Advance cues and their use in predicting tennis passing shots

The present investigation represents an attempt to begin to delineate the specific advance cues that tennis players might employ as a basis for predicting the passing shots (i.e., forehand and backhand; down-the-line, cross-court, or lob) of their opponents and, as well, to evaluate the predictive accuracy of any such cues identified. In addition, an effort has been made to determine whether individuals judged to possess advanced tennis skills make more effective use of available telegraphic cues than do those players considered to possess only an intermediate level of overall tennis proficiency. The results obtained indicate that advance body-language cues do exist that accurately forecast passing-shot location, and this is particularly true for forehand shots. Some of the actual cues employed are reported. Generally, advanced players predicted passing-shot type more accurately than did their intermediate counterparts. In some instances, this difference in accuracy can be attributed to the fact that the intermediate players were unaware of what the telegraphic cues were (e.g., backhand shots) while, in other situations, the difference in prediction ability is primarily due to the intermediate players' more frequent failure to detect the presence of known telegraphic cues (i.e., forehand shots).