Abstract
Tennis players have only limited time to hit the incoming ball. This specific time and other game characteristics may vary depending on the performance level of the players.
Objective: The aim is to analyze and compare the game characteristics and frequency of rally shots in men's matches between the ATP Challenger tournament and the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour tournament played on a clay surface. Methods: We compare selected game characteristics in two international men's tennis tournaments of different category, i.e. the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour (lower professional level) and the ATP Challenger (medium professional level).
Altogether, we analyzed 2483 points in 20 matches. Results: The mean rally pace was faster in the ITF tournament compared to the ATP Challenger tournament, but this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.06).
There was a statistically significant difference in the work/rest ratio at the ITF tournament of 1:3.1 compared to the ATP Challenger 1 : 2.8 t (23) = -2.59, p = 0.03 (d = 0.55). Most often, the point ended in the first four rally shot, in the case of the ITF tournament in 53% and in the case of the ATP Challenger in 50% of cases.
Conclusions: This study highlights specific aspects of game performance and the match characteristics in two categories of tournaments on clay court. From a practical point of view, the results can serve as a template for coaches to adjust training programs and to accurately model training sessions.