I received several replies and comments from last week’s post on ‘why was I late’. Some of these were more ‘technical’ in nature. Others focused on the perceptual abilities that tennis demands (which if you haven’t noticed already, I can’t stress enough).
One comment was related to footwork. Specifically, this individual wondered if I was late because my recovery steps weren’t ideal (which I agree with!). And that those recovery steps led to a late split-step (which I do not agree with). Check out the kinogram below:
In frame 1, I begin initializing my split; well before my opponent has made contact with the ball. In frame 2, I am at the ‘peak’ height of my split-jump; just before my opponent makes contact with the ball. In frame 3, I’m coming down while my opponent is making contact with the ball and in frame 4, I am about to begin my movement/prep (the ball has left my opponent’s racquet).
Note - You may have to zoom in to really see where the ball is, compared to the timing of my split.
Based on research (Genevois 2014) and what we know from looking at elite players, these are pretty good split-step timing positions. So while my recovery steps could have been better - and perhaps I could have gained more time by moving a step or two further behind the baseline - I’m not convinced that my split-step was a factor here.
In Tennis, It’s All About Timing
My favorite comment - and the one that really got me thinking - was actually from a friend and colleague, Wayne Elderton. For context, Wayne is a highly experienced coach and has done a lot of ‘coach education’ work with the Louis Cayer (who many of you may know as Jamie Murray’s longtime doubles coach). He wrote the following:
My first questions would be:
1. What were you trying to do?
2. At what point did you feel you were 'fully committed' to doing that?
My sense is, it may have been less of an issue if your body knew what to do clearly from the start.
We need to remember that every error is a technical error (in that it was a result of the physics of the racquet/ball interaction). However, therein lies the trap because, every error may be technical BUT the root cause of every error could be psychological, tactical or physical.
So, fixing the actual technical issue (especially in isolation) may not be a long-term solution.
Then having said that, preparing earlier (all done before the bounce) is typically a helpful thing.
The other piece to ponder is, 'Pros will always 'sacrifice' their technique for their timing' while the rest of us will sacrifice the timing for the technique. That one takes a bit of pondering.
To answer Wayne’s first couple questions, I’d say that I was trying to hit a fairly aggressive rally ball (what I’d call a building ball) as I didn’t feel like I was under any real threat. That said, I probably decided on this a bit later than I should have. You see, given that it was a first serve return, and I chipped it back, I was ready to get moved to one corner or the other...and when the ball came back up the middle, perhaps this ‘threw off my preparation’.
But what’s really interesting is Wayne’s comment on timing vs technique. This is something that has been resurfacing time and time again (pardon my pun). Even the players that I coach - who have ATP rankings - zero in on their errors, most often, from a ‘technical’ standpoint (in the traditional sense). When perhaps it’s just a timing issue all along.
What is Timing?
Want to find out how to improve a player’s vertical jump? Or the latest method to develop muscular strength? There are no shortages of articles and literature reviews. Go to google scholar, type in your search and you’ll find more studies than you’ll ever have time to read, digest and make sense of.
But when it comes to factors that are less measurable, less observable (but potentially more important), there’s very little out there.
When it comes to timing, there really isn’t much. While many coaches and players will reference that ‘their timing was off’, very few actually know what that means. And for such an important concept, we should really have a better understanding of what it means - and what it entails.
Researchers, Bootsma and van Wieringen (1990,) define timing in striking sports as “the time between the first persistent forward motion of the bat, stick, or racquet AND the moment of ball contact”.
Which is similar to Wayne’s definition of timing in tennis, which I really like; “a centred impact, in an ideal relationship to your body, for the shot you intend to hit”. Wayne further breaks this down into 2 parts, general and specific.
General Timing - a centred impact, in an ideal relationship to your body.
I’ve spoken at length about the impact point and its importance. Not only are we concerned where the impact point lies, front and back + side to side, but how ‘clean’ that contact was. How often have you seen a player prepare with what seems like ideal mechanics, but end up hitting the ball late or off-centre?
Specific Timing - for the shot you intend to hit.
Every shot will have a slightly different impact point. In Beyond the Swing, we look at the ‘ideal’ impact point for a variety shots. And the impact will change quite a bit for a shot like a forehand drive or a defensive forehand on the run. The former would have a higher impact point - and likely further away from the body (i.e. greater lateral distance). The latter will depend - but if I’m on my back foot for example, it may not be as far in front of my body as a regular rally ball would be. All that to say, tactics play a role in timing as well.
Timing, Technique and Tactics
When we merge the two, tactics and technique, things become interesting. Let’s say I want to play an aggressive forehand drive - in this case, the impact point would be located around shoulder height. If I let the ball drop too low, and still attempt to drive the ball with more of a direct swing (or racquet path), then I might miss into the net. In this case, I violated the first part of the timing principle above.
If, on the other hand, my racquet meets the ball at the correct height/distance from my body, for my intended tactic, but I use the wrong technique (my racquet path is too steep, for instance), the height and shape of my shot will likely be higher than what the tactic calls for. I might miss long or if I do make the shot, it just won’t have the intended effect.
We can also look at temporal timing of body segments - in other words, did I time by movements (swing in this case) in the correct sequence. Rhythm also plays a key role here, but more on that in another post.
Can Research Help Us?
In a 2007 study, Neal et al analyzed ‘timing’ factors in expert golfers (they were very good, but they weren’t pros). To assess timing, they looked at angular speeds of every golf swing (between the top of the backswing to the club’s impact with the ball) at 5 segments - pelvis, upper torso, arm, forearm and hand. After every shot, the golfers had to tell the researchers whether they felt (key word here) their shots were well-timed (WT) or mis-timed (MT).
What they found was that timing - sequencing of body parts, angular velocities and time to strike the ball - did not significantly differ between the well-timed and mis-timed shots. I’m paraphrasing here but the authors concluded that these elite golfers were much more sensitive to the ‘centeredness’ of contact than they were to subtle differences in the timing of body segments and the speed at which the swing was ‘built up to’.
In other words:
“The performance difference was due to differences in the point of impact of the ball on the club face, as well as small changes in the orientation of the clubface at impact. It has been well understood that “off-centre” impacts make a substantial difference in the overall carry and roll distances of a golf ball.”
While hitting a ball ‘clean’ is arguably more important (and more difficult) in golf than tennis, we need to be mindful of it on the court as well…especially given that we need to judge the ball (and move to the right spot), in order to hit it ‘clean’.
Because of the unpredictable nature of this drill, we’re really placing a lot of emphasis on timing…
Wrapping Up
That was one of the main points of last week’s post. The why behind ‘why was I late’ was that I didn’t have the correct timing for the shot I wanted to hit. For one reason or another, I sacrificed timing for technique...which ultimately hindered my technique anyway.
You see, the more we focus on timing, the better our technique will become over time. Sure, all those other things you’re focusing on matter. I specifically looked at a ball that I was late on because that’s been an achilles heel of mine for years. When I overthink my prep, my timing is off. But if I don’t get my prep back soon enough, again, my timing is off. A balance exists...but finding it is easier said than done.
Speaking very generally here, the more we perform a task, we form a better, more reliable, ‘motor program’. This program, as the theory states, “is thought to be a set of instructions for movement, organized ahead of its execution...the consistency of movement (any movement) is thus argued to be the result of consistent motor programming” (Schmidt 2014).
Again, the ‘motor program’ changes (for better or worse) with more exposure. Meaning, if in fact we focus on key aspects of timing, in theory, our timing will improve - and based on the situation, we can call upon the appropriate ‘motor program’ (the technical execution of the shot in question), further ahead in time. That’s why expert performers seem to ‘see’ the situation, before it actually unfolds.
Lastly, while not the main topic of this discussion (but one I am compelled to mention) - timing is best improved during ‘live ball’ play. Studies have shown that a partial representation of a condition does not elicit the same successful performance as full visual representation.
Hitting a tennis ball from a basket, from the hand or from a ball machine, is not the same as hitting with a partner (which is not the same as hitting during point-play). Simply put, when being ‘fed’ a ball, we are not experiencing the full perceptual component that is such a distinct aspect of tennis.
I don’t have all the answers - that I know for sure. But I will share my own experiences - when I get players to focus on certain features of better timing, they get better. Whether that’s focusing on the seams of the ball, aiming to judge the bounce of the ball or preparing their feet/racquet early...they improve their play...and without conscious thought, their techniques improve too.