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Professional tennis competition at the highest levels requires high physical, technical, tactical, and mental demands. Player retirement is a scenario that often occurs at the highest echelons of the game. The objective of this study was to descriptively determine which factors influence retirement of matches in tennis. Matches from the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tours played over 44 and 46 years were included in the study, respectively. The results showed an increasing trend in the incidence of retirements in both ATP and WTA events, especially in recent years. Factors associated with the match characteristics, such as the type of surface, the type of tournament, and the round of the draw, were shown to influence retirement. Variables associated with player characteristics, such as the age difference between players, did not show to influence retirement, whereas the ranking difference did. When comparing ATP and WTA matches, similar results were observed in which surfaces and tournaments had the highest or lowest incidence of retirements. On the other hand, as per the rounds, the results are not conclusive. The findings highlight the growing trend of match retirements in professional tennis and emphasize the relevant influence of match characteristics such as surface type, tournament type, and round of the draw. These insights can guide coaches, players, and tournament organizers in developing strategies to mitigate retirements and inform future research on enhancing player longevity and performance in tennis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the effect of prolonged tennis playing on lower limb muscles' activity during the execution of first and second tennis serves. Ten male competitive tennis players executed five first and second serves before (pretest) and after (posttest) a 3‐h tennis match. Surface electromyographic (EMG) activity of four lower limb muscles (vastus lateralis, rectus femoris, gastrocnemius lateralis, and soleus muscles) on each leg was recorded along with maximum ball velocity measured by a radar gun and peak vertical forces recorded by a force platform. For the vastus lateralis, gastrocnemius lateralis, and soleus muscles of the left leg as well as the vastus lateralis muscle of the right leg, EMG amplitude decreased from pre‐ to posttests (p ≤ 0.033). These reductions in the EMG signal were generally more pronounced in the first serve (i.e., ranging from −10% to −40%) compared to the second serve (0% to −25%). Maximum ball velocity for both first (159 ± 12 vs. 154 ± 12 km/h) and second (126 ± 20 vs. 125 ± 15 km/h) serves remained unchanged from pre‐ to posttests (p = 0.638) Similarly, peak vertical forces did not differ between pretest and posttest for both first (1.78 ± 0.30 vs. 1.72 ± 0.29 body weight) and second (1.62 ± 0.25 vs. 1.75 ± 0.23 body weight) serves (p = 0.730). In conclusion, a 3‐h tennis match led to decreased activation levels in various leg muscles during serves, particularly in first serves compared to second serves. Despite consistent maximum ball velocity and peak vertical forces, these reductions in EMG signals suggest that skilled tennis players may adopt compensatory strategies after prolonged play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Junior tennis players travel a lot to play tennis tournaments; this causes them to spend a lot of time away from their homes and disrupts their training, which could reduce their performance and increase the risk of injury. The purpose of this study was to analyze the changes in physical performance and body composition after a six-week international tour in young Chilean female tennis players. Thirty young female tennis players (15.4 ± 0.6) participated in this study. Body weight, skinfolds, and perimeters were measured. Body fat percentage (BFP) and skeletal muscle mass (SMM) were calculated. For physical performance, 5 m sprint, the 505 with stationary start test (505 test), the pro-agility test, countermovement jump (CMJ), and medicine ball throw (MBT) were evaluated. The results show a significant increase in BFP and decrease in SMM (p < 0.01; d = −0.18 and 0.19, respectively). In terms of physical performance, 5 m sprint, the 505 test (p < 0.01; d = −0.95 and −0.95, respectively), CMJ, MBT, and HJ significantly decreased post-tour (p < 0.05; d = 0.96, 0.89 and 0.47, respectively). We conclude that, after a six-week international tour, there were changes in body composition and a significant decrease in 5 m sprint, the 505 test, CMJ, and MBT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we tested the theory of angles that was proposed almost a century ago by the tennis player Henri Cochet. This theory proposes that expert tennis players should position themselves on the bisector of the angle of the opponent's possibilities in order to optimize shot return, suggesting a geometric occupation of the court relative to the opponent's affordances; namely what he/she is capable of doing. We tested this hypothesis by analysing player and ball positioning data from professional tennis matches recorded with a Hawk-Eye system. We compared this hypothesis with two alternative computational and probabilistic hypotheses which would consist in positioning oneself on the average or the median of the shots usually played from a given location. The results show that expert tennis players apply the principles of the theory of angles and thus confirm Henri Cochet's intuition. That is, for lateral court positioning, a geometric strategy is deemed optimal by expert players. It also appears that the more experienced the players are, the more precise their application of this strategy becomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Emotions consist of different components such as the emotional experience, physiological reactions, action tendencies, or emotional expressions. Assessing the relation of these components may help to better understand the role of emotions in sport competitions. Based on the component process model of emotions, the goal of the present study was to assess the relation between emotional experiences and emotional expressions. Methods: Twenty tennis players (7 female) with an average age of 23.10 (SD = 4.88) were taped during competitive tennis matches. Thereafter, in individual meetings, after having watched themselves on the footage at pre-selected points, the players had to indicate whether, immediately after the end of a rally, they had a positive or a negative emotional experience and, in case they had one, rate its intensity. Moreover, based on their observable behavior, the players were also asked to state whether they could recognize a positive or a negative emotional expression and, in case they recognized one, rate its intensity. The occurrence of emotional expressions was additionally rated by two external coders. Using multilevel models, separate analyses were conducted for positive emotions after won points and negative emotions after lost points. Results and discussion: For both positive and negative emotions, the results indicated a positive correlation between emotional experiences and emotional expressions. Moreover, the intensity of emotional experiences could predict the occurrence of an emotional expression rated by both the players or external coders. These insights into the relation between emotional experiences and emotional expressions may help players to more effectively regulate their emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relative age effect (RAE) has been the subject of many studies, but no relevant literature has discussed the phenomenon of RAE in Chinese tennis. Numerous studies have demonstrated that RAE significantly contributes to brain drain and other occurrences that create inequity. This paper analyzes the birth dates and year-end rankings of all male players (N = 2697) who participated in China's junior tennis tournaments (U12, U14, U16) between 2014 and 2019 and who were selected for China's National Junior Team in 2019 and 2020; the paper classifies the birth dates into quarters and semesters. One of the research objectives of this study is to analyze whether RAE exists in Chinese junior men's tennis and whether RAE exerts an effect on athletes' performance. Differences between the observed and expected birthdate distributions were tested using chi-square statistics, and subsequent calculations were tested using odds ratios. The study found that RAE was present in all Chinese junior male tennis sports groups (p<0.001). The percentages of athletes born in the first half of the year were 56.4% (U12), 60.4% (U14), and 60.4% (U16), and the percentages of those born in the first quarter were 34.1% (U12), 36.4% (U14), and 37.1% (U16). Athletes with birth dates closer to the beginning of the year had a higher probability of achieving excellent athletic performance as a result of RAE, whereas those who were born near the end of the year had a more difficult time achieving strong athletic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed‐strategy Nash equilibrium is the cornerstone of our understanding of strategic situations that require decision makers to be unpredictable. Using data from nearly half a million serves over 3000 tennis matches, and data on player rankings from the ATP and WTA, we examine whether the behavior of professional tennis players is consistent with equilibrium. We find that win rates conform remarkably closely to the theory for men, but conform somewhat less neatly for women. We show that the behavior in the field of more highly ranked (i.e., better) players conforms more closely to theory. We show that the statistical tests used in the prior related literature are not valid for large samples like ours; we develop a novel statistical test that is valid and show, via Monte Carlo simulations, that it is more powerful against the alternative that receivers follows a nonequilibrium mixture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of statistical tools for predicting the winner in tennis matches has enjoyed an increase in popularity over the last two decades and, currently, a variety of methods are available. In particular, paired comparison approaches make use of latent ability estimates or rating calculations to determine the probability that a player will win a match. In this paper, we extend this latter class of models by using network indicators for the predictions. We propose a measure based on eigenvector centrality. Unlike what happens for the standard paired comparisons class (where the rates or latent abilities only change at time t for those players involved in the matches at time t), the use of a centrality measure allows the ratings of the whole set of players to vary every time there is a new match. The resulting ratings are then used as a covariate in a simple logit model. Evaluating the proposed approach with respect to some popular competing specifications, we find that the centrality-based approach largely and consistently outperforms all the alternative models considered in terms of the prediction accuracy. Finally, the proposed method also achieves positive betting results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: With the widespread use of wearable sensors, various methods to evaluate external physical loads using acceleration signals measured by inertial sensors in sporting activities have been proposed. Acceleration-derived external physical loads have been evaluated as a simple indicator, such as the mean or cumulative values of the target interval. However, such a conventional simplified indicator may not adequately represent the features of the external physical load in sporting activities involving various movement intensities. Therefore, we propose a method to evaluate the external physical load of tennis player based on the histogram of acceleration-derived signal obtained from wearable inertial sensors. Methods: Twenty-eight matches of 14 male collegiate players and 55 matches of 55 male middle-aged players wore sportswear-type wearable sensors during official tennis matches. The norm of the three-dimensional acceleration signal measured using the wearable sensor was smoothed, and the rest period (less than 0.3 G of at least 5 s) was excluded. Because the histogram of the processed acceleration signal showed a bimodal distribution, for example, high- and lowintensity peaks, a Gaussian mixture model was fitted to the histogram, and the model parameters were obtained to characterize the bimodal distribution of the acceleration signal for each player. Results: Among the obtained Gaussian mixture model parameters, the linear discrimination analysis revealed that the mean and standard deviation of the highintensity side acceleration value accurately classified collegiate and middle-aged players with 93% accuracy; however, the conventional method (only the overall mean) showed less accurate classification results (63%). Conclusion: Themean and standard deviation of the high-intensity side extracted by the Gaussian mixture modeling is found to be the effective parameter representing the external physical load of tennis players. The histogram-based feature extraction of the acceleration-derived signal that exhibit multimodal distribution may provide a novel insight into monitoring external physical load in other sporting activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The precompetitive anxiety should be controlled in athletes to optimize their performance. In this regard, heart rate variability (HRV) is a non-invasive tool to assess the autonomic nervous system balance. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the HRV response of elite international junior tennis players during an international tournament. Eleven players participate in this study, with a mean age of 15.36 (0.67) years old. The HRV of tennis players are assessed 24 h before the event, and immediately before the first and the second match of the ITF Junior Davis Cup event. Each of the registers lasted 5 min and the time domain, frequency domain, and non-linear variables were extracted. Results show that elite tennis players did not decrease the HRV between the baseline and the first match. However, the HRV response significantly differed between the baseline and the second match. Nevertheless, anxiety was higher before the first match than before the second match. Coaches and physical trainers could use HRV to control and manage the precompetitive anxiety of junior tennis players. The experience in international tournaments and the familiarization with the environment in the second match could explain these results. The aim of the present study was to investigate the evolution of the HRV during an international team tennis tournament in elite junior tennis players. A total of 11 tennis players, with a mean age of 15.36 (0.67) from six nationalities, participated in this cross-sectional study. Participants were measured one day before the event, before the first match, and before the second match of the ITF Junior Davis Cup event. Each of the registers lasted 5 min and the time domain, frequency domain and non-linear variables were extracted. The tournament took place in Valencia (Spain). Results showed that there was not a significant decrease in the heart rate variability (HRV) induced by precompetitive stress. However, significant differences (p-value < 0.05) were found between baseline and second match pre-competition HRV values in low frequency (LFNu) (p-value = 0.008) and high frequency (HFNu) power (p-value = 0.008), LF/HF ratio (p-value = 0.008) and Sample Entropy (SampEn) (p-value = 0.033) variables. Furthermore, cognitive anxiety (measured by CSAI-2r) (p-value = 0.017) and anxiety (measured by STAI-S) (p-value = 0.042) were higher before the first match than before the second match. Coaches and physical trainers could use HRV to control and manage the precompetitive anxiety of junior tennis players. The experience in international tournaments and the familiarization with the environment in the second match could explain these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the level of tennis improves, the ability and strategy to play in the game determine the responsibility for the outcome of the game. It is committed to improving the professional and strategic level of Asian tennis players and narrowing the gap with high-level European and American tennis players. The purpose of this paper is to study the application of machine learning in the study of the evaluation model of the technical and tactical effectiveness of tennis matches, and proposes the decision tree algorithm, artificial neural network, reinforcement learning algorithm, and related concepts of tennis matches. Therefore, this paper selects Federer's technical and tactical games from 2013 to 2017 as the research object. And by paying attention to the application characteristics of Federer's methods and strategies in each stage, a detailed statistical analysis of the data is carried out point by point. The exploratory outcomes show that through the AI calculation, it is found that the incredible skill and vital sufficiency of Federer's hard court game change around 0.600, and the typical worth is 0.594. Particular and vital efficiency showed a sluggish recuperation in 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional tennis players have their own habits of tactics and play. However, players' shortcomings can be corrected by constantly practicing professional techniques and by tactical analysis. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a two-stage, expert decision-making system for tennis matches. The first stage consisted in dividing the court area and defining the technical classification of the net. Tennis coaches were invited to assess tennis players' skills on the competition court, dividing it into 48 areas on both sides of the court centerline and identifying the skills used by the players. In the second stage, a classification model was developed, and the score, hitting habits, and tennis skills of the players, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, over 10 matches, played from 2007 to 2019, were analyzed and classified using notational analysis and the C5.0 decision tree algorithm. The results show that the two players' highest scored techniques were the forehand stroke in the backcourt and the backhand stroke in the half court. Thus, using this expert decision-making system, our data can provide other players with imaginary training objects from two of the top players in the world to be used during training and can allow the accumulation of experience for players through continuous simulation and training analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was conducted to determine the reasons and expectations of tennis players participating in the Eastern League organized by the tennis federation, preferring this sports branch. The research group consists of 138 athletes (53 women and 85 men) participating in the Eastern League Tennis Tournament. The scanning method was used in the research. As a data collection tool, a personal information form prepared by taking expert opinions and a scale form determining the reasons for preferring the tennis branch were used. SPSS statistical package program was used to analyze the data, and the significance was accepted as p<0.05. According to the results of the research, the research group; 73.9% are students, 39.9% are undergraduates, 56.5% are members of a club other than a tennis club, 55.8% do their training at Provincial Directorates of Youth and Sports, and 60%, It has been determined that 1 of them has a provincial championship. In addition, most of the athletes stated that the materials in the sports facilities were insufficient. It was seen that the friends, easy access to the facilities and prevalence, family and TV, cinema, and press-broadcasting were effective in preferring the tennis branch of the research group, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheelchair mobility is an important factor for success in wheelchair tennis. Tennis matches can be played on different surfaces, so the aim of the present study was to analyse the influence of court surface on wheelchair tennis mobility. Four male wheelchair tennis players (age = 33.75 ± 12.33 years) performed two tests (20 m sprint and agility t-test) on three official court surfaces (hard, artificial grass and clay). Photocell gates were used to record time and ascertain sprint and turn ability of the wheelchair tennis players. ANOVA test with post hoc pairwise comparisons were conducted to compare the mean differences among surfaces. Following the analysis, the wheelchair tennis players moved faster on hard or clay surfaces than on artificial grass although no statistically significant differences in the 20 m sprint and agility t-test between each of the three surfaces were found (p > 0.05). Moreover, the surface seems to affect mobility more, with respect to turns than in linear locomotion, although more research is needed on this aspect. The playing surfaces may need to be an extra variable in planning performance related activities such as techniques and tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the development and innovation of tennis have basically been integrated with the Internet, and the penetration of big data is accelerating the development of tennis. Collect data and statistics about tennis matches, analyze the key winning factors of the game, assign players' gains and losses, and assign points. Fully understand the game's tactics and various key technical functions of the player and enhance the influence of the game's attention. Therefore, as the era of the Internet of Things is about to come, the development of sports events in my country should seize the opportunity of innovation in the application of Internet of Things technology, accelerate the process of upgrading informatization and intelligence, and achieve leapfrog development. This article is aimed at studying the use of the Internet of Things security technology, research, and design a monitoring system for the key technical characteristics of male tennis players. This paper proposes to develop a novel real-time video semantic analysis prototype system for tennis matches, taking the video from the monitoring perspective of tennis matches as the analysis object. The experimental results in this article show that from Wimbledon to the Australian Open, the Australian Open is very slow, and finally, to the French Open, the speed of the ball slows down and improves the accuracy of the tennis crisis system. The average level and the correct answer rate are 61.37%. Eventually, it rose from the highest 86.13% to 86.92%, and the highest was the lowest. It seems that a monitoring system for the basic technical characteristics of male tennis players is more feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Central and peripheric fatigue indicators are among the main reasons for performance decline following competition. Because of the impact of these factors on performance, how these variables are affected by match-play could be of interest, especially in young tennis players. Objective: This study aimed to investigate alterations induced by a simulated tennis match on postural control and muscle characteristics in young tennis players. Method: Seventeen male junior players took part in pre- and post-competition testing sessions performing postural control (displacement, speed and surface area of center of pressures) and muscle characteristics measurements (tone, stiffness, time to relaxation and elasticity). Between trials, participants played an 80-min simulated tennis match. Results: No significant differences were observed in any of the tested variables. Moderate-to-large effect sizes (ES) for decreased stiffness and tone and greater time to relaxation were found between pre- and post-conditions in the right rectus abdominis (-9.8%, -4.4% and 7.8%; ES = 0.8, 0.54 and -0.85). Also, a decrease in tone was found in the right vastus medialis (-7.1%; ES = 0.56), while surface area of the center of pressures with eyes open showed trends towards increasing in post-match measurements (55.9%; ES = 0.56). Conclusion: An 80-min simulated tennis match seems insufficient to elicit significant changes in postural control and mechanical muscle characteristics. Results suggest that physiological responses triggered by match-play were closer to those seen after a moderate activity than those present following a strenuous task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper aims to highlight the importance of coordinative abilities in the training plan of 10-12 year old tennis players, and whether through the methods and means chosen for this experiment an optimisation of tennis specific movements is observed. The ability to combine different forms of movement allows the player to better and faster adapt to the different surfaces they have to play on. In most cases, tennis movement is the combined result of and is constantly conditioned by the court area, technical processes and the player's experience. The results of this study show that the development of coordinative abilities positively influences the player's ability to combine the different types of movements specific to tennis matches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In tennis, the accumulation of data has progressed and research on tactical analysis has been conducted. Estimating strategically important factors would have the benefit of providing players with useful advice and helping audience members understand what tennis players are good at. Previous research has been conducted into ways of predicting Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tennis match outcomes as well as estimating factors that are important for victories using machine learning models. The challenge of previous research is that the victory factor lacks concreteness. Since we thought the root of the abovementioned problem was that previous researchers used game summary as a feature and did not consider the process of rallies between points, this research focused on calculating the frequency of single shots, two-shot patterns, and specific effective shot patterns from each point rally of ATP singles matches. We then used those data to predict point winners and useful features using L1-regularized logistic regression. The highest accuracy obtained was 66.5%, and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.689. The most prominent feature we found was the ratio of specific shots by specific players. From these results, our method could reveal more concretely tactical factors than previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of professional tennis players in the four major Grand Slam tournaments has always been an important research topic, which advances the understanding of the current development of tennis. However, there is little known about the difference between higher-ranked and lower-ranked players considering match performance statistics. The study was aimed to explore the technical, tactical, and physical performance indicators that best discriminate seeded and non-seeded male players in Grand Slams. A total of 549 matches played by 189 individual players during 2015–2017 Grand Slam men's singles were sampled, with corresponding match statistics gathered for each player observation, concerning players' serving, returning, net point, break point, efficiency, and physical performance. The results showed that the seeded players outperformed the non-seeded players in serve and return, break point, net point, and efficiency-related indicators, while the following indicators contributed most to the separation of two player categories: serve and return of serve points won (%), ace (%), peak serve speed, net points won (%), break point per return game, break point saved, winner and unforced error ratio, and dominance ratio. The research findings evidenced the decreased competitive balance in men's competition during Grand Slams due to a rank-based seeding system, whereas coaches could use the information to fine-tune the training benchmarks and match planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. Good serving is crucial to succeed in men's world class tennis; however, both chronological and skill-related service game development remain to be elucidated. The study aimed to systematically analyse the development of serving behaviour and serve efficiency in world class men's tennis over a period of 14 years. Methods. Historical data collected from all matches at the Wimbledon Championship between 2002 and 2015 (matches: n = 1772; service games: n = 63,838; serves: n = 401,527) were included for analyses. The analyses focused on 2 comparisons, serve efficiency development over time and possible differences within the world class, i.e. 1st tournament week results (matches: n = 1563; service games: n = 55,989; serves: n = 352,748) and 2nd tournament week results (matches: n = 209; service games: n = 7849; serves: n = 48,779). Results. An increase was observed of the percentages for service games won (p < 0.01), aces served (p < 0.01), and 1st and 2nd serve points won (p < 0.01), whereas double faults (p < 0.05) and serve and volley points played (p < 0.01) decreased over time. Direct comparisons of the 1st and 2nd tournament week show advantages in favour of the 2nd tournament week. Players competing in the 2nd tournament week won higher percentages of service games (p < 0.01) and points on the 1st (p < 0.01) and 2nd serve (p < 0.05), and served more aces (p < 0.05) but fewer double faults (p < 0.05). Conclusions. With a particular impact on the 2nd tournament week, the findings indicate increased serve efficiency in men's world class grass court tennis from 2002 to 2015, which may imply altered practice patterns in tomorrow's training and coaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tennis players perform a large number of multidirectional and cutting movements, together with asymmetrical rotational motions resulting from serves and groundstrokes. Numerous shot repetitions and multidirectional motions directly influence a tennis player's upper and lower extremity joint range of motion (ROM). Objective: This study evaluated the changes in the range of motion of junior tennis players before and after match play. Methods: Twelve male (age 14.4 ± 1.3 years) and twelve female (age 13.4 ± 2.1 years) junior tennis players participated in the study. Two skilled experts performed 13 tests to measure passive range of motion of the dominant and non-dominant shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and subtalar joints, before and after match play. The t-test and Wilcoxon test were used to determine the differences between the ROM before and after the tennis match, and the differences between the dominant and non-dominant sides of the body. Results: Bilateral measurement of the internal rotation of the shoulder joints, forearm pronation, and inversion of the subtalar joints before match play, show significant differences between extremities, similarly as the elevation of the arm in the coronal plane and forearm pronation, after a tennis match, were also found to display statistically significant differences. ROM values were higher for the internal rotation of both shoulders, external rotation of the non-dominant shoulder, elevation of the arms in the coronal plane, flexion in the elbow joints, pronation in the forearms, adduction in the hips, as well as eversion and inversion of the subtalar joints. Conclusions: Male and female junior tennis players increase their joint ROM during match play through motions which are involved in the execution of tennis shots and tennis movement patterns. Tennis matches that last 90 minutes or less do not have a negative impact on the flexibility of young tennis players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: A tennis player has a very limited time to hit an incoming ball; however, the ball delivery time is affected by playing on different surfaces. Consequently, the playing surface can affect also other match characteristics as players can reach more incoming balls or can move on the court with different intensity (cover more distance). Aim of Study: The aim is to analyze the rally pace characteristics and the frequency of rally shots in men's matches in the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in 2017. Material and Methods: We analyzed 24 male matches in the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in 2017. Analysis of variance including post-hoc tests and Cohen d were used to compare the point duration, number of rally shots, time between the points, rally pace and work to rest ratio among these tournaments. Results: The rally pace (mean ball flight time between the opponents) was the fastest in the Australian Open (1.22 s) and was significantly faster (p=0.003) compared to the French Open (1.35 s). The rally pace in the Wimbledon reached 1.27 s and Cohen d showed large effect between the rally pace in the Wimbledon and French Open or moderate effect between the Australian Open and Wimbledon. There were other differences among the tournaments, but the lowest number of rally shots (4.07), point duration (5.30 s) and time between points (18.82 s) was reached in the Wimbledon. More than 50 % of all points were finished within the first four shots (most in the Wimbledon - 66%). Conclusion: These findings show and endorse the impact of surface differences on the game performance in professional tennis and can be used to shape specific training sessions on different surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A few studies have shown that different types of court surfaces can have different effects on tennis match performance in different age groups, however, no studies have researched on tennis match performance responses in young tennis players. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of different court surfaces on psychophysiological responses, time-motion and match characteristics of young tennis players. Methods: Twenty-six young male tennis players (age 13.0 ± 0.3 years, body height 158 ± 8 cm, body mass 48 ± 7 kg) volunteered to participate in the study. Heart rate was monitored along with total distance covered in four different speed zoneswalking, low-intensity running, moderate-intensity running and high-intensity running, using two portable multivariable integrated 10 Hz GPS monitoring devices over twenty-six outdoor tennis matches; ratings of perceived exertion and enjoyment level were also determined at the end of the matches. Variables describing the characteristics of the matches determined from video recordings were: strokes per rally, rally duration, effective playing time, work-to-rest ratio and rest time between rallies. Differences between hard and clay courts were assessed by a paired t-test. Results: The results showed that clay court surfaces induced significantly more perceived enjoyment scores (29.4 ± 2.8 vs. 26.0 ± 3.2) with lower perceived exertion level (13.4 ± 2.7 vs. 14.4 ± 2.9) compared to hard courts. Moreover, a clay court surface is also more effective at improving physiological responses, time-motion and match characteristics compared to hard court. Conclusions: If a coach strives to improve their young tennis players' tennis-specific performance with greater physical enjoyment, clay court surfaces should be specially used in their tennis training season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many sports contests, the equilibrium requires players to randomize across repeated rounds, i.e., exhibit no temporal predictability. Such sports data present a window into the (in)efficiency of random sequence generation in a natural competitive environment, where the decision makers (tennis players) are both highly experienced and incentivized compared to laboratory studies. I resolve a long-standing debate about whether professional players' tennis serve directions are serially independent (Hsu, Huang & Tang, 2007) or not (Walker & Wooders, 2001) using a new dataset that is two orders of magnitude larger than those studies. I examine both between- and within-player determinants of the degree of serial (in)dependence. Evidence of the existence of significant serial dependence across serves is presented, even among players ranked Number 1 in the world. Furthermore, significant heterogeneity was found with respect to the strength of serial dependence and also its sign. A novel finding is that Number 1 and Number 2 ranked players tend to under-alternate on average, whereas in line with previous findings, the lower-ranked the players, the greater their tendency to over-alternate. Within-player analyses show that high-ranked players do not condition their randomization behavior on their opponent's ranking. However, the under-alternation of top players would be consistent with a best-response to beliefs that the population of opponents over-alternates on average. Finally, the degree of observed serial dependence is not systematically related to other match variables proxying for match difficulty, fatigue, and psychological pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of our study is to compare selected game characteristics on different surfaces among all grand-slam tournaments and between male and female professional tennis players. We analyzed match characteristics from all grand-slam tournaments - Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. We had data from all the matches and tournaments (127 singles matches from male and 127 female singles matches per each tournament). We compared the tournaments and also the genders. The data of the match characteristics were obtained through the official tournaments websites. The results showed women won significantly more return games compared to men (by 12%); men won significantly more points after 1st and 2nd serve compared to women (by 7% or 6% respectively); men played significantly more games per set; and women played significantly more points per game. Faster surface provides greater advantage to the server. Therefore it is important to practice serves prior these tournament. The least percentage of winners was reached at US Open. The mean percentage of 2nd serve points won in women's matches reached only 45%, therefore receiving the 2nd serve could be an advantage in women's tennis. The receiver should use this advantage by a good return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to compare activity patterns between male and female wheelchair tennis (WT) matches. Sixteen singles international WT matches (eight male and eight female) were analysed. Each match was recorded and analysed according to the following variables: total match time (minutes), total set time (minutes), effective playing time (%), total resting time (%), working timetresting time ratio (W:R), resting time between points (seconds), rally duration (seconds), points per set, shots per set, shots per rally, bounces per point, and time between shots (seconds). Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare between the genders and Wilcoxon test was used to compare variables with the type of point (non-game point opportunity-NGO, and game point opportunity - GO). Female matches showed higher values (p<.05) in rally duration, bounces per point, and frequency of shots than male matches. Both genders spent more time between points in GO than in NGO situation. The findings indicate that male and female players play in a different way, and these differences should be taken into consideration by the WT coaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to determine the timing of a split-step in three categories of tennis players in four groups of strokes. Subjects were divided into three groups: male and female junior, and male professional tennis players. During two tournaments, all matches were recorded with two fixed video cameras. For every stroke, the timing of the split-step between the opponent's impact point when hitting the ball and the player's split-step was measured. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the differences between groups of strokes, players and the interaction Player x Stroke Group. A Tukey post-hoc test was employed to determine specific differences. The results revealed differences between players in detecting the opponent's movement, stroke and ball flight, which were reflected in different split-step timings. Each tennis player has his/her own timing mechanism which they adapt to various game situations. Response times differ significantly depending on the game situation. On average, they are the lowest in the serve, and then gradually rise from the return of the serve to baseline game, reaching the highest values in specific game situations. Players react faster in the first serve than in the second one and in the return of the serve, the response times are lower after the return of the second serve [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Handicap systems are used in many sports to improve competitive balance and equalize the match-win probability between opponents of differing ability. Recognizing the absence of such a system in tennis, we develop a novel optimization-based handicap system for tennis using a Markov Decision Process (MDP) model. In our handicap system, theweaker player is given β "free points" or "credits" at the start of the match, which he can use before the start of any point during the match to win the point outright. The MDP model determines two key features of the handicap system: (1) Fairness: the minimum value of β required to equalize the match-win probability, and (2) Achievability: the optimal policy governing usage of the β credits to achieve the desired match-win probability. We test the sensitivity of the handicap values to the model's input parameters. Finally, we apply the model to real match data to estimate professional handicaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is conducted to determine the reasons of tennis players participating in weekend 12-age tournament of tennis federation for choosing this sport and their socio-economic levels. The study is a qualitative research and a questionnaire was used. The questionnaire used in the study is a questionnaire that was previously used by Tel (2001), and some modifications were made to the questionnaire to adapt it to the tennis sport. The study sample consisted of 40 tennis players (29 boys and 11 girls) who took part in 12-age weekend tournament. The research data was analyzed using the statistics software SPSS 22.0 and percentage, frequency, mean and standard deviation techniques were used as descriptive statistics. The study findings showed that; 97,5% of players are a member of any sports club and 29,6% of players train at the facilities of Provincial Directorate for Youth Services and Sports. When the ranks of players are examined, it is observed that provincial championship is determined at 48,2%, regional championship at 23,2%, national championship at 5,4%, average year of playing tennis is 2,92 years and we can suggest that these two results support each other. It was found that 65% of participant players do not play any sport other than tennis. Expectation of sports players from the tennis sport was found that they play this sport to become national players with 90,2%. Their purpose for selecting the tennis sport was found as making new friends with 30,5%, liking tennis sport with 29,7%, and protecting and maintaining physical health with 25%. In conclusion, it was found that parents, physical education teacher, friends and sports facility influence choosing the tennis sport, while environmental factors, distance to sports facility and press do not have much influence on tennis sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A sport-specific conditioning program can help tennis players train for competition or return to play from injury. This study determined the actual tennis serve volume in elite play and used these data to construct an interval training program based on stroke volume. Hypothesis: There will be no differences in serve volume between male and female tennis players at the professional and junior levels. Study Design: Retrospective cohort study. Level of Evidence: Level 3. Methods: Game day statistic scorecards were provided to the research team from the 2013 and 2014 United States Open and the 2014 Metropolia Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships. Serve volume data for both male and female players were extracted from the scorecards. Data included serves per match and per set. These data were used to construct a sport-specific tennis program to meet the demands of the serve. Results: Professional male players serve 63 more serves per match than junior male players because of the greater number of sets played (P < 0.01). Professional female players serve 10 more serves per match than junior female players playing the same number of sets (P = 0.01). All male players hit 2 more total serves per set than all female players (P < 0.01). Regardless of sex, professional players serve 4 more serves per set than junior players (P < 0.01). The typical number of serves per set was 40 in elite-level tennis players, resulting in a 3:1 ratio of first to second serves. Conclusion: These data establish the “unit dose” of serves per match and/or per set for each group. Clinical Relevance: Coaches and health care providers may use these data in estimating loads per tournament/season and to prepare tennis athletes for individual competition and/or as they return to play after an injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of serve and return game situations on physiological responses and match characteristics in professional male tennis players during one hour-long simulated singles tennis matches. Ten internationally ranked tennis players (age 22.2 ± 2.8 years; body height 180.7 ± 4.4 cm; body mass 75.9 ± 8.9 kg) participated in this study. Their physiological responses were measured using two portable analyzers during indoor hard court matches. Ratings of perceived exertion were also determined at the end of the game. The variables describing the characteristics of the matches determined from video recordings were: (a) duration of rallies; (b) rest time; (c) work-to-rest ratio; (d) effective playing time; and (d) strokes per rally. Significant differences (p<0.05) were found between serving and returning conditions in an hour-long simulated singles tennis match in terms of oxygen uptake, a heart rate, ratings of perceived exertion, pulmonary ventilation, respiration frequency and a respiratory gas exchange ratio. In addition, both the heart rate and ratings of perceived exertion responses were moderately correlated with the duration of rallies and strokes per rally (r = 0.60 to 0.26; p<0.05). Taken together, these results indicate that the serve game situation has a significant effect on the physiological response in an hour-long simulated tennis match between professional male tennis players. These findings might be used for the physiological adaptations required for tennis-specific aerobic endurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the large number of studies that have examined the acute effects of different warm up modalities (WU) on physical performance, none of them have documented the time course of potential performance recovery in tennis players. The aim of this study was twofold: (a) to analyze and compare the acute effects of two different WU modalities (traditional WU [TWU] and dynamic WU [DWU]) on physical performance (i.e., CMJ, sprint, serve speed and accuracy) in elite junior players, as well as (b) to monitor the time course of any WU-induced changes after 30 and 60 min of simulated match-play. Twelve junior elite players completed both WUs modalities (TWU and DWU) in a counterbalanced order on separate days. In each experimental session, counter movement jump (CMJ), 20-m sprint, tennis serve speed and accuracy tests were performed before (immediately after TWU or DWU) during (30 min) and after 60 min of a simulated match play. Measures were compared via four factorial (WU intervention and time) repeated measures ANOVAs. There were main effects of WU (TWU and DWU) throughout the time for all the variables analysed. The results indicate that DWU routine led to significantly faster 20 m sprint times and higher CMJs as well as faster and more accurate tennis serves at both post warm-up and 30 min match-play testing moments in comparison with the scores reported by the TWU routine (p < 0.05; positive effects with a probability of >75–99%). No significant intergroup differences were found at 60-min match-play testing moment in any variable (except for the 20 m sprint). Therefore, the findings of this study recommend for optimal performance in these elite tennis players, DWU routines should be performed prior to formal training and competition rather than TWU routines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: We aimed to a) introduce a new Test to Exhaustion Specific to Tennis (TEST) and compare performance (test duration) and physiological responses to those obtained during the 20-m multistage shuttle test (MSST), and b) determine to which extent those variables correlate with performance level (tennis competitive ranking) for both test procedures. Methods: Twenty-seven junior players (8 males, 19 females) members of the national teams of the French Tennis Federation completed MSST and TEST, including elements of the game (ball hitting, intermittent activity, lateral displacement), in a randomized order. Cardiorespiratory responses were compared at submaximal (respiratory compensation point) and maximal loads between the two tests. Results: At the respiratory compensation point oxygen uptake (50.1 ± 4.7 vs. 47.5 ± 4.3 mL.min-1.kg-1, p = 0.02), but not minute ventilation and heart rate, was higher for TEST compared to MSST. However, load increment and physiological responses at exhaustion did not differ between the two tests. Players’ ranking correlated negatively with oxygen uptake measured at submaximal and maximal loads for both TEST (r = -0.41; p = 0.01 and -0.55; p = 0.004) and MSST (r = -0.38; P = 0.05 and -0.51; p = 0.1). Conclusion: Using TEST provides a tennis-specific assessment of aerobic fitness and may be used to prescribe aerobic exercise in a context more appropriate to the game than MSST. Results also indicate that VO2 values both at submaximal and maximal load reached during TEST and MSST are moderate predictors of players competitive ranking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to compare the kinematic characteristics of tennis matches between red clay and hard courts in young tennis players. Eight young tennis players performed two tennis matches on different court surfaces. The match activities were monitored using GPS units. The distance covered in different velocity ranges and the number of accelerations were analyzed. The paired t test and inference based on magnitudes were used to compare the match physical performance between groups. The total distance (24% of difference), high-intensity running distance (15 - 18 km/h) (30% of difference), the number of high-intensity activities (44% of difference), the body load (1% of difference), and accelerations >1.5 g (1.5-2 g and >2 g 7.8 and 8.1 % of difference, respectively) were significantly greater in clay court than hard court matches (p < 0.05). Matches played on the red clay court required players to cover more total and high-intensity running distances and engage in more high-intensity activities than the matches played on the hard court. Finally, on the clay court the body load and the number of accelerations performed (>1.5 g) were possibly higher than on the hard court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compared the serve toss of different types of serve when tennis players served from the ad-court. They used different spin on the ball and various ball placements in the opponent's service box. Our aim was to compare the toss in different types of serve between a competitive (local tournament) player and a professional player, from the point of view of the receiving player, when they served from the ad-court. One professional and one competitive tennis player (both right handed) were observed while serving different types of serve to various locations of the opponent's service box. We used a high-speed camera, which was placed opposite to the server in the position of a receiving player. The results showed that the players do not use the same toss for each type of serve. The professional player had a bigger range of racket-ball contact point on horizontal axis (32 cm) of the various types of first serves, compared to the competitive player (only 24 cm). The toss of the kick serve had similar characteristics between both players (the racket-ball contact point was observed to be mostly to the right, from the view of receiver). Neither the professional nor the competitive player showed a stable profile of toss. In some cases, the receiving players could anticipate the type of the serve from the server's toss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study were (i) to describe the relative intensity of simulated tennis play based on the cumulative time spent in three metabolic intensity zones, and (ii) to determine the relationships between this play intensity distribution and the aerobic fitness of a group of competitive players. 20 male players of advanced to elite level (ITN) performed an incremental on-court specific endurance tennis test to exhaustion to determine maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and the first and second ventilatory thresholds (VT1, VT2). Ventilatory and gas exchange parameters were monitored using a telemetric portable gas analyser (K4 b2, Cosmed, Rome, Italy). Two weeks later the participants played a simulated tennis set against an opponent of similar level. Intensity zones (1: low, 2: moderate, and 3: high) were delimited by the individual VO2 values corresponding to VT1 and VT2, and expressed as percentage of maximum VO2 and heart rate. When expressed relative to VO2max, percentage of playing time in zone 1 (77 ± 25%) was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than in zone 2 (20 ± 21%) and zone 3 (3 ± 5%). Moderate to high positive correlations were found between VT1, VT2 and VO2max, and the percentage of playing time spent in zone 1 (r = 0.68–0.75), as well as low to high inverse correlations between the metabolic variables and the percentage of time spent in zone 2 and 3 (r = -0.49–0.75). Players with better aerobic fitness play at relatively lower intensities. We conclude that players spent more than 75% of the time in their low-intensity zone, with less than 25% of the time spent at moderate to high intensities. Aerobic fitness appears to determine the metabolic intensity that players can sustain throughout the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tennis tournaments often involve playing several consecutive matches interspersed with short periods of recovery. Objective: The objective of this study was firstly to assess the impact of several successive tennis matches on the physical performance of competitive players and secondly to evaluate the potential of sports drinks to minimize the fatigue induced by repeated matches. Methods: This was a crossover, randomized controlled study. Eight male regionally-ranked tennis players participated in this study. Players underwent a series of physical tests to assess their strength, speed, power and endurance following the completion of three tennis matches each of two hours duration played over three consecutive half-days (1.5éday period for each condition). In the first condition the players consumed a sports drink before, during and after each match; in the second, they drank an identical volume of placebo water. The results obtained were compared with the third 'resté condition in which the subjects did not play any tennis. Main outcomes measured were maximal isometric strength and fatigability of knee and elbow extensors, 20-m sprint speed, jumping height, specific repeated sprint ability test and hand grip strength. Results: The physical test results for the lower limbs showed no significant differences between the three conditions. Conversely, on the upper limbs the EMG data showed greater fatigue of the triceps brachii in the placebo condition compared to the rest condition, while the ingestion of sports drinks attenuated this fatigue. Conclusions: This study has demonstrated for the first time that, when tennis players are adequately hydrated and ingest balanced meals between matches, then no large drop in physical performance is observed even during consecutive competitive matches. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01353872. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]