ABSTRACT
It is now widely accepted that skilled perception is an important characteristic of high level sports performance (Williams et al., 1993). This is particularly the case in fast ball sports such as tennis where ball velocity during the serve can reach values above 200 km.hr-1. In such circumstances, the speed of play dictates that the receiver has to make a decision based on information arising prior to, or at least very soon after, ball-racket contact by the server. This suggests that the ability to use early advance cues from the opponent’s service action as well as the effective co-ordination of head, eye and postural movements during ball flight would appear to be pre-requisites for successful performance.
