【巅峰之路】决定网球水平的那些细节[20]

盯球不那么简单

【课程内容】十二月到了，在北方寒冬里还坚持户外训练的朋友一定要注意保暖，注意热身，降低强度，少些技术训练，多些动作和体能练习。

来信提出讲“盯球”的要求多次了，积累的资料和数据越多，越感觉“盯球”其实是一个伪命题——重要的不是盯不准球，而是盯准了你做了什么？这才是致命问题。

【行易观点】

支持我认为盯球是伪命题这一观点的根据有很多：经过我多年的教学积累，80%的幼儿大班孩子，在初次接触球拍时，3次触球就能打准球；幼儿中班的略低一些，但也在10球后，同样有80%的孩子能击准球；这说明一个问题，即使幼儿园孩子，也很有少盯不住球的问题。判断来球，即使不用球拍，用手也能打准。

问题出在哪里？你对技术的理解。

其一是：你盯住了球，没有做出正确的判断。这体现在对来球的深度、角度的理解上。你能喊出球的“前、后、左、右”，但你移动不到，这是移动问题。

其二是：技术动作不规范，没有做出正确的击打。比出，击球过早或过晚，不是盯球和判断问题，而是技术问题；打不准甜点或根本就打不准，不是盯球问题，同样是技术问题。

其三是：击球时，你的视线离开了球。这算是盯球问题。但是，有时候，你明知你看着球，但是却神使鬼差的打飞了，这算什么？这是心理上，情绪的失控让你击球时脑子一片空白，大脑失去了基本的判断和控制。

其四是：重心太高，你的大脑给你的球的判断结果和你挥拍线路间存在很多的误差，主要是上下误差，而你的冗错性技术又太差。

以下是正文内容：

网球怎样盯球

“看着球”这是教练在网球课上喊的最多的话之一。这话很容易理解，但又似乎不太明白。

盯球和不要在击球时过早的朝向对方场地看，这是不是容易掌握的技窍，那我们来看看在打网球时如何真正的做到和视野和注意力兼顾的。

How To Watch the ball in Tennis

“Watch the ball!” is one of the most common phrases coaches say in tennis lessons. On one hand, it seems very easy to understand, but on the other hand, it’s not as obvious as it seems.

Seeing the ball well and not looking too early towards the other side of the court as we’re hitting the ball are not easy skills to master, so let’s take a look at what really goes on with our vision and our attention when we play tennis.

如何集中注意力和去看什么？

有三个关键因素是需要关注的，以使我们在第一时间判断来球和在触球时洞察来球。

How To Focus Our Attention And What To Look For

There are three key moments you need to focus on in order to really judge the ball well in the first place and eventually to be able to see it well before contact.

[1]起始轨迹

[1]球的起始飞行轨迹

对方击球时，你必须看清球的起始轨迹。这有助于你计算球去哪里，甚至要终结在哪里。[这里的终结，是你要完成击球的点]

不要等到球弹起了才看它。你必须全神贯注在球的起始轨迹。

在我的经验中，大多的低水平球员不去关注球的起始轨迹，而在等着看球在弹起时才做击球判断。高水平球员90%的信息来自于球过网前。

他们可以决断：

• 球离他们多远（前后左右）；

• 如果不移动，在什么高度触球；

• 球到达他们时需要多长时间；

• 什么样的旋转（上旋、平击、切削）影响弹跳和改变球的速度和高度；

如果你不全神贯注于球的第一段轨迹，那你不会得到这些线索也不能够很好的判断来球。这会导致在球弹起好过急的移动，身体的过度紧张和乏力的击球。

1. The beginning of the ball flight/trajectory

When your opponent hits the ball, you need to watch very closely the beginning trajectory of the ball. That will help you calculate where the ball will go and eventually end up.

Don’t just wait for the ball to bounce to see it! You need to pay full attention to the start of the trajectory.

In my experience, most lower level tennis players do not pay good attention to this part of the trajectory and simply wait to see the ball bounce before doing final adjustments.

More experienced players gather almost 90% of the information of the final position of the ball even before the ball crosses the net.

They can determine:

• how far (left-right and forward-backward) the ball will be from them,

• at what height the ball would be at contact if they choose not to move,

• how much time they have before the ball reaches them,

• and how the type of spin (topspin, flat, or slice) will affect the bounce and alter the height and speed of the ball.

If you do not watch the first part of the trajectory (from contact until the bounce) with full attention, you will not be able to pick up these cues and therefore won’t judge the ball well.

That will result in rushed movements after the bounce, more tension in your body and very likely a poor shot.

 

[2]球弹起离地

[2]球反弹离地

球的这部分飞行给了良好击球需要的所有信息。后部分如下：

如果你曾玩过土场地或不平整的地面，你就知道球弹起的不好，会大大的缩减你的时机和挥拍。这告诉我们，在球弹地之前，你的做好你挥拍几乎所有的时间准备。

给球弹地这做时间以足够的重视，有助以我们获得精确的时间准备和打中球拍甜点的能力。[需要解释甜点吗？]

2. The ball leaving the ground after the bounce

This part of the flight of the ball gives almost all information needed for a good hit. The last part follows below…

If you have ever played on clay or on an uneven surface, you know that if the ball has a bad bounce, it totally breaks down your timing and swing.

That tells us that almost all of our timing for the swing is done well before the ball bounces.

By paying really good attention to this second part after the bounce helps us really acquire that accurate timing and the ability to hit the ball in the sweet spot of the racquet. 

[3]触球前

[3]刚好击球前——通常在触球点的2米到0.5米

当球接近我们的触球点，必须清楚的看到我们击球的一些点。

我们需要把球放在焦点上，看的非常清楚。触球前盯死球，即使也只有那么一刹那。

我喜欢叫快门时刻。这就像我们用照相机拍照，不过球飞向你多快，你得充分聚焦。

在球全速飞行时和弹地变向时，做这这并不容易。但是，一旦球接近，在触点前大概在2米到0.5米，我们通常会得到焦点，在一刹那时间看清楚。

就那短短地看清可以给大脑一点球的轨迹的最后信息，而这足够给我们做出准确的时间判断让我们在理想击球点击球，不早不晚。

这也有助于大脑指挥胳膊和持拍手准确的向球挥动，以打准甜点。

3. The ball just before contact – usually between 2 meters to about 0.5 meters before contact

As the ball is approaching our point of contact, we need to see it very clearly at some point before we hit it.

We need to bring the ball into FOCUS and see it very clearly.

See the ball clearly before contact, even if just for a split second.

I call this the SNAPSHOT moment. It’s like taking a picture with a camera and being able to focus the ball despite it traveling fairly fast towards us.

It’s not so easy to see the ball very clearly during its full flight as it’s traveling fast and changing direction as it bounces.

But, once it comes closer, roughly between 2 meters to 0.5 meters before contact, we usually can bring it into focus and see it clearly for a split second.

That short moment of seeing clearly gives the brain the last bit of information it needs about the ball’s trajectory and it can therefore make a final adjustment to the timing of our stroke so that we can hit the ball in our ideal contact point and not be too early or too late.

It also helps the brain guide the arm and racquet hand very accurately towards the ball so that we can hit the sweet spot of the racquet. 

[4]弹跳

“弹跳”时刻和怎样盯它

我想说的是我个人怎么看待这个反弹，以及我聊过的很多高水平球员怎么看待这个反单的。

我没有全力去关注弹跳，也就是球的弹起前0.5米和弹起后的0.5米。这是球改变方向的那一段，那一刹那我们无法看清。

我知道大多初学者都很难追踪球很好，因为他们试图一直看着球，在球变向从下落到上升的那段，会短暂的“失踪”。

有经验的球员会预测球从反弹后出来的区域，们已经在盯着反弹后大约0.5米到1米的那段。

从这段到触球，球差不多是以直线运动，还会减速；所以，追踪不难。所以，看反弹，要用“软焦点”来看。

用软焦点来盯反弹，看着它发生，然后找球从反弹中出来。最好的描述“软焦点”的是，你在高速路上开车时观察车道上的下一辆汽车。你看到它，并不盯着它。你看路时，你没有聚焦在你的下辆车上——尽管你看到了它们。

你监视着那你所在的车道线，它可以引导你的车在你的车道内。你不用直接看线，你看它们用的是“软焦点”，这就可以给你以足够信息引导你的车。

所以，用相同的方式，你来观察反弹。你看到它，但是不需要聚焦在它。

The “Bounce” Moment And How To Look At It

What I am about to share with you is how I personally see the bounce and how most of the highly skilled players I talked to see the bounce.

I don’t look with full attention to the bounce, which I’d say is that flight of the ball perhaps 0.5 meters before the bounce and 0.5 meters after the bounce.

This is where the ball abruptly changes direction, and we can lose sight of it for a split second.

I do know that most beginners have problems tracking the ball well exactly because they try to see the ball all the time and hence “lose it” temporarily as it changes direction from going down to going up.

More experienced players PREDICT where the ball is going to come out of the bounce and look already in that area which is approximately 0.5 meters to 1 meter after the bounce.

From that area until contact, the ball is going in a fairly straight line and is slowing down all the time; therefore, it’s not difficult to TRACK.

So, the way to look at the bounce is to see it with “soft focus”.

Look at the bounce with a soft focus, let it happen. Then look for the ball coming out of it.

The best way to describe “soft focus” is in how you observe cars in the lanes next to you as you’re driving on the highway.

You see them, but you don’t look at them. You don’t focus on the cars next to you as that would take your eyes off the road – yet you see them.

You also monitor the lines that define your lane in which you drive and which help you guide your car within your lane.

You don’t look at the lines directly, but you see them through “soft focus”, and that’s enough to give you information on where to guide your car.

So, in a similar way, you observe the bounce – you do see it, but you don’t focus on it or fixate on it.

 

[5]盯紧球

怎样让你的眼晴保持在球上？

第2个重要的盯球部分是触球点是，保持头不动。这在打球时是非常困难的事，尤其对于休闲球员。这么难的原因是这对我们来说非常不自然。击球时看着目标区是自然而然的，这样可以判断距离和构划出我们想要扔的轨迹（高度和速度等），以使我们击中目标。这种本能必须通过深度的练习去克服，以便我们不看目标也能大概知道目标在哪里，这是第二天性。

在击球点保持头固定不动，是因为在挥拍时如果你的头动了，就会把球拍也拉离最佳击球点，击球差很多，或者打不准球拍的中心，造成非常勉强的击球。

在我有教练经历，对那些长年训练的青少年，做到这个并不难。

如果在这个阶段，我们不断的提醒他们在击球时保持头不动，他们最终会掌握这个。但是，大多休闲球员没有训练那么多，也不会不断的提醒保持头不动，所以保持头不动这项技术不会成为第二天性。

休闲球员也更喜欢比赛，我们在压力下比赛时，通常会更急切的抬头看。因为我们太看急想看到击球时会发生什么，以及对手在干什么。这就是保持头不动是一个比机械动作更麻烦的心理过程。

我们不可能像费德勒那样在击球时保持头不动，但是我们可以通过训练来提高我们的视觉能力。这也是为什么提高和掌握这么难的原因。我做为球员的个人经历是，在我取得真正的提高时，我花了大概3~4个月的训练在击球时保持头不动这个。我几乎每天都训练，更多训练日里，我每天训练2次。

通常我在夏天的训练时间在一天3~5小时，不管我能做怎么样，我部是尝试保持我的头不动，以克服旧习惯。我事实上提高了很多，但我还不能象费德勒那样保持头不动。

我花了很多精力在我们的“盯球技窍”上，这些包括看清飞来的球，按下快门、和保持头不动。

我花了很多精力在我们的“盯球技窍”上，这些包括看清飞来的球，按下快门、和保持头不动。

在你每次失去焦点时你可以用最少5分钟的时候加以练习。我的最长的时候是不间断的练习20分钟，和我朋友自由对打时。在那次训练后，我精疲力尽。

所以，你想提高你的“盯球”技窍时，在和你的球伴打球时，你必须非常认真的练习，而且要坚持相当长时间。

而且，能够正确训练的好处是很大的。你会有更多的利落的击球，这将给你更多的力量和球的控制。你会消除大部分的误击和脱离甜点，这会不费力的打出深球。

记住这个事实:如果你脱离甜点5厘米，你就失去了40%的力量——当然，那将导致短球，甚至没有过网。

How To Keep Your Eye On The Ball

The second critical part of watching the ball when playing tennis is keeping your head still while making contact.

This is one of the most difficult things to master in tennis, especially for recreational tennis players.

The reason this is so difficult is because it’s not very natural to us.

What’s natural to us is to look at the target we want to hit so that we can judge the distance and figure out at what trajectory (height, speed, etc.) we want to throw something so that we hit the target.

This instinct has to be overridden with very deliberate practice so that not looking at the target and simply KNOWING where it is becomes second nature.

The reason we want to keep the head still at the point of contact is because if we “pull” the head too quickly from contact as we’re swinging the racquet, we also unknowingly “pull” the racquet away from the ideal contact point and therefore mishit a lot or hit the ball off the center of the racquet, which results in a poor shot.

From my personal experience as a coach, this is not so difficult to master when working with competitive tennis juniors who train almost daily for years.

If, in this period, we constantly remind them to keep their head still at contact, they will eventually master it.

But, most recreational tennis players do not play that much, nor are they constantly reminded to keep their head still, so this “technique” of keeping the head still does not become second nature.

As recreational tennis players also like to compete a lot, we play under a lot of pressure which often makes us look up even more because we are so anxious to see what happened with our shot and what our opponent is about to do.

That’s why keeping your head still while you’re hitting the ball is a much more MENTAL process than simply a mechanical one.

We’ll never be able to keep our head still on every shot like Roger Federer, but we CAN improve our vision skills a lot with practice.

And that’s why it’s so difficult to improve and master.

My personal experience as a player is that I spent around 3-4 months practicing keeping my head still while hitting the ball before I actually experienced any real progress.

I played almost every day – and on most days, I actually played twice a day.

My usual playing time in the summers was between 3-5 hours a day, and whenever I could, I was trying to keep my head still and overcome an old habit.

I eventually improved a lot, but I still cannot keep my head still like Roger Federer on every shot. 😉

It takes a lot of concentration to work on your “watching the ball skill”, which includes seeing the ball clearly coming towards you, taking a “snapshot”, and keeping your head still.

You may be able to practice that only for 5 minutes at a time before losing your focus.

My longest time of continually doing it without breaks was around 20 minutes while hitting freely with my friend, and after that time I was mentally completely exhausted.

So, if you are deciding to improve your “watching the ball” skills in tennis, you need to practice this skill very deliberately while hitting freely with a partner and sticking with it for quite some time.

The benefits of being able to do it properly are massive, though.

You will have many more clean hits of the ball which will give you much more power and ball control.

You will eliminate most mishits and hits off your sweet spot which result in a very deep ball with very little effort.

Keep in mind this fact: if you hit just 5 cm off your sweet spot (with a typical tennis racquet), you lose 40% of the power – and that, of course, results in a ball landing short or even not crossing the net.

[6]盯球练习

【盯球练习】

下面的练习是非常有效的，对我和我的学生，在我们实验解决盯球的所有问题时。

它有效在：

1. 把球框进焦点

1. 下坠球，当它弹起到最高时，把它框入焦点。看清所有小细节。这就是快门时刻，发生在你和球相遇的瞬间。

2. 在玩迷你网球时做同样的事。

3. 在底线拉球时也这样做。练习5~20分钟，按你的能力的最长时间。
   

2. 解读起始轨迹

   聚焦在你球伴击球后球开始飞行到过网这一段。问一下自己：球去哪里？基于这些信息你能判断出球落在哪里（和你的距离和高度）？在你的底线击球热身时，你花几分钟时间做这个，不仅仅热身了你的击球，还热身了你的大脑中的“轨迹计算机”。、

Drills For Watching The Ball

The following drills and ideas worked for me and my students well as I was experimenting with them and trying all sorts of things to help them see the ball well.

This is what worked best…

1. Bring the ball into focus

a) Just drop the ball and as it comes to the top of the bounce, bring it into focus. See it clearly with all the little details.

This is the snapshot moment that will happen just before you make contact with the ball.

b) Do the same while playing mini tennis.

c) Do the same while rallying from the baseline. Practice for 5-20 minutes, as long as you can manage.

2. Read the initial part of the trajectory

Focus for a while on the initial part of the ball flight after your partner hits it and until the ball reaches the net.

Ask yourself: where will the ball go? Can you figure out where will the ball end up (at what distance and height from you) just based on this information?

You should do this for a couple of minutes every time you start your baseline warmup so that you are warming up not only your strokes but also the “trajectory judging computer” in your brain.

 

[7]练习要点

【练习和要点：保持眼睛在球上】

如果你开始在一个轻松环境时，击球时不动头是不难的。这能帮助你体验击球时不抬球的感觉。

1.给自己下坠球

你下坠球在弹击时打它后，再延迟一会。如果你想这么做，就能做到。体验这种感觉。你可能会不耐烦，即使没有对手在攻击你的击球。但你必须冷静下来，并且掌握在活球对拉中复制这个过程。我建议你用一筐球来练习，这样，每一个任务大约50个正手，50个反手练习。

2.看球拍的模糊

一个很好的办法可告诉你是否在触球时保持头不动，是看你的球拍穿越你视野的模糊。一但你看到了模糊，你抬头看你的击球发生了什么。

3.看到球消失

当你把球框入击球点，你的头保持不动时，球会从你的焦点框中消失。

所以，下一个你要看的事是击球点后面的地面。如果你看到你的球消失在击球框中，这就是你的头保持不动了。

Drills And Tips For Keeping Your Eye On The Ball

Keeping your head still as you’re swinging through the ball is not difficult if you start in very easy conditions.That helps you at first experience how it actually feels not to look over.

Drop feed the ball and delay your look after the ball

1. Drop feed the ball to yourself

As you drop and hit the ball after the bounce, delay your look after it.You can do it if you decide to do it.

Experience how that feels. You may feel anxious for a moment even though there is no one to “attack” your shot on the other side.

You need to calm down yourself here first before trying to replicate this process while in a live ball rally.

I suggest hitting one basket of balls like this for each stroke. So, around 50 shots for the forehand and 50 shots for the backhand (per session).

2. See the “blur” of the racquet

A good way to tell if you’re keeping your head still at the moment of contact is to be able to see the blur of your racquet passing through your field of vision.

Once you see the blur, you can look up and see what happened with your shot.

3. See the ball disappear

As you focus on the ball at your contact point and if you don’t move your head, the ball will “disappear” from that space you’re focusing on.

So, the next thing you see is the ground behind your contact point. If you “see” the ball disappear from your contact point, you’re very likely keeping your head still.

 

[视频]怎样盯球

 【对不起，您暂无权限查看视频】

 

 【总结】

总之为，盯球和保持头不动是网球场上的惯常咒语，而且也希望你知道为什么它总之挥之不去的理由了。

教练们应该知道这样做的好处，这需要花点时间去掌握——所以你经常会听到这。

我希望本文带来一些启发，以我的眼晴和头脑中“幕后”体验，当我看看到球飞向自己时，如何聚焦在球上，尽可能得到清楚的击球。

In summary, “watch the ball” and “keep your head still” are still very common mantras on tennis courts and hopefully now you understand why they won’t go away.

The coaches are well aware of the benefits of doing it properly, and it takes a lot of time to master – hence you hear this so often.

I hope this article shed some light on what in my experience goes “behind the scenes” in our eyes and our minds as we’re watching a tennis ball fly towards us and how we need to focus on it so that we get as many clean hits of the ball as possible.