Height- and surface-related variations in match-play outcomes and rankings in professional men’s tennis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether serve- and return-related match-play outcomes and ranking of the top 100 male professional tennis players vary with regards to court surface and stature. Anthropometric and match-play statistics were recorded from the official webpage of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and distributed into three consecutive height groups. Main results revealed that when playing on grass courts, players produced significantly more aces and double faults, and achieved significantly higher percentage scores on the first serve, serve game won, and serve point won, but significantly lower percentage values on return game and point won than they did on other surfaces. The tallest players produced a significantly greater number of aces per match than the players in other height groups and had a significantly greater percentage of first serve points won than the players in the shortest group on all surfaces. Conversely, on the second serve, the shortest players achieved a significantly higher percentage of return points won on clay than their taller counterparts. Regardless of the surface, the ranking was found to be predominantly associated with serve-related outcomes and comparable between height groups. The findings of the study highlight the considerable variations in various match-play outcomes and rankings among professional male players with regards to court surface and stature.