Abstract
An outstanding game opening (serve and third stroke) is a decisive element to being successful in modern Men’s Tennis and its importance is well accepted. However, a systematic game opening analysis remains to be elucidated. Therefore, the present study applied a new examining tennis-court-division method.For this, randomly selected matches of both the 2010 US Open and the 2012 French Open (in each tournament six matches of the last 16, four quarter-, two semi-finals and the final) compiled a sample of 24871 strokes and 3553 serve patterns (SP) for analysis. Single strokes were analysed regarding stroke selection and placement, SP regarding its frequency of use and success rate. The applied examining method allowed for a detailed analysis of the game opening strokes and tactics by dividing the court into 20 zones as well as connecting serve and third stroke.The top-3 SP in the aggregated ranking of frequency and success rate are i) serve wide – 3rd stroke same corner, ii) serve to the T – 3rd stroke free corner and iii) serve wide – 3rd stroke free corner, which, according to their success rate, were larger than 66% and, thus, more successful than the average (p<0.001). Winners (W) play their SP more successful than losers (L; p<0.001). SP with run around forehands were more successful than SP without (p<0.01). Within the SP most first (70.3 ± 12.0% won, W p<0.001) and second serves (51.7% ± 13.3% won, W p<0.001) were targeted to the backhand. Regarding the third stroke the forehand and especially the run around forehand were played most often (p<0.001). 66.0% ± 10.4% were hit into the outer zones and more often by W (p<0.01), 39.8% ± 10.6% into the outer zones of the backhand (W p<0.01), and 34.9% ± 11.8% into the c-zones (W p<0.05), which are located at the side-lines directly behind the service line. Serve directions and winning percentages confirm well-reported coaching-demands, and mark a difference between winning and losing. The increased use of the forehand at the third stroke as well as the numbers for the placement of the third stroke support previous findings. Most important factors are the placement into the outer zones (of the backhand) and into the c-zones. The SP analysis confirms existing concepts and substantiates empirically for the first time that there are four main SP that are played by W and L; however, W play theirs more successful (again the use of the forehand is a succeeding factor).To conclude, placing the strokes in specific zones of the court and the use of the forehand in the game opening are key to playing the SP successful and winning matches in general.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Book of Abstracts - 22nd Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science : 22nd annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, 5th-8th July 2017, MetropolisRuhr - Germany |
| Editors | Alexander Ferrauti, Petra Platen, Elke Grimminger-Seidensticker, Thomas Jaitner, Ulrich Bartmus, L. Becher, M. de Marées, Thomas Mühlbauer, Anna Schauerte, Thimo Wiewelhove, E. Tsolakidis |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Publisher | Westdeutscher Universitätsverlag |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Pages | 105 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-3-89966-776-9, 978-3-89966-777-6, 978-3-89966-755-2, 978-3-9818414-0-4 |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
| Event | Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science - Bochum, Germany Duration: 05.07.2017 → 08.07.2017 Conference number: 22 |