People always talk about anticipation in racquet sports like it's some kind of magic or inborn talent but I've been taught by my dear friend, Harry Wong, that it's not true. Anticipation isn’t some esoteric art but a question
of –
1.Always moving to the centre of possible returns after you’ve
hit the ball. I think of it as being about half to two-thirds of the way down
the middle of a triangle that has its apex at my opponent’s racquet face.
2.Start moving for the ball before it crosses your opponent’s
service line on its way back to you if he’s staying way back, otherwise try to
start moving to it before it crosses the net. harry is a very good retired coach in Penang
and a dear friend of mine from 35 years back (he’d also coached three state
champions who went on to represent Malaysia in Davis Cup and international
competitions) told me this and while it’s not easy to implement because it
requires that you stay focused and change your response timing if you’re not
already doing it, it’s certainly worthwhile to learn. I’m still trying to make this
second nature, I admit.
When Harry played regularly, even against guys half his age (he’s having eye problems now), he always seemed to be in the right
place at the right time, never seemed to have to run much and always had plenty
of time to stroke the ball smoothly. He’s also the one responsible for making
me think on court and about what I do there – before, I simply wanted to hit
the flashiest winners I could, even if it meant I lost 6-0 6-0 regularly.
3.Understanding the most likely return you ‘re going to get –
this involves two things. One is knowing what kind of shot you’ve hit and what
kind of shot you should expect to get in return. The other is observing your
opponent’s preferences. Some people try for a sharply angled pass when forced
to chase down an approach shot to their forehand, for example, while another
might go down the line 6 or 7 times out of 10.
4.Understanding and reading your opponent’s visual cues,
e.g. even with an open stance, some people start turning their shoulders just
that bit earlier to go for a crosscourt pass or delay just that bit longer to
go the other way. I watched a video of Chris Evert playing against Goolagong
and the commentator observed that she actually started moving to cover the
return a split second before Goolagong’s racquet made contact with the ball. The
slow-mo playback proved he was right. Evert was obviously reading things like that.
There are probably other things that help you to get to the ball quicker than others expect and make it seem like magic, but this is all I know. Hopefully some day I'll be able to learn to do all this instinctively even when my blood sugar and electrolytes are low...
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