Others still, fail to make a the important distinction between guessing and anticipation. Let Fez now enlighten the community on the matter and put to rest this long standing debate.First of all guessing. The simple truth is, sometimes guessing is the best option, percentage wise. In situations where you are caught in bad position and your opponent is attacking, simply reacting to the strike isnt going to get you to the ball. So, the pure 50/50 guess is the smartest thing to do. And the truth is, EVERYBODY does it. Even the top 5. The difference is, they rarely NEED to do it. Because they don't tend to get themselves in those situations where it becomes the smartest option. But I've caught the best doing it. This in itself ought to silence those who complain about guessing. The real thing to complain about is guessing AS A TECHNIQUE. And, in my experience, there have only been two long-active players ever guilty of this. And one of these has ceased to do it.
Now, anticipation. Anticipation is a matter of game-flow. Often in a rally we can discern what our opponent OUGHT to do, based on the spacial situation. We can anticipate what is the best shot for him in that situation and therefore anticipate that he will do it. Also, sometimes you can see, based on the animation angle of your opponent, the direction he is going to hit. Here, too, we anticipate. These two things are good play, this is NOT guessing.
However, SERVE guessing is an entirely different subject. There can be no "anticipation" at the serve return because there is as yet no game flow happening. Nothing to work from. So the serve guess is (aside from trying to see patterns in your opponents serving) pure guessing. And while this may be done once in a great while in desperate situations (eg, vs Isner on match point or something) in good taste, it is in general a very unprofessional way of playing the game.
In the final analysis, guessing just isnt an effective way to play the game. I provide a case in point; leomonstroso. He was one of the two "guessers" mentioned above. He did it as a technique. He played decent but remained a middle-tier player. Now, having learned to move better, to anticipate, you won't find him guessing except in the above mentioned smart situation. He is now many levels up from his previous level.
Hopefully this helps the newcomers, and helps the long-timers to see the all important difference between guessing and anticipating. And hopefully it silences the critics of proper guessing. And hopefully it stops those serve-guessers from plaguing the courts.
'An I'm out----