Tennis requires that you move your entire body to get in position, ensure that you are the right distance from where the ball is going to be, read the opponent’s shot, prepare your own body for the return, execute your return and then get back in position for the opponent’s next shot.
In one study, timing was studied regarding how well a person tracks an object and positions himself relative to the arrival of the object. In a study examining tennis players and novices at ages 7, 10, 13, and 23, it was found that tennis practice accelerates the development of timing accuracy.
In a study specifically using tennis to examine aging and coordination, Lobjois studied tennis players and nontennis players of various ages (20 to 30, 60 to 70, and 70 to 80). A timing task had an object accelerating, at constant velocity or decelerating, and the subjects were asked to time their response to the object’s movement. Even though all participants were affected by the velocity manipulation, this response bias was increasingly pronounced with advancing age in nonplayers and no difference was found among player groups of different ages.