Body Language
by: Dave Winship @ On The Line

Players express themselves by means of bodily gestures, postures, and facial expressions. It's fascinating to watch, but actually understanding the language can be a frustratingly inexact science.

I'm not sure you should draw too much encouragement from your opponent's body language. It's too easy to misinterpret the signals and it's too easy to react inappropriately. If, for example, your opponent slumps his shoulders and gazes around in all directions, you might interpret this as a sign that he has become disinterested and passive and you might go for the kill inappropriately early in the rally. Anyway, if you get into the habit of reacting positively to an opponent's poor body language, you're probably going to react negatively when his body language is confident and aggressive.

It's probably more useful to use your observations of body language to try and predict certain shots. Your opponent may set his shoulders a certain way when he's going to rip a backhand down the line. He may position himself wider to attempt a slice serve or arch his back more to apply topspin. These are cues that allow you to anticipate what's coming and plan your response.

I always assume my opponent is nervous whatever his body language suggests. If he looks nervous, he's nervous. If he looks confident, no problem - he's putting on an act - he's nervous. If he's 5-1 up, he's going to get nervous closing out the set. If it's 5-5 all, he's going to be nervous about all the big points coming up. If he's 5-1 down, I don't care if he's nervous or not!

But the really important thing about body language in tennis is to speak it well yourself. Good body language is like wearing nice clothes - it makes you feel good! Dress well, move well, look good, feel good!

Regards.

Dave Winship