can elicit a longer response delay from their opponent. They showed videos of players striking a tennis ball to more than 30 University of British Columbia undergrads and asked them to indicate, as fast as possible, where the shot would end up on the other side of the court.

For those clips that included a grunt, respondents had a slower response and were less accurate about the location of the forthcoming shot. The authors, while concluding that future on-court study needs to be conducted, posit one possible explanation, that “the interfering auditory stimulus masks the sound of the ball being struck by the racket or it distracts an opponent’s attention away from the sound of the ball.”

Maybe they can also explain why Andy Roddick has yet to win a major.

Image: Flickr/leprecon, CC

Follow us on Twitter at @erikmal and @wiredplaybook and on Facebook.

See Also:

• A Virtual Tennis Clinic Starring Venus, From Afar
• The Best Tennis Player You've Never Heard Of
• By Losing Weight, Tennis Pro Quickly Gains Ground
• Wimbledon Marathon Ranks Among Sports' Finest

Authors: Erik Malinowski

to know more click here