Contributions of Upper Limb Segment Rotations during the Power Serve in Tennis

Abstract

In the high-velocity tennis serve, the contributions that the upper limb segments' anatomical rotations make to racket head speed at impact depend on both their angular velocity and the instantaneous position of the racket with respect to the segments' axes of rotation. Eleven high-performance tennis players were filmed at a nominal rate of 200 Hz by three Photosonics cameras while hitting a high-velocity serve. The three-dimensional (3-D) displacement histories of 1 1 selected landmarks were then calculated using the direct linear transformation approach, and 3-D individual segment rotations for the upper limb were calculated using vector equations (Sprigings, Marshall, Elliott, & Jemings, 1994). The major contributors to the mean linear velocity of the center of the racket head of 31.0 m . s-' at impact were internal rotation of the upper arm (54.2%), flexion of the hand (31.0%), horizontal flexion and abduction of the upper arm (12.9%), and racket shoulder linear velocity (9.7%). Forearm extension at the elbow joint played a negative role (-14.4%) and reduced the forward velocity of the center of the racket at impact.As every rally in tennis is started with a serve, it is logical to assume that this stroke plays an important role in determining the final outcome of a match. Players of all levels certainly seek to develop a high-speed serve as an integral part of their game. Sport scientists and coaches agree that the speed of the racket and therefore the postimpact speed of the ball, the height of impact, and the amount of forward rotation of the ball are the key factors determining the angle the ball should be directed for a successful serve (e.g., Elliott, 1983). The speed of the racket head at impact is therefore a critical feature of a successful serve that can be varied considerably by the player, particularly through the individual movements of the upper limb segments. As such, the role of the angular velocity vectors of the upper arm, forearm, and hand in generating maximum racket impact point speed

A novel phase-aligned analysis on motion patterns of table tennis strokes

“…accelerometer, inertial measurement unit) can be applied to track the whole phases of a table tennis stroke. As there are also evidences that players produce maximum racket speed at or quite near the moment of "ball" and racket contact in other racket sports like tennis (Elliott et al, 1995) and badminton (Kwan et al, 2011), this method may also be possible to be implemented to other racket sports studies. …”

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“…This is explained by the fact that the intermediate players because of their level are not in position to succeed with their serve the maximum speed and the desired accuracy at the same time. Therefore a longer lever, as it is known from the biomechanics, can improve the speed factor (Elliott, 1988;Elliott, Marshall, & Noffal, 1995;Gordon &. Dapena, 2006;Tanabe & Ito, 2007;Knudson, 2011).…”

Kinetic energy transfer during the tennis serve

“…In this study, player A achieved 197º/s (Pelvis) and 405º/s (Thorax), and player B 416º/s and 618º/s. Upper arm internal rotation was studied by Elliott et al [12], and registered 2090 º/s for amateur players and by Fleisig et al [14], who registered 2040º/s male and 1370º/s female tournament players. In this study player A upper arm internal rotation was 1962º/s and player B 1404º/s.…”