Tennis Play Research Articles

The theoretical and practical types of tennis training: features and impact on game performance

The tennis is one of the most demanding sports, as it requires players to achieve a high level of physical fitness, technical and tactical skills and psychological stability. Therefore, studying the theoretical, physical, tactical and psychological aspects of tennis training is important for achieving high results in this sport. The purpose of the study: analysis of the theoretical, the physical, the tactical, the psychological training of the tennis players and study of their features and influence on the game performance. Research methods: theoretical analysis and generalisation of scientific and methodological literature. Results of the study. The article analyses theoretical, physical, tactical and psychological training of tennis players. The peculiarities and influence of these types of training on the effectiveness of tennis are revealed. Conclusions. In tennis, it is important to have comprehensive preparation, which includes theoretical, physical, technical, tactical, and psychological aspects. Theoretical preparation helps understand the rules of the game, strategies, and tactics on the court. Physical preparation is aimed at improving the level of physical fitness. Technical preparation helps refine the technique of strokes and movements on the court. Tactical preparation involves studying game strategies and the ability to adapt to different playing styles of opponents. Psychological preparation is focused on developing resilience, concentration, motivation, and emotional control to achieve success on the court. Theoretical, physical, technical, tactical, and psychological preparation are important components of successful tennis play. Understanding the specifics of each type of preparation and their impact on game performance helps coaches and athletes optimize the training process. Prospects for further research in this area: studying the impact of theoretical training on the awareness of players' tactical decisions during a match.

Learning Physically Simulated Tennis Skills from Broadcast Videos

We present a system that learns diverse, physically simulated tennis skills from large-scale demonstrations of tennis play harvested from broadcast videos. Our approach is built upon hierarchical models, combining a low-level imitation policy and a high-level motion planning policy to steer the character in a motion embedding learned from broadcast videos. When deployed at scale on large video collections that encompass a vast set of examples of real-world tennis play, our approach can learn complex tennis shotmaking skills and realistically chain together multiple shots into extended rallies, using only simple rewards and without explicit annotations of stroke types. To address the low quality of motions extracted from broadcast videos, we correct estimated motion with physics-based imitation, and use a hybrid control policy that overrides erroneous aspects of the learned motion embedding with corrections predicted by the high-level policy. We demonstrate that our system produces controllers for physically-simulated tennis players that can hit the incoming ball to target positions accurately using a diverse array of strokes (serves, forehands, and backhands), spins (topspins and slices), and playing styles (one/two-handed backhands, left/right-handed play). Overall, our system can synthesize two physically simulated characters playing extended tennis rallies with simulated racket and ball dynamics. Code and data for this work is available at https://research.nvidia.com/labs/toronto-ai/vid2player3d/.

Impact of the ITF Tennis Play and Stay campaign on 10-and-under tennis: The views of top National Federation experts

The ITF Tennis Play and Stay campaign has been a crucial initiative to increase the number of tennis players in the world and promote tennis as easy, fun and healthy to all ages, genders, playing standard and physical abilities. The aim of this study was to find out the views on this campaign of those responsible for the participation programmes of the 35 national federations with the largest number of recreational players. These 35 experts responded to a questionnaire developed specifically for this study. The results showed that the 10-and-under competition rule change, implemented by the ITF in 2012, was well communicated to coaches and brings benefits in terms of increased participation, learning and performance improvements in beginner players. In addition, most countries reported that they have implemented the concepts of the campaign both in training and competitions, as well as in coach education programmes. Therefore, it is concluded that, in general, the opinions of the experts within national federations who are responsible for the participation directive and for implementing programmes related to the concepts of the ITF Tennis Play and Stay campaign obtained through this study are extremely positive.

Sleep health of Australian community tennis players during the COVID-19 lockdown.

BackgroundPoorer sleep health outcomes have been documented in the general population during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on sleep health outcomes in specific population groups, including the sporting community, has not been extensively investigated. This study evaluated sleep health outcomes and their relationship with lifestyle behaviours during the initial COVID-19 lockdown period in Australian community tennis players.MethodsThis cross-sectional study evaluated sleep health outcomes and lifestyle behaviours using an online survey. The survey was disseminated online between the 24th of April and the 6th of June 2020 and comprised the Sleep Health Index, Sleep Satisfaction Tool and questions regarding weekly hours of tennis play, general physical activity, training location and alcohol consumption. Two-hundred and eighty-five individuals completed the survey.ResultsCompared to normative data, respondents displayed positive sleep health values during the initial COVID-19 lockdown period, with median values (IQR) of 85.3 (73.4, 91.7) and 64.8 (54.4, 73.4) for the Sleep Health Index and Sleep Satisfaction Tool, respectively. Sleep health outcomes were not significantly correlated (p > 0.05) with tennis play (Tb = 0.054–0.077), physical activity (Tb = −0.008 to 0.036), training location (Tb = −0.012 to −0.005) or alcohol consumption (Tb = −0.079 to −0.018).ConclusionPositive sleep health values were observed in Australian community-level tennis players during the initial COVID-19 pandemic. Sleep health values were not associated with lifestyle behaviours. Other unexplored factors may have influenced sleep health outcomes, including personal finances and socialisation, however these factors need to be investigated in future studies.

STUDY ON THE METHODOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES IN TRAINING YOUNG TENNIS PLAYERS

It has often been said that tennis is very good in attracting new players, but less effective in helping them continue their sports activity, as there are many reasons why those who practise tennis abandon it. In classical tennis, the learning process takes place over several years, being a long-lasting activity (6 -8 years). Tennis 10 is a program that was created and implemented by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in the early 2000s as part of a campaign called "Tennis Play And Stay". It was officially released in February 2007 and its purpose was to increase the practice of tennis throughout the world. The Tennis Play and Stay campaign aimed at promoting tennis as a sports game easy to play, good to have fun and keep people healthy and making sure that all beginner players could serve and hit the ball from the first lesson. Through this work we have discovered that the means used in Tennis 10 are perceived as superior by the specialists in Romania, compared to the standard methodology in developing physical, technical, tactical training and in the initiation of athletes in the competitive environment.

Validity of Heart Rate-Based Models for Estimating Oxygen Uptake During Tennis Play.

Baiget, E, Iglesias, X, and Rodríguez, FA. Validity of heart rate-based models for estimating oxygen uptake during tennis play. J Strength Cond Res 34(11): 3208-3216, 2020-This study aimed to assess the validity of an on-court tennis test (specific endurance tennis test [SET-Test]) and 2 heart rate (HR)-based methods for estimating oxygen uptake (V[Combining Dot Above]O2) in competitive tennis players. Thirty-five male players performed a SET-Test to relate test duration (minutes) and V[Combining Dot Above]O2. Two weeks later, 16 players performed a simulated match play set where HR and V[Combining Dot Above]O2 (V[Combining Dot Above]O2-PLAY, criterion value) were measured and then compared with V[Combining Dot Above]O2 values predicted from the HR/V[Combining Dot Above]O2 linear regression equations derived from the SET-Test (pV[Combining Dot Above]O2-TEST) and from the one set match play (pV[Combining Dot Above]O2-PLAY). Test duration and V[Combining Dot Above]O2-TEST were strongly correlated (r = 0.821, p < 0.001, SEE = 5.6 ml·kg·min), indicating that SET-Test outcome is a somewhat good indicator of aerobic fitness in tennis players, likely to be useful for training purposes. pV[Combining Dot Above]O2-PLAY and V[Combining Dot Above]O2-PLAY (criterion value) were strongly correlated (r = 0.832, p < 0.001) and SEE was moderate (3.5 ml·kg·min = 11.5%). pV[Combining Dot Above]O2-TEST differed from the criterion (32.4 ± 10.7 vs. 30.8 ± 8.6 ml·kg·min, p < 0.001) and, although strongly correlated (r = 0.689, p < 0.001), an overestimation occurred (mean Δ = 1.6 ml·kg·min = 4.9%), yielding a high SEE (4.8 ml·kg·min = 15.6%). We conclude that (a) SET-Test performance is a valid and moderately accurate predictor of V[Combining Dot Above]O2; and (b) the individual HR-V[Combining Dot Above]O2 regression equation generated during tennis match play predicts V[Combining Dot Above]O2 with greater accuracy than the regression derived from the SET-Test.

Injury Incidence In Competitive Wheelchair Tennis Athletes

There is great interest in tennis sports science and in the wheelchair tennis community on the overall injury incidence in competitive wheelchair tennis players. There are biomechanical differences between the wheelchair tennis and the able-bodied tennis serve that have been published. In addition, wheelchair tennis players are required to propel their wheelchair around the court during match play, which exposes the upper extremities and trunk to additional movements during tennis play. Currently, there is a paucity of data published on the injury incidence in competitive wheelchair tennis athletes. PURPOSE: To provide a prospective evaluation of the injury incidence in wheelchair tennis players during their competitive schedule. METHODS: The study is a prospective cohort study of competitive wheelchair tennis players during their seasons. 81 subjects were enrolled at 5 different tennis tournaments over a two year period. Subjects completed an injury history and a training log at the beginning of the study. 39 subjects volunteered for a physical exam at the start of the study. Once enrolled in the study, the subjects were monitored for injuries through weekly email communication. RESULTS: The injury incidence is calculated to be 1.88 injuries per 100 athletic exposures. Of the reported injuries, 2 occurred during match play, 3 occurred during training, and 8 were reported while not playing tennis. There were no statistically significant findings associating physical exam findings and future injury. CONCLUSIONS: An injury incidence in competitive wheelchair tennis athletes obtained while competing and training prospectively contributes to the body of evidence to guide further research to evaluate the mechanism of injuries and develop injury risk reduction strategies in a unique population of high performance athletes. Future injury risk reduction strategies should include a focus on potential causes of non-tennis related injuries in competitive wheelchair tennis players.

A 2-year prospective study of injuries and illness in an elite national junior tennis program

ABSTRACT Objectives: Injury and illness in elite national tennis programs can limit players’ current and future performance. This study aimed to prospectively examine injuries and illnesses in an Irish elite national junior tennis program over 2 years. Methods: All injuries and illnesses that led to missed tennis training and match play in the Irish national junior tennis program (n = 82) over 2 years were collected in a prospective cohort study. Injury and illness prevalence and rates were calculated and reported with respect to gender and age group. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the type of illness and the region, location, type, nature, mechanism, and severity of injury. Results: Over the course of the study, 54% of players became injured, with 9.0% receiving more than one injury. Injuries were most frequent in the under-16 age group (12.93 injuries per 1,000 athletic exposures), compared to younger age groups (4.13 [U10], 3.43 [U12], 4.63 [U14] injuries per 1,000 athletic exposures) and seniors (1.98 injuries per 1,000 athletic exposures). Lower (49.5%) and upper limb (35.9%) injuries were frequent and mostly occurred due to overextension (35.9%). No significant differences in males and females injury rates were noted. However, females received a greater proportion of shoulder injuries (23.5% vs 10.9%), with more knee injuries in males (29.1% vs 7.8%). 0.52 illnesses per 1,000 athletic exposures were reported, with respiratory/cardiorespiratory (43.5%) most frequent. Injuries lead to greater average sessions lost (6.77 ± 11.56) than illness (1.83 ± 1.11). Conclusion: These findings can inform injury and illness preventative strategies to minimize absence from tennis play and should be prioritized in the under-16 group. Due to the different injury profiles between males and females, tailored preventative programs should be developed for males and females individually.

The differences in energy system demands of competitive male tennis play between fast and slow courts

This study investigated the energy system demand differences between matches played on fast courts and on slow courts of high-performance male players. Matches of Grand Slam matches played by Russian players were analysed. External indicators as such in-point playing time as a proportion of total match time were used to conduct the analysis. Data analysis found significant differences in all measured external indicators such as average match playing time, number of points and in-point time. Results also found a significant difference between match motor density (the percentage of total match time that made up effective playing time) for the two surface types, with the slow surface (clay) match motor density being significantly higher than that of the fast surface (grass and hard court), 14.5% and 12.9%, respectively. Subsequent analysis of point length reveals clay courts that slow courts had a significantly higher percentage of points that lasted more than 10 seconds whilst fast courts has a higher percentage of points under 10 seconds in length. It can be concluded that due to the length of the points, tennis primarily employs the ATP-PCr energy system for energy use, dipping into the anaerobic lactic acid energy pathways more on clay court matches. Whilst the aerobic pathways are not employed heavily in-point, they are still essential, possibly even more on clay court due to greater taxation on the anaerobic lactic acid pathway, as they provide the basis for ATP re-synthesis between points. This signals toward endurance as a major component of fitness in tennis.

Tennis Player Training Support System based on Sport Vision

Sports vision based tennis player training support system is proposed. In sports, gaze, dynamic visual acuity, eye movement and viewing place are important. In sports vision, Static eyesight, Dynamic visual acuity, Contrast sensitivity, Eye movement, Deep vision, Instant vision, Cooperative action of eye, hand and foot, and Peripheral field are have to be treated. In particular for the tennis, all of the items are very important. Furthermore, trajectory of gaze location and tennis racket stroke gives some instructions for skill-up of tennis play. Therefore, sports vision based tennis player training system is proposed. Through experiment, it is found that the proposed system does work well for improvement of tennis players’ skills.

Effects of tennis play on executive function in 6–11-year-old children: a 12-month longitudinal study

The present study aimed to assess the effects of 12 months of frequent tennis play on executive functions and the relationships of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), physical competence, and enjoyment of playing tennis to executive functions in children. Thirty-two children (6–11 years old) who had regularly played tennis (once a week; mean = 3 years, range = 0–6 years) before the study were enrolled in a 12-month intervention. Participants were allocated into two groups: low-dose (maintain current frequency of tennis play, N = 19) or high-dose (increased frequency of tennis play to four times per week, N = 13). Participants’ MVPA, physical competence, enjoyment of playing tennis, and executive functions (i.e. inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) were evaluated before and after this intervention. The high-dose group demonstrated a greater improvement in working memory than the low-dose group, while there was no group difference in MVPA, physical competence, and enjoyment of playing tennis. Changes in MVPA were associated with improvements in cognitive flexibility. Changes in physical competence were associated with improvements in working memory and cognitive flexibility. Changes in the enjoyment of playing tennis were associated with improvements in inhibitory control. The current findings suggest that replacement of MVPA with sports activity, such as tennis enhances executive functions development, and suggest that sports programmes that seek to build competence and enjoyment might help support the development of executive functions in children.

Critical shoe contact area ratio for sliding on a tennis hard court

Dimples have been used in the design of some modern tennis shoe outsoles to enhance sliding ability on hard courts. Experiments were performed with bespoke rubber samples possessing various numbers of holes, which served to simulate dimples in tennis shoe treads. The aim of the research was to assess the effect of contact area on sliding friction. As the ratio of holes to solid rubber increased, a critical ratio was reached whereby the static friction coefficient decreased by more than 11% for tread-to-court pressures comparable to real tennis play. Although this study analyzed bespoke rubber samples and not actual tennis shoe treads, shoe manufacturers should be interested in the existence of a critical dimple ratio that could aid them in the creation of tennis shoes suited for sliding on hard courts.

Relationship of tennis play to executive function in children and adolescents

This study evaluated the association between the frequency of tennis play and executive function in children and adolescents. One hundred and six junior tennis players (6–15 years old) participated in this study. Executive function, including inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility were evaluated at rest. Females showed better inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility than males. In males, more frequent tennis play was associated with higher basic processing speed and inhibitory control after controlling for age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and tennis experience. More frequent tennis play was associated with better working memory in both males and females after controlling for age, gender, BMI, and tennis experience. Furthermore, longer tennis experience was related to better cognitive flexibility in males after controlling for age, gender, BMI, and frequency of tennis play. These findings suggest that tennis play is associated with the development of three foundational aspects of executive function (i.e. inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility). Especially, frequent participation in tennis play is related to better inhibitory control and working memory, while longer experience of tennis play is associated with better cognitive flexibility. Although development of inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility is slower in males than in females, the associations between tennis play and inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility appear to be larger in males than in females.

How Big Is the Prize Money Gap? - Analysis of Prize Money in 2016 Grand Slam Tournaments

Since 2007 all Grand Slam tournaments have offered equal prize money for male and female tennis players. Although men and women are paid equally in Grand Slams they still play a different number of best-of sets – men play best-of-five set matches while women play best-of-three set matches. Those two competing circumstances created a financial gap in prize money paid to women and men for the unit of effort in a tennis play – for a game. The present paper estimates this financial gap for 2016 Grand Slam tournaments. Moreover, it demonstrates the nominal magnitude of this gap and its effect on year-to-year increasing prize money that are paid to winners. The results showed that women on average obtained 60% more prize money for a game played than men in all four 2016 Grand Slams.

Wrist Injuries in Tennis Players: A Narrative Review.

The wrist/hand complex forms the crucial final link in the kinetic chain between the body and the racquet and therefore has a number of important roles in the production of all tennis strokes. However, the internal and external loads that are created at the wrist during these strokes have the potential to contribute to pain and injury. Therefore, the purposes of this narrative review are to (1) determine the extent of the problem of wrist pain/injury in tennis players, (2) identify bony and soft tissue structures of the wrist that are susceptible to damage as a result of tennis play and (3) explore factors that may influence the development of wrist pain/injury in tennis players. The epidemiological data revealed two important points. First, some evidence suggests wrist pain/injury accounts for a higher percentage of total injuries in more recent studies (2014-2015) than in early studies (1986-1995). Second, the relative frequency of wrist pain/injury compared with other well-recognized problem areas for tennis players such as the shoulder complex, elbow and lumbar spine is noticeably higher in more recent studies (2014-2015) than in early studies (1986-1995), particularly among females. Collectively, this would seem to indicate that the problem of wrist pain/injury has increased in the modern game. In fact, some wrist injuries appear to be related to the use of certain forehand grip types and the predominant use of the two-handed backhand. While the loads experienced at the wrist during tennis stroke production seem to be below threshold levels for a single event, the cumulative effects of these loads through repetition would appear to be an important consideration, especially when inadequate time is allowed to complete normal processes of repair and adaptation. This is supported by the evidence that most wrist injuries in tennis are associated with overuse and a chronic time course. The complex interaction between load, repetition, and training practices in tennis, particularly among young developing players who choose a path of early specialization, needs to be further explored.

Tennis Play Intensity Distribution and Relation with Aerobic Fitness in Competitive Players.

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.

A one-season prospective study of injuries and illness in elite junior tennis.

The objective of this study was to estimate the incidence and prevalence of injury and illness among elite junior tennis players. A cohort of 73 players (11-14 years) in the 2012-2013 Dutch national high-performance program was followed for 32 weeks; all participants completed the study. The OSTRC Questionnaire on Health Problems was used to record self-reported injuries and illnesses and to record training and match exposure. Main outcome measures were average prevalence of overuse injury and illness and incidence density of acute injury. On average, players practiced 9.1 h/week (SD 0.6; range 2.3-12.0) and had 2.2 h of match play (SD 0.6; range 2.3-12.0). During the course of the study, 67 players reported a total of 187 health problems. The average weekly prevalence of all health problems was 21.3% (95% CI: 19.2-22.9), of which 12.1% (95% CI: 10.9-13.3) constituted overuse injuries and 5.8% (95% CI: 4.6-6.9) illnesses. The incidence of acute injuries was 1.2/1000 h of tennis play (95% CI: 0.7-1.7). The high occurrence of overuse injuries among elite junior tennis players suggests that an early focus on preventative measures is warranted, with a particular focus on the monitoring and management of workload.

The application of information technology in collecting data on tennis performance

This study focused on the application and accuracy of spatially marking tennis shots in a special computer interface based on the visual observation of video recorded tennis play. The interface program, graphically designed in the shape of a tennis court, is shown on a computer screen along with a video showing a series of balls being hit and landing on the court. The task of the observer was to mark on the interface the location where he/she felt the ball falls on the court. In effect, the interface functions as a coordinate system whereby tennis play (in this case balls falling on one side of the court) is catalogued into a series of coordinative points. These data are then converted into a spreadsheet allowing for statistical calculation and analysis. The results of the trial indicated that the accuracy of the designated points on the interface depended on the distance between where the ball fell and the nearest line delineating the court. Balls that landed less than 0.3 m from the nearest line featured a mean distance error of only 0.11 m. For the purpose of analysing game tactics, the interface was found to be an applicable tool in the collection of tennis match data.

Effects of a Simulated Tennis Match on Lymphocyte Subset Measurements

Tennis is an activity requiring both endurance and anaerobic components, which could have immunosuppressive effects postexercise. Purpose The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of a simulated tennis match on apoptotic and migratory markers on lymphocyte subsets. Method Male high school (n = 5) and college (n = 3) tennis players (M age = 18.9 ± 3.3 years) completed 10 sets of a tennis protocol including serves, forehand strokes, and backhand groundstrokes with 1-min rest periods between sets. Apoptosis antigen 1 receptor (CD95) and chemokine receptor fractalkine (CX3CR1) expression was analyzed on helper T lymphocytes (CD4+), cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CD8+), and B lymphocytes (CD19+) twice, at resting baseline and immediately after all 10 sets of the tennis protocol. Results An increase was observed in each lymphocyte subtype (p < .02, effect size = .41), and comparison of absolute changes revealed increases in CD4+/CD95+, CD8+/CD95+, and CD8+/CX3CR1 lymphocytes following the tennis protocol (p < .01, effect size = .43), but not in CD19+ cells. Conclusions A simulated tennis match has adequate intensity to induce immune modulations in terms of increased cell death and cellular migration in T lymphocyte subsets. Lymphocytopenia following tennis play is influenced by both apoptotic and migratory mechanisms.

Tennis Playing is Related to Psychomotor Speed in Older Drivers

The study investigated the association of tennis playing and running with the psychomotor speed of older drivers. Thirty-six active male drivers (M age = 63.2 yr.) participated. A battery of four on-the road driving tests was performed by tennis players, runners, and a control group. Measures of simple and choice reaction time, movement time, and response time were collected under single- and dual-task conditions. A composite driving score was calculated from reaction time measures of all driving tasks to reflect a general drivers' psychomotor speed. Statistically significant differences between groups were found in a braking task; tennis players performed significantly better than controls in simple reaction time and response time. The composite driving score also differed between groups, and tennis players had better results than controls. Regular participation in tennis was related to psychomotor speed of older drivers.