Millions of people played tennis today and probably half of them missed an overhead smash or two (or three).

The overhead stroke is the first to go sour when you’ve had a lay-off. That’s because the timing has to be precise; swing too early, you miss. Swing too late, you miss.

By the way, most errors are caused by swinging too early. If you don’t believe it, visualize a player swinging at a descending ball after it has dropped through the hitting zone. Now, compare that with the player who swings ahead of the ball, before it’s in the zone. Oh yeah, we’ve all seen that.

Lots of players time the ball adequately; they hit it on their strings: however, it’s off center. This mishit is usually caused by dropping your head and your eyes down before contact (It’s tempting to look into the opponent’s court).

If this happens to you, remember the following tip: Keep your eyes to the sky until your racket passes by.

This piece of advice should remind you to keep your head, your chin and your eyes up until after you’ve hit the ball.

Problem solved.

Gary Sherby is tennis director at Racquets and Togs Tennis Center, 115 Bradford St., just off the downtown square. His tennis tips appear Sundays.