VISUAL SKILLS IMPORTANT FOR TENNIS
American Optometric Association Sports Guideline
Visual Acuity: Both static and dynamic visual acuity are important in the fast-moving, visual
sport of tennis. The target is in motion, the athlete is in motion, and the opponent is in motion.
This introduces some very complex visual equations for the brain to compute and solve in very
short reaction times.
Peripheral Vision: This is a very essential skill for superior performance in a game like tennis.
This is especially true for doubles when the players must be aware of where their partner and
his/her rackets are, to avoid collision and injury. It helps in picking up lob shots when running
backwards while looking over your shoulder, and in knowing where the boundary lines are.
Depth Perception: Necessary for accurate shot placement, evaluating the defensive positions of
the opponent and judgment of whether a ball hit to you will land in or out of bounds. Thus, you
decide whether to play the ball or not. It also assists in judgment of the speed of the opponent’s
shot. Billie Jean King rates depth perception as the highest attribute for a young tennis player,
even above court speed or eye-hand coordination. This visual skill can be quickly diminished,
however, by extended near work prior to a match. Students, computer programmers, or business
executives play much poorer tennis after work than on weekends.
Eye Motility: Eye tracking ability is important in tennis. Quick, accurate saccades are needed to
rapidly survey the changing locations and movements of the opponent and the ball in relationship
to the net, boundary lines, etc. Studies have shown that if the head has to move to aid in eye
tracking, not only is it less efficient, but balance is thrown off too. The ultimate goal regarding
this visual skill and tennis is to track the ball until it actually hits the racket, not flinching on
impact.
Eye-Hand/Body/Foot Coordination: All are helpful to performance for a tennis player. The
eyes lead the body and the visual system guides the motor system.
Visualization: This could be very useful for a tennis player, particularly when serving the ball. A
tennis player has a 30-second time limit between the end of one point and the service for the next.
This is enough time for some quick visualization. The rest of the game is so fast-moving, the
player doesn’t have time to think and visualize using the five-step technique. He or she must
simply react. Subvocalization, thought by some to be a form of visualization, actually distracts
from it! Not only does it take longer — it is not as efficient. Therefore, don’t give yourself a “pep
talk” while playing tennis — visualize instead.
Speed of Recognition Time: This is quite an important and useful visual skill for a tennis player.
Bill Tilden’s serve was once clocked at 163.6 mph. This doesn’t allow much time to react. Even
more normal rally shots come very quickly. A good player needs to detect the speed and spin on
the ball as quickly as possible in order to make the proper return. He must pick up the ball as it
comes off the opponent’s racket. The opportunity to make that proper return shot only presents
itself for a fraction of a second.
Speed of Focusing: This is also important in tennis because the ball and the other player are
moving quickly and one has to be able to shift focus from near to far or to intermediate targets
rapidly throughout the contest while general body stamina is running down due to heavy exertion.
Glare Recovery Speed: This is quite important for tennis players because most play is outdoors
and under bright sun conditions (at least on the professional circuit). So lob shots may get lost in
the sun momentarily, causing a dazzle to the retina. The player must recover very quickly before
the next return shot is imminent. A lot of tennis is played indoors these days, too. Here, bright
overhead lighting can cause some problems for the players.
Ability to See in Dim Illumination: Not usually an important factor for tennis players unless it’s
an outdoor tournament game near dusk before night lighting is turned on. Most games are
scheduled at good hours or under proper artificial lighting.
Ability to Withstand Eye Fatigue Without Decreased Performance: This is important in
tennis because it’s a very fatiguing sport that requires a lot of running, jumping and constant
concentration. Best three out of five tournament matches can sometimes run 4 or 5 hours. In
warm climates, this can be very fatiguing.
Color Perception: Color is not terribly critical to a tennis player’s performance.
Eye Dominance: Of some interest probably, but not as critical a factor in this sport as it is in
baseball hitting, rifle shooting or archery. Studies with professional tennis players indicate they
generally do prefer strokes that correspond to their dominant eyes, however.
Fixation Ability: Fixation is critical in serving the ball, for example. The tennis player also has to
focus quickly on his/her target (the ball first, and then shift fixation to the smallest possible detail
on the opponent’s court where he wants his shot to land). Then he must execute the shot and
follow through by retaining fixation on that target spot after the shot is hit. In serving, staring at
your fixation target too long before hitting the serve can lead to more misses. The ability to center
on the precise portion of the opponent’s court where you want the shot to go diminishes with
time. Therefore, tennis players should be advised by their sports vision consultant to avoid
staring. When balanced and ready, just center on the target’s finest detail (first on the ball and
then on that spot on the opponent’s court) and smoothly stroke your serve.
This also has to do with how well you can eliminate undesired stimuli while fixating or centering
on desired stimuli. During a tennis match, if the crowd noise and movement, lights or other
surrounding distractions are not shut out, the concentration needed for success cannot be
obtained.
Visual Memory: Past experience and the number of proper shots, depth, spin and speed
judgments, fakes, etc., on file in the visual memory, combined with good visualization techniques
for serving, etc., could be a big factor in the steadiness and consistency of a tennis player.
Central/Peripheral Awareness: This is an essential skill for a tennis player whether on defense
or on the attack. The attacking player has to look directly at his target spot on the opponent’s
court while being peripherally aware of the opponent’s position and direction of movement. Also,
he must be peripherally aware of court boundary lines. The defensive player must concentrate
centrally on the attacking player’s court position and the likely direction the ball will come off his
opponent’s racket. Meanwhile, he must be peripherally aware of where the net and boundary lines
of the court are, etc. These factors all hold true for doubles, too. However, in doubles, the players
have the additional complications of being peripherally aware of where their partner’s body and
racket are.
Spatial Localization: Knowing where you are relative to other objects is very important in
tennis. It is a fast-moving sport in which the athletes and target (the ball) are in constant relative
motion. Obviously, the boundary lines and net are stationary, but the player is usually hitting the
ball in relation to these stationary targets while he/she is moving laterally, vertically, transversely,
or “all of the above.”
Also, there is evidence that a player with esophoria tends to see the world closer than it really is.
Thus, we might expect this player to hit generally short of the court placement target. Conversely,
the exophoric player tends to see the world farther away than it really is. Thus, we might expect
this player to place shots generally long of the court placement target.