand.
Most players tend
to be perpendicular/square to the court which is opposite of what
you want. By changing your stance to be perpendicular to the server,
it allows you to focus both your eyes on the ball instead of the
usual single dominant eye. This overcomes any eye dominance effects
since we do not see equally well out of both eyes. This also
explains why people have a particular yet sometimes infuriating side
preference. With two eyes focussing on the serve in flight, you have
significantly increased the chances of being prepared, hitting the
ball out in front of you, and above all NOT being late on the shot.
(c)
Rob Muir, USPTA
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Ask the Pro:
Why is my forehand better than my backhand? |
Whether you are right-handed, or
left-handed, when hitting a ball you will typically feel much more
comfortable when hitting on one particular side of your body.
The
primary reason is 'eye dominance' -- everyone has a 'dominant
eye'. Most people are cross-dominated which means that we see
better out of our left eye if we are right-handed and hence have a
strong preference for forehands. The problem with our backhand
then is that if we turn our head too far to prepare for a backhand,
we are relying on our weaker eye to track the flight of the ball --
and the parallex effect means the ball isn't actually where we think
it is. You'll notice if you have problems with your backhand you'll
typically hit the ball late since you're waiting for your dominant
eye to 'sight' the ball. Continually shanking the ball on
backhands is guaranteed to destroy what little confidence you have!
The solution is found in the modern
game whereby players use a much more open stance -- thereby
effectively using both eyes to simultaneously track the ball.
In fact this is one of the few advantages of having a double handed
backhand which forces you to open up your stance. However before you
rush out to develop a double-hander, bear in mind that you give up
reach and need greater court movement and 'balance'.
As my pupils have aged, I have
learned that 'balance' is also another key issue. Nature is
not kind to us when we age and we typically suffer some balance
problems which will exacerbate our backhand issues. You have
to maintain your balance to develop the rhythm and weight
transference to hit a shot. Once you understand your 'dominant eye'
issue, a few simple balance building exercises (eg the Bulgarian
split squat demonstrated below) will quickly do wonders for your balance on court and
certainly put a little more confidence in your game!
Start slowly,
alternate from backhand to forehand, and gradually build to 3 sets
of 12 reps each.
To discover your
dominant eye, select an object that is a few feet away from you
and point to the object using your index finger. When your eyes are
focused on the object and not on your finger, you will see two
blurry fingers in your line of sight. Now, alternatively close one
eye and then close the other eye. You will notice that with one of
your eyes closed, your index finger will point exactly at the
object, however, when the other eye is closed, your finger will
point at an area slightly shifted to the side of the object. The eye
with which you see your index finger pointing exactly at the object
is your "dominant eye."
(c)
Rob Muir, USPTA |
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Ask the Pro:
How can I improve my volley? |
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Whether we like it or not, most of us just aren't
that comfortable in hitting a volley and for doubles, this is a
fatal flaw. The reason is part psychology, part nature, part
technique. When confronted with a fast moving ball while
standing at the net, our brain's first reaction is 'danger, danger'
which means that we either turn our heads away or at least try to
protect our eyes. This reaction is triggered when we can't
accommodate (change the shape of) our eye in the time
between when the ball is hit typically from the baseline and the
time we have to hit a volley. If you think about it, just standing
at the net means you have half the time to accommodate your
eyes compared to when you are at the baseline.
Tennis is one of those unique sports that we
typically don't 'practice' in other life pursuits. For example, our
eyes are in a parallel/distant mode when focussing at distance (eg
driving a car) from the baseline, whereas we have to triangulate our
eyes (eg reading a book) to focus to hit a ball. And our brain,
being smarter than we are, typically does this for us without any
conscious thinking on our part. So long as we can accomplish this
process easily, everything is fine and dandy. Increase the pace of
the ball beyond our comfort level, or stand at the net to volley,
and nature takes over!
Short of hitting 10,000 balls to
build your confidence and technique, there's a couple of simple
things you can do to improve your volley. First and foremost,
you must try to keep the ball in your field of vision -- at all
times! In other words, always be looking down the court and move your eyes to watch the ball rather
than moving your head.
It's fatal to turn your head
backwards to watch your partner hit the ball since you will not have
enough time to turn your head back and focus in time to hit a ball
hit squarely at you. Rather, focus your attention on your opponents
when you're at the net. If you see your opposing net player move
across the net, you have a pretty good idea that a volley may be
coming your way.
Second, you can practice
'accommodating your eye' to improve your reaction time. Just hold up
our thumb and quickly change your focus from near (top of your
thumb) to far (a distant object, typically the top of a court pole.)
Go slow though, since you might find you've got some eye muscles
that haven't had such a concentrated work out for a while!
Lastly, simplify your technique to a very basic
'catching the ball' out in front of you so you don't have to turn
your head. There will be typically more than enough pace on the ball
hit at you to make a firm volley. Perfection is to be able to hit a
'placement' away from your opponents. Once you have mastered the
basic, you're ready for some more advanced volley lessons to polish
up your stroke technique.
(c)
Rob Muir, USPTA |
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