ITF Coaches

Education Programme
Coaching High Performance Players Course

ANTICIPATION IN HIGH
PERFORMANCE PLAYERS

By Miguel Crespo & Machar Reid

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

 In this session we will
Explain the definition of anticipation for high
performance tennis
Understand the importance of effectively
anticipate at this level of play
Provide guidelines on how players can
anticipate better during matches

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

Anticipation time in beginner and
intermediate players
Research has shown that players of
both levels:
Are not very successful when predicting
latitude, longitude o exact placement of the
ball if exposed to restricted vision
conditions
Are unable to identify relevant cues
produced by the server

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

 Anticipation time in beginner and
intermediate players
Advanced players were faster and more
precise in serve and groundstrokes
anticipation than beginners
When performing a split-step, advanced
players were faster than beginners and male
players faster than female players

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

 Training anticipation in
intermediate players: Research
The study proved that video presentations could
improve on-court tennis serve returns.
The training consisted of a series of tennis-serve
video presentations that were replayed with gradually
increasing speed.
All serves were occluded on racquet/ball contact, and
participants were asked to predict the type, depth,
and width of the serve.
On-court tests results suggested that anticipation
ability and performance did improve as a result of the
intervention.

Scott, Scott & Howe (1998)

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

 Training anticipation skills in
tennis: Research
Materials: Realistic film simulations, movement-based response
measures, and a portable eye movement recording system.
Skilled players were faster than their less skilled counterparts in
anticipating the direction of opponents' tennis strokes
This superior performance being based, at least in part, on more
effective visual search behaviours.
Players who received perceptual training improved their
performance on laboratory- and field-based tests of anticipation
when compared with those that did not receive any instruction
regarding expert performance strategies.

Williams, Ward, Knowles, Smeeton (2002)

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

 Training anticipation skills in
tennis: Research
Examined the effectiveness of explicit (E), guided
discovery (GD), and discovery (D) techniques in
developing anticipation skill in tennis.
E and GD groups showed greatest improvements
over the training period and demonstrated similar skill
development during acquisition.
E group developed more explicit rules than the GD
group who, in turn, developed more rules than the D
group.

Smeeton, Williams, Hodges, & Scott (2002) )

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

 Training anticipation skills in
tennis: Research
Directing attention to the important postural
information cues facilitates early acquisition.
Participants in the E and GD groups used this
information to improve their ability to discriminate
task relevant features and predict shot direction.
Perceptual skill was achieved later in acquisition for
the D group, although performance on the post-test
matched the E and GD groups.

Smeeton, Williams, Hodges, & Scott (2002) )

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

Anticipation and mental training (I)

With mental training is possible to:

Make decision faster when reacting to the
serve
Achieve shorter anticipation time
Improve precision on judging the type and
placement of the serve

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

 Anticipation and mental training
(II)
In filmed game situations, it is possible to
improve reaction times and reduce errors
Advanced players focus their attention on
more significant and predictive cues, thus
improving a faster and more precise decision
making

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

 Anticipation and mental training
(III)
Advanced players solve better the
uncertain situations referred to
opponents actions by interpreting
previous cues
Anticipation abilities can be improved in
less skilled players if adequate training
methods are used

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

 Anticipation and mental training
(IV)
Training the selection and interpretation of
certain anticipation cues of the opponents
serve can highly improve the decision making
process of the return of serve
The player has to be taught to determine the
adequate anticipatory cues which appear in
the different game situations of tennis

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009

Research on Anticipation and
Visual Search - Summary
Cues in preparing the return of serve
Visual search & anticipation
Vision and visual aids
Timing

Coach Education Series Copyright ITF 2009