The Eyes Have It
The root of tennis is that it’s a hand-eye coordination game. The eye must track the ball to the hand. The original meaning of the word tennis comes from Old French tenez ‘take, receive’ (called by the server to an opponent), the command form of tenir ‘to receive’. The racquet is merely an extension of the palm of the hand. Often coaches will cover in a lesson the striking of the ball, but not spend any time on the receiving of it.
In order to receive the ball, it must all start with the eyes. Legendary tennis coach, Oscar Wegner’s 1st basic tenet is to “find the ball.”
When a player is framing or mis-hitting shots this is where I start. It could simply be a lack of focus on the importance of finding the ball. When I was a child my Dad made a game out of it by drawing rabbit ears on the ball. This was so I could “hunt” the ball the way Elmer Fudd hunts Bug Bunny, the “wascally wabbit”. Years later he changed the rabbit ears to an “X” or “O” on the ball in different colors to help me track its movement to identify spin.
A simple drill that Oscar taught me is bouncing and catching the ball over the net with a partner. All underhand, we toss it back and forth simulating each stroke with the back of the hand touching the ear at the finish. This is a simple activity that wakes up my eyes and body and helps me focus on the basics.
However, it some cases it may be more than a focus issue. There are many possibilities, but one of the most common ones is astigmatism in one eye. What I will notice, particularly when a player is in a closed stance, is where on the strings the player is consistently making contact with the ball. If it’s in the same area all the time it’s probably from astigmatism in the back eye. The front eye sees distance and the back eye is seeing the contact.
The best way to help the players adjust to this and help them put the ball in the sweet spot is simply ask them to go the opposite end of where they are meeting the ball. USPTA Master Pro, Don Henson helped me make that adjustment on my one-handed backhand. Because of astigmatism in my left eye I jam myself and hit the ball at 5 o’clock on the frame. Don got me to play a game (without my knowing what he was doing, which was brilliant), and asked me to hit the ball at 11 o’clock. I did my best to do it and would hit the ball right in the sweet spot every time. After hitting the first 10 balls perfectly, he then asked, “How do you like your backhand now?” Needless to say, I was thrilled. Don with a sleight of hand, was able to help me make the adjustment. My backhand was thus recreated.
I have used this approach often to help players “find the ball” by helping them understand their own body better. Better tennis starts with the eyes.
