A notational analysis of singles events at all four Grand Slam tournaments between 1997 and 1999 was conducted to determine the influence of the sex of the player and court surface on elite tennis strategy. Rallies of 7.1 +/- 2.0 s in women's singles were significantly longer than those in men's singles (5.2 +/- 1.8 s; P < 0.001). Rallies of 6.3 +/- 1.8 s at the Australian Open, 7.7 +/- 1.7 s at the French Open, 4.3 +/- 1.6 s at Wimbledon and 5.8 +/- 1.9 s at the US Open were recorded. Rallies were significantly longer at the French Open than at any other tournament (P< 0.05) and significantly shorter at Wimbledon than at any other tournament (P< 0.05). In women's singles, 52.8 +/- 12.4% of points were baseline rallies, significantly more than in men's singles (28.6 +/- 19%; P < 0.001). The proportion of baseline rallies played at the French Open (51.9 +/- 14.2% of points) was significantly greater than at the Australian Open (46.6 +/- 12.5%), Wimbledon (19.7 +/- 19.4%) and the US Open (35.4 +/- 19.5%; P < 0.05). The results show that both the sex of the player and surface of the court have a significant influence on the nature of singles tennis at Grand Slam tournaments.

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In many competitive sports, the use of a cut-off date for junior competition has been associated with a skewed birth date distribution in junior and senior players. The International Tennis Federation uses a junior competition year that commences on 1 January. The purpose of the current investigation was to describe the birth date distribution of 448 elite senior tennis players and 476 elite junior tennis players. There was a significant season of birth bias among elite senior players (P < 0.001), with 58.9% being born in the first 6 months of the year. There was also a significant season of birth bias among elite junior players (P < 0.001), with 59.5% being born in the first 6 months of the year. This pattern was observed in both male and female players as well as in players from different regions. The results provide evidence that it is the cut-off date for the junior competition year that is responsible for the skewed birth date distribution in tennis rather than regional or climatic factors.

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