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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 its
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 its 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 players 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 opponents 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 opponents 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 targets finest detail (first on the ball and
then on that spot on the opponents 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 opponents
court while being peripherally aware of the opponents position and direction of movement. Also,
he must be peripherally aware of court boundary lines. The defensive player must concentrate
centrally on the attacking players court position and the likely direction the ball will come off his
opponents 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 partners 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.