Match Analysis in Women’s Tennis on Clay, Grass and Hard Courts

Abstract

(1) Background: Performance indicators in tennis such as service effectiveness, rally length or final shots are key factors in determining the winner of the match, although there is little research in the female category. The purpose of this research is to understand the game model in female tennis based on the type of surface. (2) Methods: A total of 2759 points were analyzed from three Grand Slam tournaments from 2019 on three different surfaces. We used observational methodology. (3) Results: The effectiveness of the first service was 62.4% on clay, 64.2% on grass and 67.5% on hard court. With the second service, effectiveness reduced in 5.5%, 11.2% and 14.5% from the first service, respectively. The service direction determines the efficiency and duration of the rally. The highest efficiency occurs with first serves to the T zone or wide zone (regardless of the service side) in short rallies (from 64.9% on clay to 86.3% on hard court). Serving to the centre reduces the chances of success (between 53.1% and 69.9%) and increases the rally length. Between 64.8% (clay) and 75.9% (hard court) of points played on first serve ended in a short rally, while on second serve it was 56.2% (clay) to 61.7% (grass). (4) Conclusions: The data of the effectiveness of the sequences of specific plays can help in the trainings of professional female tennis players.

Match analysis and probability of winning a point in elite men’s singles tennis

“…The observational instrument for this study was made ad hoc , although it was based on a previously validated observation instrument on match analysis in tennis, which had similar objectives to the present research [ 2 ]. The instrument described in Table 1 is a system of categories [ 30 ] called OBSTENNIS-S21 (Tennis observational instrument for the 2021 season).…”

“…The instrument described in Table 1 is a system of categories [ 30 ] called OBSTENNIS-S21 (Tennis observational instrument for the 2021 season). The validity of the construct of the observation instrument was done by its coherence with the theoretical framework [ 32 ] and by consulting two tennis and observational methodology experts who reached a degree of agreement of 95% in response to a questionnaire about the observation instrument, analysing the suitability of it for the reality of the competition and by following the same procedure as previous studies [ 2 , 33 ]. The two experts were provided with a comprehensive description of the observation instrument, the objects of the investigation and instructions for answering the questionnaire.…”

“…Match analysis in tennis is a topic of interest to sport performance researchers, as can be seen in the numerous investigations that have proliferated recently [1][2][3][4]. Like many sports, tennis has a long history of qualitative and quantitative performance analysis [5], most of it predating the automated data collection systems recently seen in modern sport.…”

“…The analysis of the match has allowed the extraction of information that affects the performance related to the type of game [ 10 , 11 ], physical condition [ 12 ], technical [ 13 ], tactical [ 2 ] and psychological [ 14 ] aspects. Most researchers agree that the serve is the most decisive technical action of the match [ 3 , 15 ], due to the fact that the server has the first opportunity to win the point through an ace, an error by the opponent or to obtain a tactical superiority that puts them in an advantageous situation during the first shots [ 16 ], where it has been shown that most of the points are finished [ 17 ].…”

Epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Tennis Players During the French Open Grand Slam Tournament From 2011 to 2022

“…The contrasting findings reported across tournaments could be due to differences in climate, time of year, and/or type of court surface, which is known to affect game length. 3,10,17,19 There is no published literature on the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries at the French Open, which is the only Grand Slam tournament held on a clay court. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to describe the incidence, location, and type of musculoskeletal injuries in tennis players during the French Open tennis tournament from 2011 to 2022.…”