I'm sure you've heard it so many times; it makes you wanna toss your racquet: 'Watch The Ball!'

If you're anything like me, you may have thought to yourself: I AM WATCHING THE BALL,

What else can I do...?

Take a gander at this simple 'graph,' and keep reading to find out what it means to your tennis game:

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 A    1    2    3    4    B
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According to a few statistics, there's a lot you can do.... And it only takes a fraction of a second.

These few statistics to show how vital it is that the eye must be kept on the ball UNTIL THE MOMENT OF STRIKING IT.

About 85% of the points in tennis are errors, and the remaining 15% are earned points.

As the standard of play rises the percentage of errors drops until, in the average high-class tournament match, 60% are errors and 40% cracker-jack-shots.

Any average *superior* to this is **super-tennis**

So...

Getting the ball back over the net so your opponent gets another chance to miss.... Can't be over-emphasized.

There are several causes for missing a shot:

80% are from taking your eye off the ball before contact

15% are from bad footwork

  5% are from bad stroke mechanics or bad bounces

The eye is a small camera. If you've ever tried to take an action shot with a camera, the result is one of two things:

1) Either a blurred moving object and a clear background

or

2) A clear moving object and a blurred background.

Both suggest speed, but only one is a good picture of the object you attempted to photograph.

In the first case the camera eye was focused on the background and not on the object, while in the second, which produced the result desired, the camera eye was firmly focused on the moving object itself.

The human eye is exactly the same. It will give both effects, but never a clear background and moving object at the same time, once that object reaches a point 10 feet from the eye. The perspective is wrong, and the eye cannot adjust itself to the distance range fast enough.

Now the tennis ball is your moving object while the net, the court, and your opponent are your background. To hit the ball cleanly you can't look at the other factors involved, but concentrate solely on focusing firmly on the ball, and watching it all the way until the moment of impact with your racquet. *

.... On to the graph and what it means to your tennis game....

Science has proved that a given tennis ball passing from point A to point B with the receiving player at B, that if the player at B keeps his eye on the ball throughout its full flight, his chance of making a good return at B is five times greater than if he took his eye off the ball at a point 4, or 4/5 of a second of its flight.

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 A    1    2    3    4    B
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Likewise it is ten times greater at B if the eye is removed from the ball at 3, or 3/5 of a second of its flight. Why increase your chances of error by five times or ten times when it is unnecessary?

A fraction of as second could mean the difference between slamming a winner or slugging one over the fence....