The eye is a small camera.All of us enjoy dabbling in amateur photography, and every amateur must take "action" pictures with his first camera.It is a natural desire to attain to the hardest before understanding how to reach it.The result is one of two things: either a blurred moving object and a clear background, or a clear moving object and a blurred background.Both suggest speed, but only one is a good picture of the object one 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.Just so with the human eye.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 speedily enough.
Now the tennis ball is your moving object while the court, gallery, net,and your opponent constitute your background.You desire to hit the ball cleanly, therefore do not look at the other factors concerned, but concentrate solely on focusing the eye firmly on the ball, and watching it until the moment of impact with your racquet face.
"How do I know where my opponent is, or how much court I have to hit in?" ask countless beginners.
Remember this: that a tennis court is always the same size, with the net the same height and in the same relation to you at all times, so there is no need to look at it every moment or so to see if it has moved.Only an earthquake can change its position.As to your opponent, it makes little difference about his position, because it is determined by the shot you are striving to return.Where he will be I will strive to explain in my chapter on court position; but his whereabouts are known without looking at him.You are not trying to hit him.You strive to miss him.Therefore, since you must watch what you strive to hit and not follow what you only wish to miss, keep your eye on the ball, and let your opponent take care of himself.
Science has proved that given a 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 A 1 2 3 4 B ------------------------------- return at B is five times as great as if he took his eye off the ball at a point 4, or 4/5 of a second of its flight.Likewise it is ten times as great at B as it is 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?
The average player follows the ball to 4, and then he takes a last look at his opponent to see where he is, and by so doing increases his chance of error five times.He judges the flight of the ball some 10 feet away, and never really sees it again until he has hit it (if he does).A slight deflection caused by the wind or a small misjudgment of curve will certainly mean error.Remembering the 85 percent errors in tennis, I again ask you if it is worth while to take the risk?
