Reliability and Accuracy of Ball Speed During Different Strokes in Young Tennis Players

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relationship between anthropometric and sport level (SL) variables and both ball speed and accuracy in young male competitive tennis players. A secondary aim of this study was to analyze the possible differences in ball speed and accuracy between players of different competitive levels. A total of 85 players (age: 14.7±2.4 years; height: 1.65±0.12 m; body weight: 56.3±13.4 kg) were divided into five groups according to their positions in the ranking list. To measure stroke performances, the goal was to hit 20 balls at the maximum possible speed inside the court, with the opportunity of hitting a maximum of 30 balls for each groundstroke and 40 for serve. Accuracy was calculated by dividing the number of balls inside the default surface by the total number of hits. The ball speed showed high reliability for all three strokes assessed. The ball speed progressively increased as SL increased for all strokes, whereas accuracy remained unchanged across SL groups. All independent variables presented significant relationships (r=0.59–0.85, p<0.05–0.001) with ball speed for all strokes. However, after applying partial correlations these relationships decreased substantially (r=0.02–0.51). The accuracy showed significant relationships with SL only in the serve (r=0.31, p<0.05) and backhand (r=0.26, p<0.05) strokes. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that tennis performance depends on increasing ball speed while maintaining a relatively stable level of accuracy.

Monitoring technical tennis performance under increasing physical intensity by the PTTF-test

“…In addition, Kramer and colleagues showed that male as well as female junior elite tennis players improved on upper and lower body-power, speed and agility during U14-U16 (Kramer et al, 2016). Furthermore, we found that the U16 and 16+ groups performed higher mean stroke velocity values in the 'BASELINE'-situation and in the 'FINAL'situation than the U14 group, which is in accordance with earlier research demonstrating that forehand stroke velocity and backhand stroke velocity are positively correlated with age for male youth tennis players (González-González et al, 2018). Second, the increase in physical intensity between the 'BASELINE'-situation and the 'FINAL'situation of the PTTF-test protocol was assessed.…”

Epidemiology of United States tennis-related ocular injuries from 2000 to 2019

“…The relationship between increasing ball speed and skill level; however, may justify eye protection even more for experienced professional athletes where the ball speed reported is 260 km/hr (150 mph) according to the Association of Tennis Professionals. 22 Such high speed balls have also have potential to injure spectators and o cials on the court. Recently, an innocuous gesture of hitting the ball in the stands by a professional tennis player hit the chair umpire by gaffe, causing an orbital oor fracture.…”

Unravelling tennis performance

“…On average, females mature earlier than males. Several studies have shown a relationship between ball speed in groundstrokes and anthropometric factors such as height, weight and maturity status (González-González et al, 2018;. In the present study, females U15 have already experienced their growth spurt as opposed to males U15.…”

“…In tennis, technical skills include ball and racket handling during groundstrokes, serves, returns and volleys. When focusing on outcome-related technical skills in tennis, ball speed appears one of the most significant attributes, as a higher ball speed reduces the time it takes for an opponent to return the ball successfully (González-González et al, 2018;. To be in control in a match, players should also hit their strokes with sufficient accuracy as hitting the ball to a specific location on the court allows them to keep the ball far enough from their opponents to produce a winner or cause the opponent to make an error .…”

“…Studies on tennis-specific technical skills underline that players at a higher performance level outscore players at a lower performance level on measures such as ball speed, percentage errors and accuracy ). An increased ball speed reduces the time for an opponent to return the ball successfully (González-González et al, 2018;. The amount of errors seems particularly important for reaching professional level, as the error rate is lower among professional players compared to elite youth players (Kovalchik & Reid, 2017).…”