A Comparison of Traditional and Abbreviated Tennis Serves

Abstract

0935 Two distinct types of tennis serves are currently employed by competitive tennis players: the traditional serve and the abbreviated serve. The United States Tennis Association requested that researchers determine if biomechanical differences, specifically regarding shoulder mechanics, exist between these two serve types. PURPOSE: To compare electromyography (EMG) amplitude and onset duration for seven muscles of the shoulder girdle between the traditional and abbreviated tennis serve. A secondary purpose was to compare serve phase durations between the traditional and abbreviated tennis serve. METHODS: Seven males and four females (age = 36.6 ± 12.1 yrs; height = 1.75 ± 0.10 m; mass = 73.5 ± 12.0 kg) volunteered to participate. Nine participants performed the traditional serve and four participants performed the abbreviated serve (two participants performed both serve types); all participants competed at the collegiate level or were ranked 4.5 or greater by the United State Tennis Association. Surface electrodes were used to record EMG activity for the anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid, serratus anterior, pectoralis major, infraspinatus, latissimus dorsi, and middle trapezius muscles. To permit more specific comparisons between serve types, the serve was divided into six phases: wind up, early cocking, late cocking, acceleration, early follow through, and late follow through. Data were analyzed using three repeated measures analysis of variance to evaluate differences in EMG amplitude and onset duration between the two serve types for the seven muscles, and serve phase duration. The p-value was set at .05 (a priori) for all comparisons and was corrected using a Bonferroni correction for multiple pairwise comparisons. RESULTS: No significant differences for EMG amplitude, EMG onset duration, or serve phase duration existed between the two serve types. There were significant differences in EMG amplitude of certain muscles between certain serve phases regardless of serve type. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that there are no significant differences in EMG activity for the aforementioned muscles between the traditional and abbreviated tennis serve. Not surprisingly, results indicate significantly different EMG amplitudes between certain muscles during specific phases of both serve types. These differences probably stem from functional differences of the observed shoulder musculature during various phases of the tennis serve. This study was supported by a grant from the United States Tennis Association.