Exploring Oscillations in Expert Sensorimotor Anticipation: The Tennis Return of Serve

In order to react quickly and precisely, multiple brain areas must interact using optimized mechanisms. Using a particular sports example, the return of serve in tennis—incarnated in the “Milos vs. Roger” duel—this chapter explores the modes of interaction between the involved brain structures, focusing on oscillations and their coherence. Based on multiple lines of evidence, during a reaction-time situation, various brain areas modify their local networks, and link distant networks together through coherent slow-wave activity, permitting to optimize communications. We review the oscillatory activity present in sensorimotor cortices, as well as in the basal ganglia and cerebellum, and posit how the oscillatory processes might interact in the whole brain during the delay when a service returner waits to initiate the movement. As the return of serve requires anticipatory skills, we attempt to link the anticipatory behavior to oscillatory activity, likely connecting the frontal and parietal lobes. Based on animal and human evidence, we admit to making educated guesses as to the brain wave activity during a tennis match: however, the exercise illustrates well the need, and the excitement, in developing more knowledge on the effects of movement expertise in the brain.