Returning a pro tennis serve: just don't watch the ball

Keeping your eye on the ball is one of the first pieces of sporting advice we are all given, which seems pretty sensible when facing an object potentially moving at 100 mph plus. But, is it even possible? The average male tennis pro has a serve of around 125mph which, travelling over 75ft, means it's almost impossible to return if you're watching the ball. So here's how it's done
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[@thecat4272]

That was really interesting. With the big serves nowadays, reaction times simply aren't quick enough to return well hit serves. The Isner v Anderson at Wimbledon was a classic example. Becker has been saying for years you don't react, you try and predict based on cues.

[@redeadhead4]

The Cat you should check out Isner v Mahut if you liked Isner v Anderson

[@philevans6395]

Isner v Anderson was cooler because of how much stress Isner was under. Of course, we all knew he would lose after a couple of ot games

[@commondirtbagz7130]

They actually are. In fact that’s exactly what this video is saying. You can’t watch the ball because your reflexes aren’t able to both process what your seeing and THEN react to it. Whereas if you react to the sound and predict the path of the ball you have a better chance to return it.

[@weyman4317]

Becker stuck his tongue out of his mouth in the direction he would serve.

[@vasDcrak]

This is why Federer is one of the best servers because his wide and T serve look the same. there are no visual clues, you just have to react.

[@xertz4267]

vasDcrak Gaming well, you guess, then react lolol. His serve is the exact same T as it is wide. Crazy.

[@yomamacrib3297]

Cap

[@MartinJohnZ]

And the speed of the serve is not the only factor, players can also serve with lots of spin creating some crazy bounces

[@joestar6194]

Just watch the 2009 Wimbledon final between Roddick and Federer. Roddick was continuously serving at around 125 Mph and Federer was returning it very easily. He didn't think about it.

[@tradarcher300]

Backing up from the baseline also helps. Now explain how Roger does the sabr...

[@youen1821]

tradarcher300 too good?

[@harrue]

He just did.

[@eagle3676]

tradarcher300 he predicts. Nole sometimes moves before the ball is even hit by the opponent. Great players are really good at predicting where the ball is gonna go

[@jimmywu1011]

He usually only does that on the second serve

[@MartinJohnZ]

A lot of players actually stand closer to the baseline to receive serve in order to cut off angles

[@FobbyTox]

Returning a serve is more like a reflex (re)action, something you do almost automatically and you can master it through practice and experience. But apparently returning a serve is more than that. You can’t just rely on luck. There’re many other parameters like who’s the opponent, the way he serves, 1st or 2nd serve etc. Great video tho! 🎾

[@philevans6395]

right they compared that part to goalies in soccer

[@pelaoseco1992]

Are there References of peer-reviewed studies available to support claims regarding how long it takes for different parts of one's brain to process the mentioned recognition sequences? Would like to see. Thanks

[@Tubsidio]

Mile per second make it hard for people outside us or uk to get the speed references that you guys are talking about

[@imviiku]

I have Played Both Baseball and Cricket.. both Averages The Same As 85-90mph.. Baseball may be 1-2 mph faster.. 100mph is Not an Avg. In Baseball.. Fastest pitch is 106Mph.. nd in Cricket it is 101mph.. but as A Batter its 5 times more harder to hit a Cricket ball as it Pitch on the surface first and then comes on to you.. And Unlike Baseball a bowler/pitcher can Aim It Anywhere on your Body from Foot to Your Head.. So Baseball was Lot more Easier to play than Cricket..

[@TheCrazyhumans]

I watched a video were it mentions that kyrgios' serve is effective as he does not toss the ball high up and wait till it drops to the right height. He instead toss the ball to the height at which he is going to serve and strikes the ball. Is it true? PS: I don't play tennis and have just been following tennis for some years.

[@iarmaani]

I will use my Sharingan to see the ball. Watch out Federer, I'm coming for you.

[@zandemen]

This was sort of interesting, and I won't pick nits over what the "average" speed is, because that's just silly, but the real issue is that it's entirely wrong in the basic concept, not just minor details. If you search for best tennis serve return, one of the videos you will find is of Roger Federers top ten best returns. I am making a claim that Roger Federer is a good tennis player, and watching him, well, it just makes your claim absurd. In every return, in every match, his eyes will be on the ball at the point of contact. In fact, most professional players do this most of the time. So dress it up in as many numbers and facts that you want, it's still BS underneath it all. The only way that it is sort of true, is they have developed a good habit of tracking the ball, (after looking at it to determine direction and speed) to ascertain where it should be going and move their gaze to that location so that their head and eyes can be still and focused clearly on that spot so that they can look directly at the ball with clear vision at the critical point. But watching the ball intently as it moves, tracking it, moving the gaze to a predicted location and watching it intently, well, that just doesn't sound like "not watching it" to me. It sounds more like WHILE watching it, your eyes do not move in a slow arc with motion blur throughout the track, but jump from clear focused picture to the next clear focused picture location. The example of the soccer players hitting in the dark is similarly faulty, in that the lights are on when they see the kick, so they know roughly where it should go, so they were WATCHING THE BALL to see where it will go, predict, and then hit it. When they practice a lot they get good at reading the trajectory and spin, and predicting the outcome. Their shots would still be better and more capable of correcting for changes if they could see the ball throughout the flight. For example, if a tennis ball hit a net, or took a weird bounce on a rough court surface, good player can often adjust their swing to compensate for that. Does your theory of prediction also cover this, or is it really magical? Simple experiment, like, very simple. Blindfold. Done. You're wrong.

[@abbonierecrackkuchetv7206]

Look at many other ATP players, they don't have their eyes on the ball at contact. Thiem even has his closed on the forehand.

[@ActivEthan]

I need to get back in it

[@philevans6395]

except this doesnt actually work and serena doesnt change her racquet position by more than like 5 degrees

[@PhilipHubbe]

The ball does different things on the bounce so you really only have that period of time by your reasoning to react.

[@CptCage]

125 mph gimme a break last week at Wimbledon Isner served over 145 mph

[@plu2448]

Drew Dillon i suggest u give us a break, i says AVERAGE , isner's avg i the wimbledon semi final was 123mph, but anyway, avg 125 is too fast, my guess is around 110to115, avg baseball speed is also ridiculous, its only around 88 to 90

[@jeroromouse9699]

But when you try it live=3 times harder then just theory

[@ohno501]

Actually the ball hitting the ground will speed the ball up depending on the spin

[@marble25]

is that gannicus?

[@thurman4689]

Pitchers do not throw 100mph avg

[@andrewmonkarsh9160]

the averages are way off. The average male pro serves at 117 mph and the average mlb pitcher hits around 94. Obviously there are highs and lows. I could count the total amount of mlb pitchers that can pitch 100 mph or higher with just my 10 fingers.

[@jimw9415]

Average listed for BBall100mph is too high

[@adampowers4593]

The average mlb fastball is NOWHERE NEAR 100mph

[@grahamstephenbaseball2254]

Well the tennis I think is wrong because baseball players have 400 ms to react and swing and that is a 90 mph fastball

[@davidyager2579]

The average MLB fast ball is not 100mpg.

[@benfleschman1493]

Avg pro serve more like 115-120....avg fastball more like 92-93

[@colinbyer3018]

If you don’t look at the ball you will completely miss...?

[@medicwaffles]

Golf

[@lun2414]

baseball average is 100mph???lol

[@carsonzaremski]

There isn’t a single Mlb player throwing at an average of 100 mph or higher

[@carlsong6438]

Average baseball fastball is NOT 100 lolololol. Its like 92 haha

[@anonnyymi4617]

Clickbait.

[@pilotjones9866]

Who’s the player in the thumbnail he’s cute

[@maxdelgado7105]

john isner

[@Albert_Reinstein]

Just find the Lagrangian of the Ball on the fly and solve the Euler Lagrange equations, to know exactly where to hit the ball, easy stuff

[@TheMcpro50]

Florian Koenig sounds like someone just took their first statistical mechanics course

[@robertsteinberger5667]

This is more about explaining things than it is a how-to guide...

[@Slame333]

Your Englishteacher I was gonna say the same thing, but the video alludes to there not really being a how to for the average person. It’s just look at cues (if you know them), predict, and swing.

[@tapiture3720]

I’m a tennis player and this is very true. When I’m playing an opponent with a big serve, I’m never looking at the ball whilst I hit it. My racquet falls to my side and I ease it over the net, without consciously focusing on it. Even with some rally court shots, I’m not “looking at the ball” but estimating where it is and hitting it.

[@yueli2146]

This is why Kevin Anderson vs John Isner was horrendous

[@philevans6395]

it does take a lot of energy to serve that hard and at the end half the time Isner couldnt even do his actual serve

[@walkercorry5412]

Precisely, I agree Yue Li. No disrespect to either player because they both are above average servers, but neither one of them are considered above average returners of serve.

[@mithileshk859]

Rafa will have all the time in the world to return..

[@Molybdaenmornell]

1:39 - why? You can see a ball from the far end of the court, so why won't you see it before it passes the net?

[@kesavamandiga8900]

So, with the right amount of training and mental preparation, returning a 125mph serve is a piece of cake-in theory. 🔥

[@Nill757]

Guardian does not know what it's talking about here.

[@commondirtbagz7130]

Not at all

[@jimmywu1011]

Baseball on average 100mph fastball? I swear that must be wrong

[@spicyramenmemes]

100 mph fastball is insane more like 90

[@EthansTv]

spicy.ramen.memes world record is 106 and a lot of closers have a 98-101 mph fastball now

[@harrue]

Yea butt it’s not the average.

[@EthansTv]

Tanglee squid avg would be 94 ish you don’t really see anyone throwing below 92-93 now but I’m just saying 100 isn’t as crazy now

[@ViaticalTree]

The average baseball pitcher wishes he could throw 100mph.

[@FullMetalSlayer]

average male tennis pro serves at 125? that is basically sampras' life time average. assuming it's only first serves from new balls generation onwards my estimate would be more like 115, include second serve and it's even lower. current top 10 players usually deliver first serves at 110s-130s.

[@denisobrien699]

Feet, miles per hour ? Is this the Middle Ages ? what a joke, the world operates in metric now !

[@guardiansport]

Most of the world, I agree. However, key English language territories less so. We would have loved to have included both but the video would be twice as long. I’m sure somebody as smart as yourself can do the conversion ;)

[@bigtime1356]

Sarah Marshall biggest, most powerful and greatest country is Russia, your lack of geography skills prove your inbredness

[@PONYBOYonline]

Poor children arguing about feet and miles. Sorry you all have to be spoon fed metric units and can't understand the conversions....

[@blaynewilson1549]

Two kinds of countries in the world, those who use the metric system and those that have been to the moon

[@eagle3676]

Sarah Marshall No!!! The UK operates in metric. Also the US is neither the greatest, nor the biggest and maybe the most powerful country in the world

[@imviiku]

Bring Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee in the Context

[@arjunroy7204]

Do you watch sports a lot

[@tennis47]

Great tips!

[@kelliebrooks9094]

Very nice

[@kelliebrooks9094]

Im in the 130s....i dont have a modern current racquet....but my last teacher helped me add 20mph to my serve but by changing my warm up an practice...a very smart German fellow...he pretty much changed my whole game...what an upgrade....peace

[@labernot110]

A human doesn't need 600 ms to process before reacting. Or am i misunderstanding this? Just take a random online reaction time tester and try it out.

[@jokotri2186]

Now imagine with badminton, the ball i.e. shuttlecock was way faster during a smash and way smaller field

[@timothystephenson2498]

3:35, Who is playing and what match was this? Wimbledon, I know, but when?

[@MmoviesE]

163.4mph? No thank you I’ll stick to mario tennis

[@Ophitone]

Don't forget the fact that badminton shots can go up to 400mph

[@YouKnowYongHwa]

400kph lol, not mph. Up to around 250 mph.

[@ahmadbodayr7203]

So far it is true

[@danielacuna5451]

Miggate no gokui

[@javierabraham6855]

NANI?!

[@woineeyp1252]

Umm. This is a piece of complete garbage. If you want a consistent decent speed serve, you have to look at the ball all the way until u hit it.

[@feeltheslipstream]

Woineey P at no point in the video does it talk about looking at the ball while serving. Did you even watch it?

[@WoolfyBG]

And then you found out table tennis, after that tennis looks and feels like a game for older grandpas.

[@ryanguzman4480]

I already knew this lol

[@josh_reagan]

Ryan Guzman congrats

[@aarjavik123]

Good for you buddy