Male professional tennis players maintain constant serve speed and accuracy over long matches on grass courts

Abstract

The potential effect of fatigue on stroke production in tennis players is still controversial. The aim of this study was to analyse the tennis serve speed and accuracy in prolonged male professional matches played on grass courts. We analysed tennis serve statistics from five-set Wimbledon matches (n = 15; 30 players). Results showed that match duration averaged 208.3 ± 28.3 min. The overall serve speed was 177.0 ± 10.2 km/h in the first set and 176.1 ± 11.7 km/h in the fifth set (p = .34). The difference of all accuracy values of first set serves was not significantly different from those of the fifth set: percentage of valid first serves, 63.1 ± 11.1% vs. 62.3 ± 11.8%, respectively (p = .78); percentage of “aces”, 11.2 ± 9.1% vs. 10.0 ± 8.9%, respectively (p = .39); percentage of “winners”, 2.6 ± 7.6% vs. 1.2 ± 2.2%, respectively (p = .36); percentage of “double faults”, 2.8 ± 3.0% vs. 2.8 ± 3.4% (p = .97). In conclusion, tennis players were able to maintain constant serve speed and accuracy over five-set matches played on grass courts. Professional tennis players are capable of overcoming fatigue and/or make movement adjustments to effectively perform complex technical strokes like the serve throughout matches played on grass courts lasting more than 3 h in average.