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The influence of analogy instruction and motion rule instruction on the learning process of junior tennis players Abstract Coaches often use analogies and explain motion rules in their verbal instructions; however, little is known about how such communication influences the execution of movements of advanced players of various sports. In this study qualitative investigation is made into the effectiveness of analogy instruction and motion rule instruction on the tennis serve performance of advanced junior players. In a pretest, posttest, and retention test design, participants (n = 44; 11.5 years of age) were assigned to an analogy group, a motion rule group or a control group. After a 5-week intervention, experts used video recordings to assess changes in participants’ performance during the various phases of the tennis serve. While participants in the analogy group and the motion rule group improved their movements of the serve overall from the pretest to the posttest, their serve generally deteriorated from the posttest to the retention test, except during the impact phase of the serve. These results suggest that advanced junior tennis players generally benefitted from both analogy instruction and motion rule instruction. However, the participants seemed to benefit more from motion rule instructions over time, as the motion rule group demonstrated more consistent performance on the retention test than the analogy group.

Analysis of challenge request success according to contextual variables in elite badminton Abstract Badminton has evolved into a blink-and-miss event, with powerful smashes dominating rallies. Due to the fact that the speed of smashes has increased, there are controversial decisions when the shuttlecock hits the ground during the match. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify the importance of challenge request effectiveness in elite badminton according to contextual-related variables. The sample was composed of 56 shuttlecock challenges requested during 20 matches (quarter-final, semi-final or final matches) from the Olympic Games (Rio de Janeiro, 2016) and the Word Badminton Championship (Glasgow, 2017). The Crosstabs-Command and the Binomial logistic regression were applied in order to identify the interactive effects on challenge success of each contextual variable (gender, requester player, next point winner, score-line, game, game interval, games in favor, challenges left per game, match-outcome and player’s international experience). The main results identified that the success of a challenge is affected by the request with less efficiency when the player requests the hawk-eye (odds ratio [OR] = 0.65) and when the player that request the hawk-eye is the loser of the match (OR = 0.21). The identified trends allow players to improve strategic plans that involve selecting the most appropriate moment to request the calling Line Review.

Differences in competition statistics between winners and losers in male and female tennis players in Olympic Games Abstract The aim of this study was to examine differences in the performance indicators between winners and losers in male and female high-level tennis players. A total of 128 tennis singles matches played on grass court surface at the London 2012 Olympic Games were analyzed. Data were collected from the official website of the Olympics and the following groups of variables were analyzed: serve variables (n = 7), serve return variables (n = 3) and game-related variables (n = 5). The results showed that winners had greater (p < 0.05) values of second serve (%), aces, first and second serve points won (%), points won on first and second serve return (%), break points played and break points won (%). Furthermore, they get more winners with both groundstrokes and net points won (%) than losers in both sexes. Losers also committed more doubles faults than winners, and in the male category more unforced errors, whereas female winners get higher serve maximum speed (p < 0.05). Performance indicators according to the result of the match predicted that break points won, first serve points won (%) and first serve return points won (%) are the most relevant variables in males (SC = 0.434; SC = 0.340; SC = 0.327), whereas it was the break points won (SC = −0.372) in females. Therefore, coaches should consider the variation of the competition statistics by gender if they want to enhance the chances of success of their players.

Game characteristics in elite para table tennis Abstract This study focuses on the rally length and the impact of the serve, i. e. the winning probability when serving, in elite para table tennis (class 1–10) to provide a better insight in the task characteristics of para table tennis. The influences of sex and the level of impairment and their possible interactions are studied. Matches (n = 227) of elite para table tennis players (class 1–10) ranked in the top 20 of the world ranking lists in their class were analysed. The results of this study revealed a significant main effect of sex with small effect sizes in the three-factorial model and medium to large effect sizes in the individual comparisons on the rally length and the winning probabilities directly from service and first attack. Moreover, an interaction effect was also found of sex and sitting/standing for the same outcomes with small (winning probabilities) to medium (rally length) effect sizes. Finally, the severity of class 1 affected these outcomes significantly with large effect sizes, when comparing the outcomes of this class to the ones of the other sitting classes in male players. In conclusion, due to shorter rallies and a high direct impact of the serve for all female sitting players and for male sitting and standing para players with the highest level of impairments, serve and especially receive training should be an important part of the training for these para table tennis players.

Activity profiles and physiological responses during match play in four popular racquet sports Abstract Badminton, squash, table tennis, and tennis are four of the most popular racquet sports. In recent years, modifications in rules, equipment, and athletes’ physical fitness have led to changes in match structure and therefore also in demands on athletes of these sports. This has caused a sudden rise in requests for scientific research, since insight into a sport’s profile of requirements is crucial for efficient training monitoring. This review aims to offer a comprehensive overview about latest findings about activity profile and physiological responses in match play in the four racquet sports. Comparisons showed that the match structure of each of the four racquet sports is similar with regard to the intermittent character, but differences appear across all disciplines when comparing match, rally, and resting interval durations, work density, covered distances, and striking frequencies. Moreover, high average cardiorespiratory responses are reported for badminton and squash, but not for table tennis and tennis. In all racquet sports, continuous changes in high-intensity movement and periods of recovery are found, suggesting significant influence of both aerobic and anaerobic alactic energetic pathways. In contrast, lactic pathways seem to play an important role in squash, but less in the other racquet sports. These discrepancies in energetic demands are related to the differences in the total amounts of effort and recovery and their relationship to each other. To conclude, the four racquet sports have a lot in common, but each sport brings its own requirements. Badminton is highly dependent on reaction and anticipation, squash is high-intensity, table tennis is mostly skill-related, and tennis is less intensive, but of greatest volume of effort.

Talent orientation: the impact of motor abilities on future success in table tennis Abstract In talent screening campaigns of primary school children, the aim is to identify talents and assign the children to a sport suitable to their characteristics. Here, the question arises whether these tests can help find talents at the elementary school age. Therefore, this study on table tennis players examined whether second-grade children tested with a battery of nine motor tests (Fulda Movement Check) were able to reach the predicted performance level in later adolescence. For this prognostic validity study, N = 225 U9 table tennis players were tested with two anthropometric and nine general motor tests between 2010 and 2014. These characteristics were then related to the success that table tennis players achieved by 2017. The comparison of table tennis players with soccer players, athletes of other sports, and nonathletes by means of a univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that table tennis players were clearly superior to other sports groups in the test tasks of sideward jumping and push-ups. Odds ratios for certain test performance thresholds were calculated to determine probabilities of later success. For a special table tennis recommendation score based on a selection of six of the nine tests, the identification and classification chances (sensitivity and specificity) were determined using a linear discriminant analysis and a neural network (multilayer perceptron). All in all, a medium to high prognostic validity could be proven with the complete motor test battery as well as with the table tennis recommendation score.

Serve profile of male and female professional tennis players at the 2015 Roland Garros Grand Slam tournament Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the serve statistics profile of male and female high-level tennis players. In all, 111 tennis singles matches of the Roland Garros 2015 tennis tournament were collected and 10 variables related to first and second serve were analyzed according to service box (deuce and advantage sides) and landing location (wide, body and T‑areas). The results show: (a) men served faster than women; (b) men served a higher percentage of serves at T‑area on deuce side (35.0 vs 27.7%) and at the wide zone on advantage side (44.1 vs 36.7%) with first serves, while women hit more to the body on both sides; (c) men won a higher percentage of points with their first serve compared to women at any zone on both sides, except for the T‑area on deuce side; (d) with their second serve, men placed a greater percentage of serves in the T‑area on deuce side (28.0 vs 21.8%) and wide on the advantage side, whereas women directed more to the body on the advantage side (41.4 vs 33.5%); (e) men won a higher percentage of points with their second serve when they placed it to the body zone on deuce side (54.1 vs 47.1%) and at the T‑area on the advantage side (64.4% vs 44.1%). Our conclusions are that with respect to gender, players showed differing serve patterns. Men served faster, with higher success and placed their serves more frequently to the external areas of the service boxes, while women directed a higher percentage of serves to the body of their opponent.

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