Ball Watching: Part 1

The quintessential, sine qua non of good tennis is good racket to ball contact. And good ball contact hinges upon correct, consistent ball watching.

Of the many great champions I’ve studied, there are many great ball watchers. I have seen Roger Federer play live more than forty times. His ball watching ability and technique stand out even among other greats.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Roger Federer is the greatest ball watcher of the modem era. I believe ball watching has been pivotal to Federer’s success and popularity.

Because he is the best example of great ball watching, I decided to study Roger Federer’s technique in depth. I took an evidence based approach by studying over 1500 Federer photographs and tried to discern objectively what he is doing during ball watching.

But what do we mean by ball watching? The scientific fact is that racket to ball contact cannot be truly seen because it is too rapid for the human nervous system to process in real time. However, I believe it can be perceived within the limits of nerve transmission speed. And better perception of contact translates to better contact.

The Hitting Cycle

There’s a certain rhythm to…