Characteristics of the return in professional women’s tennis on clay courts

Rafael Martínez-Gallego,Arnau Giner

doi:10.52383/itfcoaching.v27i78.86

Abstract

The number of studies related to notational analysis of the serve has grown in recent years, and this latest research has suggested that: players win more with the serve at younger age groups; with males, there is more variation in direction and more points are won on the forehand than the backhand return; and, women return closer to the net with a flatter trajectory than male counterparts. Despite advances in research there is still little on female tennis, especially on clay courts. In this study, 795 points of female matches at the BBVA Open Valencia 2017 ITF event were analysed. On the first serve, on the left, players use mainly backhands and hit crosscourt, whereas on the right, there were no significant differences in forehands and backhands hit, and there was more variation in direction. On the second serve, on the left, players still mainly used backhands but hit more shots down the line; whereas on the right, players hit mainly inside-out forehands and there were no differences in the direction hit.

Highlights

The return is fast becoming one the most important strokes in modern tennis
Leroy, Thouvarecq y Stein (2009) analysed the effectiveness of the serve and the return on clay courts according to the effect and the direction in male tennis players
The sample of this study consisted of 15 sets corresponding to 7 matches at the BBVA Open Valencia 2017 in which 795 points were analysed belonging to the, a tournament that takes place in November in the facilities of the Valencia tennis Club and is played on clay courts in the open air

Summary

Introduction

The return is fast becoming one the most important strokes in modern tennis. As a matter of fact, different articles can be found in previous issues of this review which focus on this skill (Zawadzki y Roca, 2009; Aviles, Bengugui, Beaudoin & Godart, 2002; Bolletieri, 1995; Hedelund y Rasmussen, 1997; Kleinoder, 2001). In recent years, through notational analysis, it has been possible to obtain more reliable and objective information from different indicators that are of interest for the assessment of tactical performance of players artinez-Gallego, 2018). This has led to the existence of a significant number of studies that, through this type of analysis, have provided very interesting information related to the return. The main conclusions obtained were that the serve and the return had a great influence on the final score and, in addition, that the flat serves to the “T and the return in the centre of the court were the strokes that were more effective for scoring points

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion