STOP “Watching The Ball” in Tennis! - Tennis Lesson

[@DanielHrivnak]

I almost never comment, but I had to on this one. I played doubles 2 days in a row last weekend, and saw this video in between the matches. I was able to try out the advice and WOW what a difference it made. I don't know how I never thought of this before, but it makes perfect sense and is very easy to put into practice! Thank you for sharing!

[@EssentialTennis]

That's what I'm talking about! Way to put what you learned into action, Daniel. I'm proud of you!

[@lyndseyandandrew5771]

Thanks for the reminders here! Cannot overstate how hard this is. Another coach recommends a drill in which you say, out loud, "Ball" as your opponent makes contact, then watch the ball to contact, then "Player" right after you make contact, to pivot your eyes to your opponent. It helps a bit!

[@EssentialTennis]

I love that, awesome idea!

[@JavyFel]

This is an excellent vid, Ian. Thanks for sharing! A little assist here: Ian does say you should watch the ball once it's coming at you at the 10:05 mark, but is discussing reading your opponent, which is great advice to anticipate the next shot 🔥

[@EssentialTennis]

Appreciate your support, Javy!

[@paulsullivan807]

Great video!!!! Simple to follow. Sent it to my tennis group!

[@EssentialTennis]

Thanks for sharing, really appreciate it

[@richkrinks4428]

Great work on this. Anticipating (not guessing) is probably one of the most under used tactics in the tennis game.

[@EssentialTennis]

Agreed!

[@leonardoleite1085]

Wow. Great videos lastly. Thanks for putting the effort to make high quality videos!

[@EssentialTennis]

Thanks so much!

[@rajgopalmanoharan]

Amazing info and explaination 👍

[@-Munditimum-]

Amazing coaching, as always. Loved how the point was made for both singles and doubles. Long live ET. Cheers, M

[@EssentialTennis]

Cheers!

[@angerisdiscipline3913]

looking the ball has been most important for me the 1,2 seconds before contact when its the only thing I have to focus on , it for sure increases my accuracy and precision when I squeeze in that focus 1 second before contact especially on my handed backhand as timing is crucial for this shot

[@yuurishibuya4797]

One of the famous cricketer Jonty Rodes a best Feldsmen said this: “ I watch the batsman’s feet and hand movements to figure out where they are going to hit the ball and then start moving towards that direction to catch the ball”. Jonty played around 1996~2006.

[@EssentialTennis]

YES

[@mantiskf]

indeed, I have taught a similar approach to university biomechanics students; instead of asking for a "quiet eye" as in golf where the ball doesn't move, I refer to a quiet head/face with an active peripheral eye.

[@Carey-ql5zw]

great points. I recognize me watching the ball and now will watch the other side of the net. Thanks

[@linhmoberly4493]

Love the analysis. Please do more double plays lessons . Thanks

[@EssentialTennis]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@KherojitSingh-dk1ek]

Super entertaining and useful sir Ian 😂😂❤😅

[@ibrahimuye8536]

Great information, thank you

[@EssentialTennis]

You're very welcome!

[@parksfromabove]

Excellent video

[@EssentialTennis]

Thank you very much!

[@EssentialTennis]

Learn how to take your anticipation to the next level here: www.tennissecret.com/

[@robertgarica]

I believe the video should be retitled "Stop watching the ball in tennis...when it is on your opponent's side." This is to contrast from the "good" advice to watch the ball at the point of contact during one's own stroke.

[@EssentialTennis]

Thanks for the feedback

[@robbmatthews5102]

You're right, the longer and wordier title is catchy and will certainly garner more attention.

[@DonYang73]

Well said. Nowadays, i noticed many videos which try to use contradictory advice as click bait. 😂😂

[@elliottlagman6082]

I was so ready to hate on this video till I watched it… now I just hate the title for its misleading nature😂 if a league player only reads the title and doesn’t watch the video, they’re going to get a lot of use out of their frame when they try to stop watching the ball.

[@ayokay123]

@@elliottlagman6082 That's why the title is clickbait.

[@graymcmic1419]

So Bob plays both deuce and ad court on return, and plays left and right handed?

[@EssentialTennis]

Whoops! Good catch.

[@albertcamus5970]

Another great video Ian!

[@EssentialTennis]

Appreciate the support!

[@randallchinn1850]

Whenever a coach tells you to "Watch The Ball", it refers to when you are actually striking the ball. The title of this video is very misleading, but I guess that was your intention in order to get everyone's attention. It worked!!

[@irameiling08]

Ian, 😮, do you have a mullet creeping out back there?!?!

[@EssentialTennis]

💯😅

[@nightrush79]

Peripherel vision!!!!!

[@lakeforest2020]

You had me in mind when you made this one, i see

[@EssentialTennis]

Oh ya? What resonated the most?

[@lakeforest2020]

@@EssentialTennis it’s David, from Lake Forest. We did some sessions on not watching where my shot lands 😂😮

[@EssentialTennis]

Ooohhhh, lol. Yup, exactly for you!

[@mightbefire]

I'll just do what Roger does. Works pretty well for him

[@EssentialTennis]

Perfect!

[@sameertalcherkar3988]

This is one of your best videos Ian! I've really only seen one other person (Feisal Hassan) delve into this topic. It's already helping me see the lob sooner!!

[@EssentialTennis]

Glad to hear it's helping!

[@DolphinWithIgloo-fg3ow]

Quiet eyes is a whole nother skill set.

[@stevenjm12]

Great video. I think Ians real nose is bigger than this nose costume

[@EssentialTennis]

😅🥸

[@GershonBenYitzhak]

All I'm trying to do is keep my head still during contact

[@EssentialTennis]

Keep up the great work!

[@dl4703]

Keep your eye on the ball people. You can anticipate what your opponent is going to do while keeping your eye on the ball.

[@EssentialTennis]

So the Bryan brothers are doing it wrong?

[@brucestrickland8561]

Another reasons not to look back at your partner -- You don't want to get a fuzz sandwich (Vic Braden's (RIP) term).

[@EssentialTennis]

YES, I forgot to mention that, totally true. RIP Vic, what a legend.

[@brucestrickland8561]

@@EssentialTennis Famous by Friday!!

[@Lonor77]

BUT remember to watch the ball when you are about to hit!

[@EssentialTennis]

💯

[@mohongzhi]

Watching the ball should always be like when the ball coming toward you. After a hit actually i think everyone naturally will focus on opponent(s), then they should watch the ball again while or after it's returned. Recently i notice i don't really look the ball when i hit it. Some occacions it just out of my sight the moment i hit the ball. I've been trying to force myself to at least keep the ball in sight during my hitting, and it's so magic all unforced errors just gone. It's even so easy to keep all balls hit in sweet spot. I think this is always what all coaches telling 'watching the ball' thing.

[@EssentialTennis]

The vast majority of players watch the ball......ALL the time, sadly.

[@mohongzhi]

@@EssentialTennis Been play tennis for 30 more years and i never notice this. Now i will carefully watch everyone play to see this. I was assume everyone will switch to watch oppponent when the ball leave us.

[@EssentialTennis]

Check it out! The example I used in this lesson (looking back at the partner) is normal.

[@volleymaster2849]

If you're saying don't watch the ball, then I'm sorry you are talking absolute rubbish. Federer was a master of looking at the ball. He didn't need to look anywhere. When you know the shot you want to execute, you get in position and commit. You hit the ball perfectly. Court awareness is all you need. Very few players can hit the ball without looking at the court or opponent. When you know your sport and it's dimensions, you don't need to know what anyone else is doing, only what you want to do.

[@EssentialTennis]

9:45 is just for you.

[@volleymaster2849]

​@@EssentialTennis You know, when I posted my comment, I realised that I should rectify what I was saying.... When you hit the ball. Sorry about the premature assumption. In which case, thank you for being explicit about watching the ball when hitting. I don't know if you saw Federer playing doubles with wawrinka and his head was still down where he had hit the ball and the ball was volleyed past him before he looked up! Comical.

[@EssentialTennis]

Thanks for watching, best wishes

[@gab_ale]

Hah, this is going to be good.

[@EssentialTennis]

🔥🔥

[@gab_ale]

@@EssentialTennis Ah, you are just being "sneaky" with the title. Props to you though for teaching this. People are almost never taught to learn to read the court and the opponent.

[@EssentialTennis]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mattroland5943]

So I can look all around and not worry about the ball? Pull my head off the ball. Not look up when I serve? Drop mead head on the overhead to see which way my opponent is going to go?...hope the force is with me.

[@tomsd8656]

I think your title is a little misleading. When coaches say watching the ball, it means watching it from the moment it leaves your opponent's racquet so that you can calculate its trajectory toward you. Before that, you watch your opponent's movement and his racquet. The minute that the ball leaves your opponent's racquet, you already know whether it's going to your FH, BH, right at you, slice, topspin, lob, drop shot, and you immediately set yourself up to intercept as early as you can. Your eyes have to keep tracking the ball but your peripheral vision can still see where your opponent is up until you hit. But most important is the moment you strike. At that time your brain had calculated where the ball is. You can even close your eyes and still hit it. However, as you strike, you shouldn't move your head to look over to the other side, as the movement of the neck muscle will affect your swing just a wee bit, and that could result in netting the ball. If you want to see this, look at still photos of Djokovic's head right after the ball leaves his racquet. It stays where the ball used to be.

[@EssentialTennis]

Great comments, thanks for watching!

[@robbmatthews5102]

Good thing junior tennis coaches are available to add comments about Ian's business.

[@tomsd8656]

@robbmatthews5102 You know what they say when you assume? You make an a s s out of .... I'm not a coach, but this was taught to me when I was a junior. And to this day I still think my coach was spot on. A lot of time when I netted a shot, I saw my ball hit the net. That's an indication I had looked up while swinging at the ball.

[@robbmatthews5102]

@@tomsd8656 i think you're doing a fine job making yourself an a** all on you own,

[@ayokay123]

Clickbait title, for sure.

[@EssentialTennis]

....the video is literally only about not watching the ball.

[@ayokay123]

@@EssentialTennis As an instructor, you know that the most important thing taught to students is to keep your eye on the ball BEFORE striking it. EVERY tennis player knows this. "Stop watching the ball AFTER it's hit!" would have been the honest title. Not differentiating between the two was intentional so as to garner more clicks.

[@majormajor9672]

"reading your opponent" is not the same as "stop watching the ball". This is very click-baity, and yep, I clicked. :) I've never heard of any tennis instructor telling someone to stare at the ball as the ball goes over to the other side of the court. "Watch the ball" *always* only refers to when you are about to strike at it. TBH if you are at the level where after you hit the ball and you kept on starring at it and do nothing, you probably still need to work on "watching the ball" as you hit it anyway.

[@GustavGans-v5u]

This clip is also useless. It's fkin obsolete. Every normal thinking person knows that watching the contact point is bullcrap that came in the course of the Federer-hype. No one can see the ball hitting the racket face, even Federer can't do this.

[@UndulatusAsperatus]

Have a look at Novak videos in slow motion, he also watches the contact point when he hits. Not for such a long time as Roger, not to such crazy extent, but his head is clearly turned in the direction of the ball and only after the contact he moves his head in the direction of his opponent.

[@EssentialTennis]

Actually.....there's a LOT of Novak forehand videos showing him not watching the ball to contact. Do a Google image search for "Djokovic forehand" and take a look.

[@EssentialTennis]

The point of "watching the ball" when hitting it isn't to actually see it hit the strings, that is impossible, it's to maintain balance and keep from making any kind of sudden movements with the upper body right around contact. Unfortunately, that isn't very well understood 😕

[@watcher687]

@@EssentialTennis Maybe so that your head is steady around contact. It weighs around 5kg!

[@robbmatthews5102]

perhaps you should consider pickleball