Ball Watching: Part 3

What methodology would allow other players to replicate Roger's ball watching? I pondered all of the information I derived from my filming of Federer and presented in the first two articles for weeks during my morning workouts. (Click Here for Part 1. Click Here for Part 2.) Over the next eighteen months, I tested several different methodologies to try to replicate what I saw in the photos. Ultimately, I came up with the following four step summary to be executed as you approach contact. Turn your head towards your racket side. Focus (saccade or eye shift down) on the hand-racket complex. Narrow your eyes to cut out extraneous visual information. Resist the urge to follow your shot. While the downward saccade produces the perception of slowing or stopping a moving object, narrowing the visual field cuts out extraneous information and limits the vision to the hand and racket. Close Your Eyes In addition to this two pronged approach to vision, closing your eyes after you hear the contact allows the last visual information to be transmitted to the visual cortex on a black background, making it more prominent. Close your eyes after you hear contact. To demonstrate this, hold a...