Although the anticipation skill of tennis players has previously been investigated, little research has focused on players' anticipation in a rally situation and in the presence of faked shots. In the present study, in order to compare temporal differences in anticipation between skilled players and novices, video clips of an opponent player who stroked straight or cross-course shots and faked shots were masked with a black screen 330, 165 or 99 ms before contact with the ball, at the moment of contact with the ball, or 99, 165 or 330 ms after contact with the ball. Eleven skilled players and 12 novices judged the direction of shots, indicated their confidence in their judgments and judged whether the shot was faked or not. The results indicated that regardless of when the clip was masked and whether the shot was faked or not, skilled players were more accurate than novices in judging the direction of shots. This suggests that skilled players utilized the opponent player's form before contact with the ball in addition to the course of the ball after contact. Moreover, signal detection theory was used to analyze the detectability (d' and criterion (ß) for judging faked shots. Skilled players judged shots as faked more frequently than novices before contact with the ball, although this difference decreases after contact with the ball. However, d' and ß, did not differ between skilled players and novices. This suggests that skilled players prepare for faked shots based on the opponent player's form before contact with the ball. The present findings will contribute to future study of anticipatory skill and the development of coaching methods.
