The Differences in the Ball Speed and the Spin Rate Depending on the Results of a Tennis Serve

Abstract

In tennis, the service is the only shot that a player can give himself without being influenced by his opponent, and it is said to be the most powerful and essential shot in the game to win the game (Kovacs and Ellenbecker, 2011). In this study, we will investigate the difference in speed and spin rate in services when a service is entered, when it is not entered, and when an ace is taken. Fourteen three-set singles matches of 20 participants in the ATP Challenger tournament were included in the analysis. The speed and spin rate was measured using the Trackman. The analysis included 1343 1st service balls. We compared the speed and spin rate for each IN, FAULT and ACE in the 1st service using one-way ANOVA. The speed of the 1st service, IN was significantly slower than that of FAULT and ACE. The spin rate of the 1st serve, IN had significantly more revolutions than the FAULT and ACE. The results of this study showed that the service was faster and lower spin rate when ACE was taken. However, it was found that the faster the speed of the service and the lower the spin rate, the higher the rate of FAULT. These considerations suggest that it is important to decide whether to take risks or play it safe, depending on the game situation at the time.

Performance analysis in tennis since 2000: A systematic review focused on the methods of data collection

“…The initial objective of this system was to assist line judges, but as it has recently become used for player tracking and postmatch analysis, there are a number of papers using Hawk-Eye data . In addition, instruments for tracking of the ball and players, such as Trackman (Trackman Inc.) and PlaySight (PlaySight Interactive ltd.), have been developed, and studies using such instruments are being conducted (Edelmann-Nusser et al, 2019;Murata and Takahashi, 2020;Kashiwagi et al, 2021).…”