How to watch the ball in tennis [4 TRAINING DRILLS]

[@Johnstage]

This is one of the Top 10 most important videos on tennis technique on KZbin. This video should be renamed “How to stop making unforced errors.” Tracking the ball and exercising your extraocular and neck muscles is THE KEY to clean contact, precision and consistency. Without it, rhythm timing tempo and application of any technique cannot be performed with regularity. It’s the unsung secret for many players especially but not limited to the older ones. We’re staring at a screen 8 hours a day then expect to track a ball to our racquet without any preparation? Your extraocular muscles need training just as your legs, arms, torso. Be patient. Work on it. But it’s super important! Thx Richard for these essential exercises to develop essential skills!

[@TennisHacker]

Thank you for your comment. As you said, it could be part of every video / lesson. Vision is one of the biggest limiting factors for most players.

[@JamesDavisakaRemguy]

I appreciate your comment very much, Robert. I have TERRIBLE tracking skills, truly horrible, I never - and I mean _never_ - hit the ball in the sweetspot. I do have my doubts, however, that training the eye muscles at arm's length is going to translate well to very dynamic, in vivo visual demands starting some 80 feet away, but hey WHAT CAN IT HURT TO TRY, right? (See Steve Martin's _The Jerk_ for answer) The funny thing is, I've worked with many coaches (in a team setting) and not a one has ever mentioned it, my routinely off-center hits. Could it be that this problem is difficult/impossible to detect from an objective, third-party perspective? Let me finish (Ima let ME finish?) by saying that I hope you are right. I'll give it a try, Lord knows my game could use it...

[@Johnstage]

@@JamesDavisakaRemguy Many ways to skin a cat. Try this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Znq5d6OKopKrbbs It has helped me a great deal and rapidly. Remember that the most important thing is to keep the head still just before and through contact. Track with the head then don’t move the head even though you are rotating the shoulders and arms…not easy. Start with less kinetic chain and increase as your tracking improves. I used to have no issues tracking when I hit flat and super cleanly with a semi continental-eastern grip in the late 1970’s. When I tried to change to a semi western and modern stroke all hell broke loose. Couldn’t figure out why until I realized it was my head moving through contact!

[@walterhayley7252]

Absolutely brilliant! Thank you Richard...

[@TennisHacker]

You are welcome. Glad you found the drills helpful.

[@the_wrong_folder]

Teaching my kids hand-eye coordination and tracking the ball has been quite challenging. Thanks for the great tips!

[@TennisHacker]

Happy to help.

[@fredericchauveau3011]

I thought there was something inevitable about loosing track of the ball with age but I see that even this can be drilled and improved . How to avoid framing and or missing the sweet spot. Thank Richard. Great content.👏👍

[@TennisHacker]

You are welcome. Vision is very very trainable! Start with the free program and work at it consistently. But there is a ton more you can do 😁

[@GershonBenYitzhak]

This is 1000% more valuable than the stupid videos (not yours) about right/left eye dominance.

[@Altmnop]

Interesting, seems literally training hand eye coordination. Never occurred to me, great tips thanks

[@TennisHacker]

That is exactly it. By improving the visual system & hand to eye, it makes everything else easier.

[@triplet7734]

Thank you very much for sharing this important training. Happy day and God blesses us all.🌞🌛🙏

[@mtns7036]

Brilliant. I hope this can help me with a student who hits really late on the forehand.

[@TennisHacker]

It will probably help a little bit, but late contact on one side normally points to a coordination / movement deficit.

[@mondavi14]

Thanks, can't wait to see if this exercises translate on the court.

[@TennisHacker]

You are welcome. Let me know how you get on or if you have any questions.

[@tomsd8656]

It definitely will. I never knew these exercises. I was just told to track the ball from the time it made contact with the opponent's racket to the time I swing at it. I had been able to return many fast serves, with interest, when I was able to track and not lose it momentarily. You will feel it the minute you lose tracking, usually when you swing, because you tend to sneak peek to the other side where you plan to hit. But that will cause unforced errors more often than not.

[@docpramod]

Excellent. As an ENT specialist I can tell you guys that video has nailed the ball tracking business admirably.

[@TennisHacker]

Thank you

[@shan-tennis]

had no idea i was supposed to track the ball even as it hits the strings. Will definitely try incorporating that! thank you

[@brettneuberger6466]

Fascinating stuff here. EMDR uses similar eye movements to treat trauma patients. I notice while playing tennis and focusing on the ball at all times, thinking stops and my body simply takes over to do its thing, which dramatically improves my game. I’ve worked on this quite a bit just hitting against a wall. I’ll set an intention as to where I want the ball to land on the wall and then put all my attention on the ball:….in my hand, as it rolls on the ground, as I pick it up, as it comes off the wall and onto my strings, etc. In other words, the ball becomes my primary focus of attention. I first tried this as a way to stop all the mind chatter and self criticism, and was quite blown away by how it not only stopped all the chatter, but by how efficiently I could hit the ball where I intended. I almost couldn’t miss and had to stop out of sheer exhaustion. Ha! Once we get our physical skills dialed in through practice, concentration and repetition, our body knows how to do the rest, thus, the better we get our “thinking self” out of the way the better we’ll do on court. Ie., getting in the zone. I love the work you do here. Thanks for the insightful and totally unique content!!

[@TennisHacker]

Thanks, glad you are enjoying the videos! EMDR is one of the many wonderful applications for vision training. What you described with your game is how I think about things when I play. Just completely lock into the ball and let all the the repetitions and practice take care of the rest. Based on my understand that's the key to tennis. But it only works once players reach a certain level of technical competancy.

[@brettneuberger6466]

@@TennisHacker Thanks for your reply. I agree with your take. Who knew there was so much to vision training, or that it was even a thing. I sure didn’t. I’m definitely going to take a deeper look. 🙄 (Sorry about that one.) Really though, I need to check out more of your channel!

[@emmanlabudiong7500]

This is exactly what I need! My coach had been telling me what to do. And I have been improving well. But I know myself that there are just so much times that I can't apply whatever I was told simply because my body and my hand doesn't do what I want it to do..my eyes and body coordination needs lots of work.. I will definitely do this every day and I will comment here again after 2weeks..

[@matiasvonfedak9731]

Sir, thanks for this excellent video. I am 82 years old, some times with Vertigo problems and some exercises for Vertigo are similar to yours. Hope your video will help me with my tennis +Vertigo.

[@TennisHacker]

Depending what type of vertigo you get, they have the potential to help. Or the potential to aggravate, so it's best to start out slowly and see you respond.

[@eyedrz]

As an eye doctor, I must say this is well done.

[@TennisHacker]

Thank you. I appreciate that!

[@chubbieminami3274]

This is great for my dry eyes as well!!

[@leventeyuboglu4501]

I am feeling improvement from first try. thanks

[@TennisHacker]

Awesome, happy to help :-)

[@azuremountain]

for some reason i'm compelled to give this video a like, i wonder why.

[@mutronium]

Thx for sharing this !!!

[@TennisHacker]

You are welcome. Hopefully it helps you tracking.

[@xtinasmile83]

Thank you , I needed this so much !!! 🎾❤️

[@TennisHacker]

You are welcome. They can make a huge difference.

[@TheDrakulie]

do you have any videos on how to increase racket head speed, perhaps by working out muscles ?

[@TennisHacker]

I don't have anything specifically on improving racket head speed, sorry.

[@ruipedro4195]

Hi Richard, Thanks for your video. Do you have video(s) to improve my hand-eye coordination?

[@TennisHacker]

The free vision program is the first place to start. Then i have a full program where i work with players on hand to eye stuff. Did you get the free prog?

[@ruipedro4195]

@@TennisHacker Where is the free vision program?

[@TennisHacker]

It in the description for all my videos

[@Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn]

Great video. Thank you!

[@TennisHacker]

Do you struggle with watching the ball to your contact point?

[@nicolekayton9927]

Is this good to do right before a match to get timing ?

[@TennisHacker]

For a lot of people yes. But it depends on how you respond. Some people are better doing it away from playing. Best thing to do is test it and find out.

[@dammitol25mg19]

This looks very useful.

[@TennisHacker]

Let me know how you feel on court after you’ve done it a few times.

[@dammitol25mg19]

@@TennisHacker thanks, i will.

[@alexandermerino1761]

Great video! Very clear and helpful!

[@TennisHacker]

Thank you.

[@cryce9104]

I've been playing for more than 15years, and everytime I go back playing after 2days of absence, my hand and eye coordination always gets reset, I need to play at least 3 games or more just to get my strokes in place, I've been searching for answers how to improve athleticism, I always tell myself to keep my eyes on the ball, but it doesn't always works, the ball just gets scrambled on my point of view, playing those games to get my strokes back gets my eye trained I guess. But now, thanks to these exercises. Now I can see more clear, and I hope this solves my problem I'm having. Again, thank you

[@cryce9104]

I always thought that I couldn't read other players strokes/spin, so I watched them more than I watched the ball..

[@TennisHacker]

Every aspect of tennis athleticism is trainable including vision. Great to hear you’ve notices improvements already. Keep working at thing s and progressing your training, because vision training is like all training. You keep improving the longer you stick at it

[@TheDrakulie]

This is great. how many times a week should i do this ? Thanks

[@TennisHacker]

It depends how your body responds. The best plan is to try and see how you feel. If you feel great, then doing it every day can work well. If you feel tired after, then you might need to space it out.

[@aaronrussell5047]

I have a problem of not following the ball all the way to contact. As a lifelong basketball player getting back into tennis, I think tend to look toward my target too much. I'll try this and see if it helps. I don't know if it's my inability to track the ball, or my ingrained muscle memory to look at the target from far more basketball play compared to tennis, but I'll try!

[@TennisHacker]

It's probably a combination of both. Most players need work on their eye movements and they need to train the muscle memory. With that said, poor timing and hitting the ball late are also major contributors. It's very hard to watch the ball through to contact if you hit late.

[@DMoss84]

Great vids!

[@TennisHacker]

Thank you :-)

[@pablohernandezblanco4498]

I've seen Zverev do this before a game! 👍👍

[@TennisHacker]

Yep, me too. He does a very specific type of drill before he plays.

[@TennisVR-TheRealLawnrunner]

Training the visual system following the ball can be well done in VR First person Tennis. You should try it. Though some people may get sick sooner than in RL 😀

[@TennisHacker]

To propperly train the visual system, most people need to break down ball tracking into less complex visual skills. I've tried first person tennis and sense arena and they don't do the same thing I'm explaining here. If people have sub optimal visual function (which is pretty much every non pro player I've assessed), they just end up compensating like the do when they play tennis.

[@atakanwolwox9352]

Thank you for all videos. You are really hacker. How long or period should we continue these motions?

[@TennisHacker]

Vision training is like other training. It needs to be progressive. So you can keep doing the same drills for a while, but you make them more challenging over time

[@pfpvilano]

Excellent 😊

[@ginomarone8831]

Sounds like at 4:50 the seagulls are disagreeing with you lol! Great video / content by the way! And quick question: does it matter if you are left or right eye dominant (if you are right handed?) thanks!

[@TennisHacker]

Ha, ha. Seagulls, fire engine sirens. They were all against me that day 🤣 when you say does eye dominance matter? Do you mean for the drills or for your game?

[@ginomarone8831]

@@TennisHacker for the game, in general. At this point I don’t even know if my daughter is left or right eye dominant but after watching your video, I am now interested in testing her. Btw, I also like your “hip rotation video”! Great drills for helping implement proper “footwork” (aka loading from the hips) for proper FH and BH. Coaches always talk “footwork” and “bent yer knees” but never go into details on how it should be implemented. I get it 100% but trying to relay it to a 12 year old is a whole new challenge.... lol

[@TennisHacker]

Testing eye dominance is really easy, i have a video on mu insta showing it. Some research suggests the dominant eye processes information a tiny by faster l. But i wouldn’t worry about it because it can’t be changed. Just focusing on improving the various different visual skills.

[@claudiozanella256]

Fifth drill was seeing and hitting the thumb up! 2080.

[@michael.a.m]

I wear eyeglasses with a pretty strong prescription. Do you have any thoughts on if these drills should be done with glasses on, off, or both?

[@TennisHacker]

It's a good idea to do the drills in the glasses you will be using when you play. This will keep the images clear and that helps the brain to learn. With that said, i do also recommend doing some training without glasses. And over time, it's often possible to improve function so the a lesser prescription is required.

[@michael.a.m]

@Tennis Hacker thanks for answering. I've been doing some eye tracking exercises outside without my glasses along with my morning exercises and do appreciate the reassurance. I think it has been helping and I'll keep doing it :)

[@leslieherrion9647]

What’s your opinion on eye dominance? How to determine one’s eye dominance and how to adapt knowing that information. Thx :)

[@TennisHacker]

Hi Leslie, I just made a video about this which I'll upload next week some time. To summarize what I explain in the video - I've worked with so many players who thought eye dominance was causing a problem with the tracking or timing. But then when we assessed their vision there were very obvious deficits with specific visual skills. When we addressed those visual deficits the issue they thought was caused by the eye dominance went away. All the best players in the world have a dominant eye and they are all amazing players. So my opinion is that eye dominance isn't something to worry about or adapt based on. Were you having problems with a specific shot or was it more a general question? Thanks Richard

[@leslieherrion9647]

@@TennisHacker I just wonder bc there are so many times on the court when I’ll say “I can’t see it!” It’s soooo frustrating. My vision is fine except I have astigmatism that really really troubles me with light. I wear sunglasses even in overcast weather. Maybe part of it is aging. I just don’t see the ball as soon as I think I should at net and then at times when at baseline I think I see it and right before I start to hit I feel like I can’t see it. Just a bunch of oddness. Lol

[@TennisHacker]

When you say your vision is fine, what are you basing it on? Obviously it's possible, but I've been testing players for 6 years and haven't tested any players yet, who didn't have obvious deficits. Would you like to chat and we can run through a few simple assessments, to see if we can identify anything that might be causing a problem?

[@sammarlatt1]

If you go too far L or R your nose blocks one eye and then no stereo vision. This can happen a lot as you chase the ball around turning your head and you feel like you don't really see the ball somehow, so the head has to turn to maintain stereo vision.

[@TennisHacker]

Exactly, you generally want your nose lines up to the ball. There will be times when this isn't possible especially if you have limited flexibility in your neck. But most of the time it can be done.

[@michaeldeangelis1225]

2 Thumbs Up or Down or Sideways or Diagonally. Great way to apply neuroscience. Although important, so many instructors focus on technique and don't take the vestibulo-ocular system into account. A tennis buddy of mine always says, "You can't hit what, you can't see". So true.

[@TennisHacker]

It's all fundamentals. You have to get to the ball before you can hit. And if you can't see it, you can't hit it!

[@dandalee]

Subbed. 👊

[@TennisHacker]

🙌🙌

[@fingersm]

My biggest issue! Hope this helps!!!!

[@TennisHacker]

It will definitely help, also i created a free program that has a couple more drills, you can get it from this page tennishacker.krtra.com/t/TShpXDHcZ3dT

[@lthage373]

I wear glasses ONLY when I play tennis to help with depth perception. Should I do these drills with or without the glasses?

[@anhvu3780]

hah. this is very interesting. thanks.

[@TennisHacker]

Happy to help 😀

[@clydedaglide5284]

Is this too extreme to teach this to a 8yr old as a tennis parent.

[@TennisHacker]

I've taught these drills to groups of 8 year old without any problems. What do you think is extreme about them?

[@clydedaglide5284]

@@TennisHacker no this is a great lesson. Thank You.

[@yuetchuen]

lol

[@Chris_Sheridan]

This is an example of poor teaching and over complex delivery - too much information is presented and cluttered - the focus should be on one aspect without too much trivia and keeping it practical.