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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sports Med Int Open 2018; 02(05): E133-E141
DOI: 10.1055/a-0662-5375
Training & Testing
Eigentümer und Copyright ©Georg Thieme Verlag KG 2018

Reliability and Accuracy of Ball Speed During Different Strokes in Young Tennis Players

Irene González-González
1   Fundación San Pablo Andalucía CEU, Bormujos, Spain
2   Andalusian Tennis Federation, Seville, Spain
,
David Rodríguez-Rosell
3   Centro de Investigación en Rendimiento Físico y Deportivo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
,
David Clavero-Martín
3   Centro de Investigación en Rendimiento Físico y Deportivo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
,
Ricardo Mora-Custodio
3   Centro de Investigación en Rendimiento Físico y Deportivo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
,
Fernando Pareja-Blanco
3   Centro de Investigación en Rendimiento Físico y Deportivo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
,
Juan Manuel Yáñez García
3   Centro de Investigación en Rendimiento Físico y Deportivo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
,
Juan José González-Badillo
3   Centro de Investigación en Rendimiento Físico y Deportivo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received 02 April 2018
revised 26 June 2018

accepted 27 June 2018

Publication Date:
25 September 2018 (online)

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Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relationship between anthropometric and sport level (SL) variables and both ball speed and accuracy in young male competitive tennis players. A secondary aim of this study was to analyze the possible differences in ball speed and accuracy between players of different competitive levels. A total of 85 players (age: 14.7±2.4 years; height: 1.65±0.12 m; body weight: 56.3±13.4 kg) were divided into five groups according to their positions in the ranking list. To measure stroke performances, the goal was to hit 20 balls at the maximum possible speed inside the court, with the opportunity of hitting a maximum of 30 balls for each groundstroke and 40 for serve. Accuracy was calculated by dividing the number of balls inside the default surface by the total number of hits. The ball speed showed high reliability for all three strokes assessed. The ball speed progressively increased as SL increased for all strokes, whereas accuracy remained unchanged across SL groups. All independent variables presented significant relationships (r=0.59–0.85, p<0.05–0.001) with ball speed for all strokes. However, after applying partial correlations these relationships decreased substantially (r=0.02–0.51). The accuracy showed significant relationships with SL only in the serve (r=0.31, p<0.05) and backhand (r=0.26, p<0.05) strokes. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that tennis performance depends on increasing ball speed while maintaining a relatively stable level of accuracy.

Key words

groundstrokes - serve - tennis - height - body weight - sport level
 

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