FLAT SERVE SUCCESS IN THE RELATIONSHIP TO THE SERVE TOSS AND RACKET-BALL IMPACT OF COMPETITIVE TENNIS PLAYERS
Abstract
The flat serve is characterized by its speed. If it is successfully executed, the serving player can achieve a service winner or an advantage for the following rally. The goal is to find out the relation between the serve toss and the success of the first (flat) serve in tennis. We observed 8 competitive tennis players who served 40 flat serves. They were videotaped on a high-speed camera (200 Hz) from the side view. On the basis of 2D kinematic analysis, we evaluated the racket-ball impact during 1) successful serves 2) serves into the net 3) serves fault-long 4) serves fault-wide. Successful serves were hit by players at a mean distance of 61,6 cm (X-axis) from the baseline towards the net and at a mean height of 272,9 cm (Y-axis). Analysis of variance showed no significant difference, although post-hoc tests showed a significant difference (p < 0,05) between successful serves and serves fault-wide on the
X-axis; and on the same axis there was a large effect size between serves into the net and to the serves wide (d = 0,94). The serve toss affects the success of the serve, but players can to some extent use their own movement skills to compensate for its inaccuracies and make corrections in their movement to achieve a successful serve.