Watching The Ball In Tennis - 15 Drills For Better Ball Tracking

Download the 15 Ball Watching Tennis Drills PDF here: www.feeltennis.net/15-ball-tr...
Watching the ball well in tennis is one of the most important skills you need to master if you want to play tennis well and yet most advice does not go beyond "watch the ball" tip.
The problem is that in most cases players don't know what does that really mean and how to actually work on ball tracking skills in the long term.
That's why I've prepared a comprehensive video article with 15 drills to help you improve your ball tracking ability.
www.feeltennis.net/watching-b...
The link above will take you to the article with the video embedded.
And since it's hard to remember all 15 drills to use on the court and not very convenient to browse on KZbin on the court to find the above video, I've put together a PDF with short descriptions of each drill so that you can download it to your smartphone and easily access it on the court.
I suggest you first watch the video (30 minutes long!) or go through the article so that you understand each drill and how it's best executed.
Then it will be easy for you to recall how to play the drill using the PDF as a reminder.
0:00 Paying Attention To The Ball
1:29 2 Ways You're Not Watching The Ball
6:07 Focus Drills
10:38 Rhythm Drills
16:40 Observing Spin Drills
22:15 Sun & Shade Focus
23:04 Long Term Practice

[@teewoe2972]

First flight, second flight. That's a great way for me to time my focus points. Another great lesson, Tomaz. Many thanks!

[@feeltennis]

Great to hear!

[@prashantgupta7167]

This advice is very helpful. All the techniques in the world won't help much if the focus on the ball is missing. Thank you for the drills and a great video Tomaz. Much appreciated.

[@devrajadhirana3565]

Thanks Thomaz great lesson

[@MaiBui-js6bl]

Thank you so much, Coach. We will certainly add "watching the ball drills" (at least the first two, for now) when doing mini tennis.

[@user-pe1ur2yt1k]

Very good lessson in fundamentals and necessary skill in tennis thank you sir

[@1114gabby]

Honestly I just picked up Gallwey's Inner Tennis to read before I watched this. I noticed last time I hit I took my eye off the ball too soon sometimes. Maintaining focus also helps with not moving the head to soon . Totally agree...we focus a lot on stroke mechanics, but watching the ball is one thing we take for granted.

[@feeltennis]

Good points. There are many skill levels of watching the ball, one just needs to deliberately practice it.

[@TheoDinu]

Hands down one of the greatest books written about tennis. It's really eye opening!

[@michaellangham6234]

can be applied to other sports

[@terez1inmorocco]

Thank you, Tomaz! You have a fan in San Francisco, California. I didn’t realize I was taking my eyes off the ball when executing my backhand… your videos helped me realize this and make corrections 😊

[@feeltennis]

My pleasure, comments like your keep me motivated to keep doing what I love.

[@sergiosimbula]

Great drills. I recognise some of them from The Inner Game indeed. To answer your question: no not in all cases will the ball have topspin after the bounce. It will on a normal slice, but if one hits a dropshot with enormous amounts of backspin the ball can even bounce back to the other side of the net. So that means of course that the ball also has backspin after the bounce :)

[@valcervi2742]

very important points

[@joshchu7440]

I improve my skill a lot with your many videos. Thank you so much!

[@teewoe2972]

OK, so. Tomaz. I just tried these new visual cues at my practice today and gah! You are right on point with the improvement in discerning the rhythm of the oncoming BALL. Wow, Tomaz. I don't know if it's just the cold weather making me focus or what, but I had a fantastic time tracking the ball today. I will do the reps to automate these skills. Many, many thanks.

[@feeltennis]

Great to hear and thank you for sharing the feedback! Keep it up, this is just the start...

[@sahabatquiltindonesia2931]

Hi Thomaz.Thank you so much for another great details. We have been using bounce hit bounce hit for years, but you make it clearer with all the step by step progressions. We applied them yesterday with our children. Our junior itf players could play fast ball consistently, feel calmer, made more clean shots. First flight second flight, help them to be more focus. Our 12 yo boy who often feel frustrated every time he hit the ball late now he can anticipated ball well. Our 9 yo girl really enjoy the drills and applied them during rally. What we really love from your lessons, you always explain things differently, and make us better.

[@feeltennis]

That is just wonderful feedback, thank you very much! Greetings to Indonesia, have been there a few times travelling with juniors to tournaments and as a tourist once (Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali, Komodo...).

[@MrBigwill74]

This is absolutely brilliant information! Fantastic 👌🏽⭐️👏🏽

[@meditationman415]

Just Amazing! 🙏

[@miketang7533]

Great and valuable 🎾 lessons 👍🙏

[@prraveenbv547]

Thank you very much for this video. I have a 9y 8m old boy trying to improve his focus and reaction time to the ball. It is interesting you said not to focus on technique to start with when doing mini-tennis, however, I assume you need to focus on the technique as well when we do full court. Can you validate whether I got it right?

[@feeltennis]

You need to split the session into segments where you focus on one thing at a time in each segment otherwise the players gets overwhelmed with information. So if you do watching the ball drills for 5 minutes, then that is the main focus of the exercises and you don't want to mention any technical details during those 5 minutes. Then you stop doing the watching the ball drills, and you can still stay in mini tennis and start working on technique for 5 minutes. Then if you want, you can stop doing the technique and you focus on footwork for 5 minutes. So whether mini tennis or baseline it doesn't matter. What matters is that you do ONE THING AT A TIME.

[@smnoor59]

Hi Tomaz.. ive just started watching yr channel. Can you tell me what brand and model are you using?

[@feeltennis]

Sure, for teaching and videos I use Volkl V-Cell 6: www.tennis-warehouse.com/Volkl_V-Cell_6/descpageRCVOLKL-VVCEL6.html, for free hitting I use the V-Cell 8 at 300 grams.

[@marlowe1969ify]

Thanksssss coach...supercoach

[@joyceharris3040]

Thank you for this way to better track the ball. How do you track balls coming as you approach the net? How can I better track volley balls?

[@feeltennis]

Same idea - see the ball clearly, bring it into focus, see it as early as possible as clearly as possible and don't "let go" of it with your eyes and focus. You can use all the same drills, just skip the ones where the bounce is called.

[@masteryoda9259]

Love it! Btw. what is the racquet model You are playing with? Just curious.

[@feeltennis]

Volkl V-Cell 6 - I use it just for teaching (it's very light) and for videos since white color stands out best from any background. But it's very comfortable for the arm. For hitting I have Volkl V-Cell 8 (300 g).

[@masteryoda9259]

Thank You@@feeltennis

[@MrBigwill74]

Thanks

[@feeltennis]

Very much appreciated!

[@quoctran-oy4rf]

For someone like me who have no problems in watching/tracking the ball on my backhand (single), but long term problems with tracking the ball on my forehand - leading to a late contact point. What is your theory on this ?

[@feeltennis]

You may be turning your head too early to the side on the forehand side and you lose 3D depth perception. If your eyes and brain are capable of tracking a tennis ball well on the backhand side, then that ability is there. So the most likely reason is that you align your head and eyes incorrectly in some way as the ball approaches your forehand. Experiment with different head positions as you hit forehands and see what you find out. Also check that you don't tilt your head too much. Of course, you could be just looking away too early, check this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3ibpYFtqbp7r68

[@meditationman415]

So i had an opportunity to try the drills. The two that seemed to work best for me were calling out 'hit bounce hit' and two, 'bounce and then focus on the ball off the bounce'. Both highly effective in hitting the ball more cleanly. And hitting for an hour went very quickly. 🙏

[@feeltennis]

Wonderful, thanks for the feedback!

[@paddlepower888]

Playing this morning “bounce-hit" worked when I remembered. In the afternoon, “yes yes yes bounce hit” helped even more. I caught myself saying “bounce” out of sync with the actual bounce. When I corrected, I had more time, easily enough to squeeze in a “yes“ after “bounce.” Result: better ball contact Tomaz, you’ve done some crazy good. Thank you.

[@feeltennis]

That is wonderful to hear, we need to spread the word for more coaches to work on rhythm and ball tracking is it's the key skill to play tennis and higher level.

[@stilllifeproductions5017]

Thanks for this video! It's certainly nice to showcase these drills with an accomplished junior. Try it with a real beginner/intermediate for some real fun in the sun ;-) --Advice: Make sure you have ultra-high patience level, hundreds of balls and a ball mower!

[@feeltennis]

Patience must flow in the blood of every coach. ;)

[@tequilacoca5324]

I've been preparing late on my fh for 20 years, leading to small/fast swing to compensate. Do you think it's just possible to correct that ? On slow balls, it's fine, but when it's fast or in match, old habits come back

[@feeltennis]

Yes, I think it's possible but need to put in the work. In my opinion (I have no scientific study to support that) the reason why players prepare late is because they don't pay attention to the ball in the first flight. They basically wait for the ball to bounce so that they see it in the air and then they start the stroke in the attempt to hit that ball that they see. It sounds logical but a higher level tennis player does not play like that. He syncs with the ball the moment he detects to which stroke it's going and is using the first flight to calculate and predict the second flight and therefore prepares already early as is already syncing with the ball and not waiting for it to bounce.

[@tequilacoca5324]

@@feeltennis Thanks for the answer and for the time taken. Yes somehow it's easier to do something late, because there's less sync to do and maybe intuitively we think there's nothing to do until the ball is close to us. Like the one who does not work on his exam until the day before 🙂

[@dushyantverma511]

❤

[@meditationman415]

And the serve, to focus on the ball when tossing?

[@feeltennis]

Definitely, try to see it clearly in focus.

[@meditationman415]

​@@feeltennisGreat thanks

[@Sandysand701]

I find easier to watch the ball if I hit it in front of me, this way I can see the opponent and target at the same time, but hitting in front hurts my wrist, is it something that will go away when/if my wrist gets stronger? If I hit the ball closer/to the side, It's much more comfortable, but I'm not seeing the target or the other player, so I'm looking up just before I hit it, then I'm making mistakes.

[@feeltennis]

You should never see opponent and target when hitting the ball, it just splits your attention and you will rarely hit the ball clean. Your wrist may have to get more flexible and not really stronger, meaning it needs to lay back more easily eventually. The contact point depends on the grip and also on height of the ball so you need to prioritise comfort and good feeling of control.

[@Sandysand701]

@@feeltennis Thank you for that.

[@akio2730]

During normal play the ball arrives so fast there is no time to put it into focus….

[@feeltennis]

I would argue that you can see 90% of the balls in focus if you try. I can. The remaining 10% is when the ball is so deep and I happen to stand close to the baseline so I have to almost half-volley it. Only then I cannot see it clearly. Try harder, most players give up too early with their focus to really see the ball. It requires mental effort and at first you may be able to sustain such focus only for a few minutes. I worked on watching the ball one whole summer every time I was on the court and that skill improved a lot in one season.

[@vinmataym9047]

How does one know if they have natural talent for tennis please let me know

[@feeltennis]

Whew, though question, there are so many skills that need to be on quite a high level if one wants to play tennis well like ball judgement, eye hand coordination, footwork coordination, dynamic balance, good reactions, etc. If I have to choose just one or two, then I would say that a talented player mostly hits the ball in the sweet spot and is able to play / move quite effortlessly.

[@vinmataym9047]

@@feeltennis Thank you ♥️

[@paddlepower888]

I don’t recall that I knew how to watch the ball in junior high school tennis, but I lost whatever I had for almost fifty years, because I did repetitive motion sports like bicycling, canoe racing and hiking. Four years after taking up a racket again, I’m just beginning to acquire ball watching skill. This channel and Inner Game of Tennis have helped greatly

[@feeltennis]

@@paddlepower888 Wonderful to hear, keep it up!

[@thejohnnytapia123]

you just pushed the ball on the mini tennis exercise. I think it would be better to demonstrate while hitting with a full stroke and spin like the girl on the other side. thanks for the video👍

[@xg3069]

Not sure I understood your question. Did you ask “if A hits a slice and B responds with topspin, will B ball move forward after it bounces?”

[@feeltennis]

No, the question is if A hits a slice (of any kind), does the ball always bounce off with topspin or is it possible that it retains some of the backspin?

[@xg3069]

If you hit a ball with extreme backspin, the ball will not bounce off forward (ball will go backward towards the side). So I would answer no to your question, not always. Do I win a visit beautiful Slovenia if am right? @@feeltennis

[@feeltennis]

@@xg3069 I am not asking in which direction the ball will fly, I am asking in which direction the ball will spin!

[@xg3069]

If you hit a ball with extreme backspin, the ball will spin backward@@feeltennis

[@FairwayJack]

like

[@TEN-S60]

First comment!

[@ajbnmd]

The giant white PISKAR lettering certainly doesn’t make it easy to focus on the ball 😂

[@feeltennis]

I know, it's not my favourite court to record videos but most convenient for me and Kaja - and otherwise nice green background all around. Life is not perfect - just like tennis. ;)

[@dlw2982]

Second!! Thomas.. thank u for the videos!!!