Effects of consecutive days of match play on technical performance in tennis

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Elite tennis is characterised by repeated bouts of up to 5-set match play, yet little is known about the technical requirements of shots played. This study therefore investigated technical performance changes over consecutive days of prolonged, simulated tennis match play. A total of 7 well-trained men tennis players performed 4 consecutive days of competitive 4-h match play. Matches were notated to determine between-day changes in groundstroke and serve performance, as well as point and match durations. Changes ≥75% likely to exceed the smallest important effect size (0.2) were considered meaningful and represented as effect size ± 90% confidence interval. Effective playing time reduced on days 3 and 4, alongside likely increases in “stretch” groundstrokes over the 4 days (mean effect size ± 90% confidence interval; 0.57 ± 0.38) and “stretch” backhand returns on days 2 and 3 (0.39 ± 0.54 and 0.67 ± 0.55). Relative unforced errors increased on day 4 (vs. day 2; 0.36 ± 0.22) and second-serve winning percentage reduced after day 1 (−0.47 ± 0.50). Further, a likely increase in emotional outbursts characterised day 3 (vs. day 2; 0.73 ± 0.57). Consecutive-day match play impairs hitting accuracy, stroke positioning and emotional responses; an understanding of which prepares players for elite-standard tennis tournament play

Injury epidemiology of tennis players at the 2011-2016 Australian Open Grand Slam

Aim To examine the epidemiology and in-event treatment frequency of injury at the 2011-2016 Australian Open tournaments. Methods Injury incidence was defined as a medical consultation by a tournament physician and in-event treatment frequency as the mean total number of follow-up medical/physiotherapy consultations (2013-2016 tournaments only). Data were collated by sex, injury region and type and reported as frequencies per 10 000 game exposures. Incidence rate s± 95% CI and rate ratios were used to test effects for injury, sex and year. Results Female players experienced more injuries than male players (201.7 vs 148.6). The shoulder (5.1±1.1 injuries per year), foot (3.2±1.1), wrist (3.1±1.5) and knee (3.1±1.1) were the most commonly injured regions among females. Knee (3.5±1.6), ankle (2.3±1.3) and thigh (2.3±1.5) were the most prevalent male injuries. Upper arm injuries and in-event treatment frequency increased by ≥2.4 times in both sexes over the 5-year period. Muscle injuries were most frequent. There was a greater than twofold increase in men and women with stress fractures over the 5-year period. The torso region, including the neck, thoracic spine, trunk and abdominal, lumbar spine, hip and groin, pelvis/buttock, attracted high in-event treatment frequencies in both sexes. Conclusion Investigation of injury at the Australian Open suggests that females are more commonly injured than males. Upper and lower extremity injuries affected females while lower limb injuries were more prominent in males. There was an increasing rate of in-event treatments of upper limb and torso injuries as well as stress fractures during the observation period

Improving the reporting of tennis injuries: The use of workload data as the denominator?

[Extract] Historically, epidemiology researchers have identified bespoke units of measurement to express each sport’s injury narrative. In 2009, respected industry professionals suggested that tennis injuries be reported per 1000 player-hours rather than athletic exposures (such as 1000 matches) due to large variations in the time component of such exposures.1 This goes some way to addressing the lack of uniformity in tennis injury data, which McCurdie et al 2 have identified as the most significant challenge to understanding injury in elite tennis. However, given the streams of data now available, it seems timely to revisit whether this recommended choice of exposure remains as pertinent as it once was