Human Rights

Human Rights  » Tennis - Anticipation - Early Warning Systems, what is it?

Tennis - Anticipation - Early Warning Systems, what is it?

The radar early warning systems in computer games, calls your

attention to an incoming missile or enemy attack...and you take

evasive, defensive or aggressive action. Boy, would this be

useful in tennis!

Some players seem to have that kind of radar; Pete Sampras,

Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Martina Hings to name a few. In

lay terms it is called "anticipation", in the players above it

is almost an inborn factor that they naturally just use. For us

regular humans it is something that one can learn and train.

How does it function? There are several other factors that

influence "anticipation" but I am going to focus on just one;

ball tracking.

Teachers often keep on telling pupils to "watch the ball", I

say, "track the ball". Professional players track the ball from

the moment it leaves their rackets to the moment the opponent

strikes it and so on. Why tracking and not watching? Because

when you track the ball your minds eye automatically produces a

directional vector of the ball's trajectory from the point of

impact to the point of landing, therefore, giving your brain the

exact coordinates where to go next.

There are different levels of tracking reactions, beginner,

amateur and professional.

- Beginner; the ball is struck by your opponent, travels past

the net, bounces off of the ground and at that moment you start

reacting.

- Amateur, the ball is struck by your opponent, travels a few

feet past the net and then you start reacting.

- Professional, the moment the ball is struck by your opponent,

you react and move immediately in the direction the ball is

going to bounce.

Today's Popular Articles

• The Mind outside the Mind

• Better Living Through Chemicals

So when practicing, get used to activating your "early warning

systems", track the ball from your racket and the moment your

opponent strikes it, react immediately. Once you start using

this new weapon in your game, you will notice that you will have

plenty more time to get to the ball and you will eventually

begin to beat opponents you thought were out of your reach!

Hope you will enjoy becoming a "faster" player. Have fun with

"The Game".

For comments or ideas about this article please email the author

Copyright © 1999-2005 Tenniscruz.com®. All rights reserved.

About the author:

Sérgio Cruz is ex # 1 National Champion, Davis Cup Player from

Portugal and former Coach Jim

Courier ATP World Ranking # 1

Contact: cruz@tenniscruz.com or http://www.forum.tenniscruz.com

http://www.tenniscruz.com