Ball change in tennis: How does it affect match characteristics and rally pace in Grand Slam tournaments?

Authors

  • Jan Carboch Charles University in Prague, Czechia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4295-6732
  • Matej Blau Charles University in Prague, Czechia
  • Michal Sklenarik Charles University in Prague, Czechia
  • Jakub Siman Charles University in Prague, Czechia
  • Kristyna Placha Charles University in Prague, Czechia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2020.151.14

Keywords:

Performance analysis, Ball degradation, Surface, Professional tennis, New balls, Used balls

Abstract

Tennis balls degrade after fast racket and ground impacts until they are changed after agreed number of games. The aim is to analyse the new (after the ball change) and used balls (prior to the ball change) match characteristics and the frequency of rally shots in matches in the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in 2017. Paired samples t-tests and Cohen d were used to compare the point duration, number of rally shots, time between the points, rally pace and work to rest ratio among these tournaments. There was a significant difference in rally shots number played with the new balls (4.17 ± 0.86) compared to the used balls (4.60 ± 1.10) in female matches (p = 0.047); in males matches large effect size was found (d = -0.83) in the same variable with the new balls (4.44 ± 0.57) and used balls (4.95 ± 0.66), both happened in the Australian Open. No difference was found between the new and used balls in the rally pace in all the observed events. The Wimbledon match characteristics were least affected by the ball change. The ball degradation affected the match characteristic the most in the Australian Open, in terms of more rally shots, but not slowing down the rally pace. Our findings inform us how the ball change can affect the game performance in professional tennis.

Funding

This study was written within the Programme of the institutional support for science at Charles University Progress, No.Q41 Biological aspects of the investigation of human movement.

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Statistics

Statistics RUA

Published

2020-03-01

How to Cite

Carboch, J., Blau, M., Sklenarik, M., Siman, J., & Placha, K. (2020). Ball change in tennis: How does it affect match characteristics and rally pace in Grand Slam tournaments?. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 15(1), 153–162. https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2020.151.14

Issue

Section

Performance Analysis of Sport