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Home » Recreation And Sports Articles » Improve Your Tennis In Onefifth Of A Second

Improve Your Tennis in One-Fifth of A Second!

How would you like to start playing vastly better tennis ... today?

There's a particular "magic" moment in tennis—one that lasts a mere fifth of a second. If you have (or can develop) the discipline to fully exploit that moment, you may astonish yourself and your opponents with your new-found scoring ability.

The moment I'm talking about is the last 1/5th of a second before your racquet strikes the ball. The discipline I'm referring to is that of keeping your eye entirely on the ball for that super-critical moment.

We've all been told many times that we should keep our eye on the ball in tennis. But how many of us really know what that means? How many of us really practice it?

Keeping your eye on the ball doesn't mean watching it until it is a split second from hitting your racket, and then glancing away to look at your opponent. It means watching it until it has hit your strings and begun its rebound.

This is not a new secret. Bill Tilden, perhaps the greatest player who ever lived, wrote about it more than 80 years ago and tried to drive its importance into the heads of his readers. Early on in his classic book, "The Art of Lawn Tennis," he cited statistics "to show you how vital it is that the eye must be kept on the ball UNTIL THE MOMENT OF STRIKING IT" (his emphasis).

"About 85 per cent of points in tennis are errors, and the remainder earned points. As the standard of play rises the percentage of errors drops until, in the average high-class tournament match, 60 per cent are errors and 40 per cent aces. ... Fully 80 percent of all errors are caused by taking the eye from the ball in the last one-fifth of a second of its flight."

Wow. Sobering statistics, to be sure. But exciting ones, too, because what Tilden is telling us is that it's within our power, right now, to eliminate the majority of our errors! And reducing the errors we make is the surest way to starve our opponent of points and extend his opportunity to give up points to us.

Tilden was a great tennis observer as well as a player. He studied and wrote about all of the top players of his day, and observed and advised many a tennis beginner. We can trust him when he says that the greatest fault commited by novices (and by many more experienced players) is trying to watch too much besides the ball.

Tilden compared the human eye to a camera, noting that neither is capable of clearly focusing on a moving object and its background at the same time. "Now the tennis ball is your moving object while the court, gallery, net, and your opponent constitute your background." Therefore, ignore the background and rather "concentrate solely on focusing the eye firmly on the ball, and watching it until the moment of impact with your racquet face."

Shouldn't you at least take a peek at your opponent, maybe out of the corner of your eye? No: "You are not trying to hit him. You strive to miss him. Therefore, since you must watch what you strive to hit and not follow what you only wish to miss, keep your eye on the ball, and let your opponent take care of himself."

Tilden provided a chart in "The Art of Lawn Tennis," a very simple one, but one that I hope you will commit to memory. It looked something like this:

A—1—2—3—4—B

Imagine a ball passing from point A to point B, with you as the receiving player at B. According to Tilden, it can be taken as a scientific fact that if you keep your eye on the ball throughout its flight, your chance of making a good return is five times as great as it would be if you took your eye off the ball at point 4 (4/5ths of a second of its flight). Furthermore, your chance is ten times as great as it would be if your removed your eye from the ball at point 3 (3/5ths of a second of its flight).

Tilden wrote: "The average player follows the ball to 4, and then he takes a last look at his opponent to see where he is, and by so doing increases his chance of error five times. ... Remembering the 85 percent errors in tennis, I again ask you if it is worth while to take the risk?"

Keeping your eye on the ball is a good practice not just because you make fewer errors, but also because it strengthens the other parts of your game through developing the habit of concentration. As Tilden humorously explained, "It tends to hold [your] attention so outside occurrences will not distract. Movements in the gallery are not seen, and stray dogs, that seem to particularly enjoy sleeping in the middle of a tennis court during a hard match, are not seen on their way to their sleeping quarters."

So there you have it – one-fifth of a second that can make all the difference in your tennis game. It can truly be the magic moment for you, IF you cultivate the discipline to keep your eye on the ball not just occasionally or even most of the time, but during every single shot.

P.S: Bill Tilden's "The Art of Lawn Tennis" is in the public domain, which means you can find it and read it online for free. I highly recommend that you do so. Although his references to events and personalities are of course dated, his playing advice is timeless.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

The Many Advantages Of A Starting Your Own Home Based Business

Have you been considering starting your own business and working from home? The advantages of working from home and starting your own business are great. Not only will you be able to stay at home with your children, and be your own boss (who doesn't love that), but there are many tax deductions that can make a home based business opportunity very appealing to moms (and dads) everywhere.

Save on Daycare

Quite possibly the best reason for being a work at home mom is actually being able to stay at home with your children. This is truly a rewarding thing, and might be your main reason to start a home based business. Just the fact that knowing where your kids are, and knowing they are in the best hands (yours of course), gives you total peace of mind. This in itself is priceless.

On the financial side this is also a plus. Daycare costs are outrageous now a days, and even more so if you have multiple children that are not yet in school. The money you'll save on daycare alone can offset the costs of starting your own home business.

Be your own Boss

Being your own boss lets you make your own schedule, and set your own guidelines. Don't want to start working until noon? No problem! As long as you have focus, and can get the work you need to get done, it doesn't matter when you do it. You are in total control of you business, and how you want to run it, and that is a great feeling.

No More Daily Commute

Ahhh! How great it would be not to have to try to beat rush hour traffic? With the rising gas prices today this can add up to a big savings. On another note, think of all the money you will also save on business attire. Working in your pajamas is a lot better than a business suit.

Tax Benefits

When tax time comes having your own business can really make sense. Home Based Businesses receive numerous tax advantages. Most of the time, any expenses that are related to your business can be added as a deduction on your taxes. Some of the deductions you can take on your tax return include:

1. Start up Costs - This includes your initial investment in your business. If you are starting in a direct sales business, this would be your start up kit and any promotional supplies.

2. Business Supplies - Anything you buy and use for your business. Business Cards, paper, pens, etc.

3. Computer - If you purchased a computer to use solely for business purposes this can be deducted as well.

4. Internet Access/ Web Services - You internet connection service and any services such as web hosting, and domain names.

5. Phone Line - This would be a home phone line used solely for business. This also includes long distance calls. Make sure to keep all phone bills for your records.

6. Advertising - Anything you do to advertise your business, whether it is online or off.

7. Automobile Mileage - All your business traveling expenses can also be deducted. This would include your gas mileage to and from events such as home parties. Make sure to keep a detailed account of this as well.

The only rule to this is you MUST treat your business like a business, and not a hobby. This is something you should be doing anyway and is one of the first rules in becoming successful. The next main thing you MUST do is keep good documentation of all expenses. This would include all receipts, credit card and billing statements, and a written log on how the money was spent on your business. Just spending a few minutes a day keeping track of your business expenses can save you an estimated $2,000-$10,000 a year on taxes!