Figure 2

Illustration of the "theory of angles". On the left are hypothetical angles formed by the possible trajectories from two shots played from different positions on the court. The yellow discs represent the ball. Green and red lines denote possible trajectories and bisectors when the ball is struck from a central and off-centre court position, respectively. Cochet⁶ proposed that the bisectors should reflect a player’s optimal court positioning (brown discs) prior to the ball being struck. Critically, when the opponent is off-center, the angle formed in red defines a bisector which differs to when they are centrally positioned, creating a situation in which the optimal position for the receiving player is on the opposite side of the court. On the right is an image that illustrates the theory of angles unfolding in a game.