How Federer Views the Point of Contact

There's an interesting article on how Roger Federer watches the ball over at Revolutionary Tennis.

I barely had time for a quick read-through, but I think Mark Papas is on to something there. But I wasn't too sure about his interpretation of some of the photos, especially of other players. I'll have to take a closer look when I have enough time to think about them.

Still photos can be very misleading. For example, how many have you seen that make us think pros hit with a closed racket face? Now look at this slow motion video and see why that is.

See? Racket wobble caused by a less-than-dead-center contact is what we're often seeing in those photos, not contact with a closed racket face.

It's the same with all photos. You have to make sure nothing else could be happening to give you that picture at the moment. And, obviously, the further out ahead you make contact, the more behind the racket your eyes are.

But Federer does seem to actually draw his head and eyes backward (i.e., jumping out ahead of the ball to the point of contact) at the last instant. I noted that myself in the How to Hit a Forehand lesson some time ago. And he does often look through the strings at the point of contact.

Interesting. Check out that article, and see what you think.

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