Predicting where the ball is going

Chesley Unknown Asked 15 years ago

hi,

is it possible to predict your opponents move?

Alois Rosario Answered 15 years ago

Hi Chesley,

This is an interesting question.  I don't think you can do that with any degree of certainty.

You should aim to watch the ball as closely as possible.  This is the best information you will get about where the ball is going.  You may get some clues from the movements of your opponent but this is not something that you should try too hard to analyse but rather let your body start to see these naturally.

You will be surprised at how much better you will see the ball if you start to focus on it closely.  By watching it all the way from the time the ball is served right through the rally you will start to see the ball much clearer and also start to pick up where the ball is going a fraction of a second earlier.  Start by focusing on the label on the ball.  Then during the rally keep focus on the ball and see if you can spot the label at any stage.  Even if you don't see the label at first keep watching to see if you can see it.  Even if you don't ever see it you will start to watch the ball more closely and therefore get the benefits of tracking the ball.

This is something that needs to be trained.  It doesn't happen automatically.  Some players do it naturally better than others.

You can train this by starting it in your hitting warm up.  At the start of your training session or in the 2 minute warm up before a match, start to focus on tracking the ball as well as you can.  This will help you throughout the game and or your training session.