Tennis stroke mechanics have attracted considerable biomechanical analysis, yet current filtering practice may lead to erroneous reporting of data near the impact of racket and ball. This research had three aims: (1) to identify the best method of estimating the displacement and velocity of the racket at impact during the tennis serve, (2) to demonstrate the effect of different methods on upper limb kinematics and kinetics and (3) to report the effect of increased noise on the most appropriate treatment method. The tennis serves of one tennis player, fit with upper limb and racket retro-reflective markers, were captured with a Vicon motion analysis system recording at 500 Hz. The raw racket tip marker displacement and velocity were used as criterion data to compare three different endpoint treatments and two different filters. The 2nd-order polynomial proved to be the least erroneous extrapolation technique and the quintic spline filter was the most appropriate filter. The previously performed “smoothing through impact” method, using a quintic spline filter, underestimated the racket velocity (9.1%) at the time of impact. The polynomial extrapolation method remained effective when noise was added to the marker trajectories.
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Comparison of Endpoint Data Treatment Methods for the Estimation of Kinematics and Kinetics Near Impact During the Tennis Serve
M. M. Reid, Amity C. Campbell, and B. C. Elliott
Lumbar Mechanics in Tennis Groundstrokes: Differences in Elite Adolescent Players With and Without Low Back Pain
Amity Campbell, Leon Straker, David Whiteside, Peter O’Sullivan, Bruce Elliott, and Machar Reid
Adolescent tennis players are at risk for low back pain (LBP). Recent research has demonstrated a potential mechanical etiology during serves; however, groundstrokes have also been suggested to load this region. Therefore, this study compared lumbar mechanics between players with and without a history of LBP during open and square stance tennis forehands and backhands. Nineteen elite, adolescent, male tennis players participated, 7 with a history of recurrent disabling LBP and 12 without. Differences in three-dimensional lumbar kinetics and kinematics were compared between pain/no pain groups and groundstrokes using linear mixed models (P < .01). There were no significant differences between pain/no pain groups. Relative to a right-handed player, groundstroke comparisons revealed that forehands had greater racquet velocity, greater lumbar right lateral flexion force, as well as upper lumbar extension/rightward rotation and lower lumbar right rotation/lateral flexion movements that were closer to or further beyond end of range than backhands. Backhands required upper lumbar leftward rotation that was beyond end range, while forehands did not. Given that players typically rotated near to their end of range during the backswing of both forehands and backhands, independent of pain, groundstrokes may contribute to the cumulative strain linked to LBP in tennis players.
Break Point for the USTA: Developing a Strategic Vision for the United States Tennis Association
Nels Popp, Jason Miller, and Marion Hambrick
The United States Tennis Association is the National Governing Body for tennis in the U.S. and is comprised of three major divisions: (a) professional tennis, (b) player development, and (c) community tennis. The USTA’s signature event and primary source of income is the U.S. Open tennis tournament. The organization currently faces several challenges, including two issues which have received significant media attention. The USTA currently lags behind several other nations in developing elite young players, despite the U.S. having large participant numbers. Also, financially-speaking, the U.S. Open is a highly successful event, but its largest show court lacks a roof, which has proven costly as several championship events have been postponed due to weather. The challenge of this case study is for students to develop a strategic plan for how the USTA can best use their resources to grow tennis in the United States.
Quantifying Hitting Load in Racket Sports: A Scoping Review of Key Technologies
Quim Brich, Martí Casals, Miguel Crespo, Machar Reid, and Ernest Baiget
Racket sports are those that involve the use of a racket or paddle to hit a ball or another object over a net or into a designated area of play. 1 The main objective in these sports is to hit the object in such a way that the opponent is unable to return it. Today, badminton, tennis, and table
Getting Angry When Playing Tennis: Gender Differences and Impact on Performance
Maria Grazia Monaci and Francesca Veronesi
sport activities may be perceived as masculine, feminine, or neutral based on the highly shared stereotypes and gender roles associated with sports ( Hardin & Greer, 2009 ). Expressive activities (e.g., dancing, gymnastics) are consistently categorized as feminine, tennis or swimming as gender
Influence of Motor Imagery Modality on First-Serve Performance in Tennis Players
Dominique Laurent, Robbin Carien, and Nicolas Robin
motor performance ( Ladda et al., 2021 ; Simonsmeier et al., 2020 ), particularly in racket sports ( Cécé et al., 2020 ) and tennis ( Robin & Dominique, 2022 ). Some studies have shown beneficial effects of MI used alone compared with control (e.g., rest or reading) conditions (e.g., Gentili et
Differences Between Expert and Novice Tennis Coaches’ Perceptual Capacities
Paul G. Schempp and Sophie Woorons
first coaching study to indicate the perceptual capacities are susceptible to bias. A study similar to the current investigation examined the influences of coaching and playing experience on perceptions of kinematic changes in a tennis serve ( Giblin, Farrow, Reid, Ball, & Abernethy, 2016 ). The
Providing Sport Psychology Consulting Services to Professional Tennis Players
James E. Loehr
This paper explores personal experiences in building a career in sport psychology and providing consulting services to professional tennis players. It describes the range of services provided, major client groups, and philosophy of service delivery. It reviews the overall training model used in service delivery as well as psychological assessment procedures used in consultation. It also describes how professional services were organized, type of services provided to specific client groups, and specific training components. Factors and issues influencing professional effectiveness and competence are explored. The importance of training and competence in all sport sciences are emphasized. The challenges and hardships encountered in building a successful career in this specialty are reviewed. The need for more effective and responsible applied technology and research is discussed.
Kinematics and Kinetics of the Racket-Arm during the Soft-Tennis Smash under Match Conditions
Hirofumi Ida, Seiji Kusubori, and Motonobu Ishii
The purposes of this study were to (a) describe the racket-arm kinematics and kinetics of the soft-tennis smash during match rallies, and (b) assess the characteristics of this smash vs. the laboratory-simulated smash of our previous study. In the current study we recorded soft-tennis smash motions during match play of the 3rd East Asian Games. Racket-arm anatomical joint angular velocity and anatomical joint torque were calculated from 3-D coordinate data of 13 collected motions obtained using the direct linear transformation procedure. The results showed that most of the maximum values of the anatomical joint torques were qualitatively smaller than those of the tennis serve. Peak elbow extension, shoulder internal rotation, and elbow varus torques in match play were significantly greater than values reported for laboratory-simulated conditions. The greater forward swing torques did not result in significantly different racket head velocity, possibly because there was a significantly shorter forward swing phase in match conditions. In particular, a clear peak of the elbow extension torque during the forward swing phase was the most characteristic pattern in the smashes under match conditions, for it was 160% greater than laboratory-simulated conditions. These results supported our hypothesis that racket-arm kinematic and kinetic characteristics of the smash under match conditions differ from those under laboratory-simulated conditions. Possible explanations include the time-pressure conditions of the competitive situation in a match, and the Hawthorne effect (Hudson et al., 1986), both of which alter performance between match conditions and laboratory-simulated conditions.
“It’s Not Just Your Dad, It’s Not Just Your Coach…” The Dual-Relationship in Female Tennis Players
Olivier N. Schmid, Malayna Bernstein, Vanessa R. Shannon, Catherine Rishell, and Catherine Griffith
Tennis has been identified as an ideal context for examining the dynamics of parenting and coaching relationships (Gould et al., 2008) but coaching dual-role relationships remain unexplored in this sport and related investigations only included volunteer coaches (Jowett, 2008; Harwood & Knight, 2012). An open-ended interview approach was used to examine how female tennis players previously coached by their fathers (professional coaches) before competing in college tennis perceived their experiences with the dual-role relationship and the coaching transition. A holistic narrative approach was used to reconstruct retrospectively the stories of the participants’ experiences and understand their development. Despite some beneficial aspects, a majority of participants emphasized their challenging experiences with regards to their needs to manage blurred boundaries, receive paternal approval, and endure their fathers’ controlling and abusive behaviors. Coaching transitions helped normalize father-daughter relationships and provided insight into the respective needs that were fulfilled through the dual-role relationships.
