Auditory contributions to visual anticipation in tennis

Abstract Objectives It is well-known that visual information is crucial to successful anticipation in tennis. Here, we examine whether the sound of a tennis ball being struck by a racquet would influence anticipatory judgments of the ball's trajectory. Design Within videos of tennis rallies from the semi-final of the Australian Open 2016 between Djokovic and Federer, the intensity of the sounds produced when the racquet hit the ball were manipulated systematically. Methods Experienced tennis players anticipated where the ball would land in the opponent's half. Results The results highlight that the louder the sound of the contact between the racquet and ball, the longer participants predicted the ball's trajectory to be. Conclusions These findings demonstrate that besides the crucial contribution of vision to anticipation, action-related auditory cues can significantly influence predictions of the outcome of strokes in tennis as well.