Keeping Your Eyes on the Ball
One of the most important things that you will ever hear when you are playing tennis is to keep your eyes on the ball. Games have been lost because a player cannot do this. Yes, it seems virtually impossible to really keep track of that fuzzy yellow ball when it is spinning through the air coming right at you but realize that if you miss you are giving your opponent points. This as well as the risk of danger or getting hurt should be enough motivation to help you really focus on where the ball is at all times. If you lose track of the ball you could find it with your head, rather than your racquet.
In order to really master tennis you are going to have to learn exactly how to track the ball no matter where it is. Do not worry so much about watching your opponent or even scanning the crowd looking for your sweetheart or your parents. They can see you, and you do not need to see them, instead your focus should always remain on the ball. If you have difficulty following the ball there are some things that you can do to help correct this situation, after all you want to improve your overall game strategy and skill level so taking the time to really emphasize your weaknesses through more training will help you overall.
There are numerous video games lately that are teaching skills. Primarily the Nintendo DS offers several eye movement coordination games. This is a time when playing your video games can actually be good! Who knew that playing a game was actually able to be helpful, but it is just one way that you can improve your vision skills. There are also games that are made for the computer, and even drills that you can do with a friend to help you improve your skills. Work on this a bit and you should start seeing that you can track the ball much easier.
Avoid trying to watch the crowd while you are playing. The crowd really does not care that you are playing, honestly they do not. While they are there to watch you play, they are probably doing some things that are rather distracting. Honestly, they do not always mean to be distracting, but they are and if you focus your efforts and energy on watching the audience, you are going to dramatically hinder your game. Instead, it is important to try to tune out exactly what the audience is doing and instead focus on the ball and your opponent. This will help you to ignore anyone who is acting strange in the crowd and also allow you to keep a good steady line of sight with the ball.
Another thing that you need to do is simply practice. You cannot expect to walk out onto the tennis court for your first match and play like a professional. This would honestly be a great occurrence, but the professionals of tennis might be a bit upset. After all those who play tennis well have worked for years to highly develop their skills including watching the ball. You are not going to be able to simply read a book, watch a video or play a video game to walk out and play a perfect game of tennis. You will need to pick up a racquet and go out and actually play in order to gain some highly valuable real life experience.
With a bit of practice and some workout sessions to help train your eyes you will be able to always spot the ball during the game. This will allow you to better focus on where you need to be in order to keep the ball in play. Learning how to watch the ball is not a trivial thing, this can be one of the most effective ways to improve your overall play without having to be a complete power player.
