SECTION I - KINESIOLOGY / RESEARCH PAPER
Adaptive Forehand Stroke Strategies for Varying Ball Speed
in Tennis Performance
1
Department of Physical Education, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
2
Department of Kinesiology, Kyungpook National University, Sangju, South Korea.
3
Institute for Sports Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
4
Advanced Institute of Convergence Technology, Seoul National University, Suwon, South Korea.
5
Department of AI-Integrated Education, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Submission date: 2025-01-31
Final revision date: 2025-04-08
Acceptance date: 2025-07-18
Online publication date: 2026-03-16
Corresponding author
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
In this study, we examined multiple hypotheses concerning the variations in tennis forehand strokes contingent on the velocity of the incoming ball and the player's proficiency. The experiment involved seven expert tennis players and six novice players, who were tasked with striking a ball projected from a ball machine under three randomized speed conditions: slow (mean ± SD: 7.54 ± 0.65 m/s), medium (10.83 ± 0.59 m/s), and fast (14.42 ± 0.50 m/s). Participants were instructed to execute a forehand drive toward the ball machine as accurately as possible while exerting maximum effort, without compromising accuracy. A motion capture system equipped with eight infrared cameras was employed to measure reflective markers affixed to the subjects' bodies and rackets. The objective of this study was to analyze the angular motion of each segment involved in the forehand stroke in the transverse plane, with a particular focus on angular displacement and maximum angular velocity. Furthermore, a comparison was made of the synergy indices computed from the segment angles at impact. The results indicated a decline in angular displacement with increasing ball speed, consistent with the hypothesis. In comparison with the novice group, the expert group demonstrated significantly greater usage of the distal segment with a decoupling strategy, as well as proper adjustments of other segments, particularly the trunk, depending on ball speed. The synergy index exhibited an increase with increasing ball speed; however, no significant difference was observed between the two groups.
REFERENCES (32)
1.
Blackwell, J. R., & Cole, K. J. (1994). Wrist kinematics differ in expert and novice tennis players performing the backhand stroke: implications for tennis elbow. Journal of Biomechanics, 27(5), 509–516.
2.
Busuttil, N. A., Reid, M., Connolly, M., Dascombe, B. J., & Middleton, K. J. (2022). A kinematic analysis of the upper limb during the topspin double-handed backhand stroke in tennis. Sports Biomechanics, 21(9), 1046–1064.
3.
Cohen, J. (2013). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. routledge.
4.
Del Villar, F., González, L. G., Iglesias, D., Moreno, M. P., & Cervelló, E. M. (2007). Expert-novice differences in cognitive and execution skills during tennis competition. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 104(2), 355–365.
5.
Dessing, J. C., Bullock, D., Peper, C. L. E., & Beek, P. J. (2002). Prospective control of manual interceptive actions: comparative simulations of extant and new model constructs. Neural Networks, 15(2), 163–179.
6.
Elliott, B., Marsh, T., & Overheu, P. (1989). A biomechanical comparison of the multisegment and single unit topspin forehand drives in tennis. Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 5(3), 350–364.
7.
Genevois, C., Reid, M., Creveaux, T., & Rogowski, I. (2020). Kinematic differences in upper limb joints between flat and topspin forehand drives in competitive male tennis players. Sports Biomechanics, 19(2), 212–226.
8.
Gray, R. (2002). Behavior of college baseball players in a virtual batting task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 28(5), 1131.
9.
Hume, P. A., Keogh, J., & Reid, D. (2005). The role of biomechanics in maximising distance and accuracy of golf shots. Sports Medicine, 35, 429–449.
10.
Kawamoto, Y., Suzuki, T., Iino, Y., Yoshioka, S., Takeshita, D., & Senshi, F. (2024). Poor Joint Work in the Lower Limbs during a Tennis Forehand Groundstroke after a Cross-Over Step Inhibits an Increase in the Racket Speed. Journal of Human Kinetics, 94, 77–90. https://doi.org/10.5114/jhk/18....
11.
Kim, K., Xu, D., & Park, J. (2018). Effect of kinetic degrees of freedom on multi-finger synergies and task performance during force production and release tasks. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 12758.
12.
Lambrich, J., & Muehlbauer, T. (2023). Biomechanical analyses of different serve and groundstroke techniques in tennis: A systematic scoping review. PLoS One, 18(8), e0290320.
13.
Landlinger, J., Lindinger, S. J., Stöggl, T., Wagner, H., & Müller, E. (2010). Kinematic differences of elite and high-performance tennis players in the cross court and down the line forehand. Sports Biomechanics, 9(4), 280–295.
14.
Landlinger, J., Lindinger, S., Stöggl, T., Wagner, H., & Müller, E. (2010). Key factors and timing patterns in the tennis forehand of different skill levels. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 9(4), 643–651.
15.
Latash, M. L., Scholz, J. P., & Schöner, G. (2002). Motor control strategies revealed in the structure of motor variability. Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 30(1), 26–31.
16.
Park, J., Han, D. W., & Shim, J. K. (2015). Effect of resistance training of the wrist joint muscles on multi-digit coordination. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 120(3), 816–840.
17.
Rácz, K., & Kiss, R. M. (2021). Marker displacement data filtering in gait analysis: A technical note. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 70, 102974.
18.
Reid, M., & Elliott, B. (2002). The one- and two-handed backhands in tennis. Sports Biomechanics, 1(1), 47–68.
19.
Reid, M., Elliott, B., & Crespo, M. (2013). Mechanics and learning practices associated with the tennis forehand: a review. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 12(2), 225.
20.
Richardson, J. T. (2011). Eta squared and partial eta squared as measures of effect size in educational research. Educational Research Review, 6(2), 135–147.
21.
Scholz, J. P., Schöner, G., & Latash, M. L. (2000). Identifying the control structure of multijoint coordination during pistol shooting. Experimental Brain Research, 135, 382–404.
22.
Serrien, B., & Baeyens, J. P. (2017). The proximal-to-distal sequence in upper-limb motions on multiple levels and time scales. Human Movement Science, 55, 156–171.
23.
Shim, J. K., Lay, B. S., Zatsiorsky, V. M., & Latash, M. L. (2004). Age-related changes in finger coordination in static prehension tasks. Journal of Applied Physiology, 97(1), 213–224.
24.
Singh, T., Zatsiorsky, V. M., & Latash, M. L. (2012). Effects of fatigue on synergies in a hierarchical system. Human Movement Science, 31(6), 1379–1398.
25.
Song, K., Hullfish, T. J., Silva, R. S., Silbernagel, K. G., & Baxter, J. R. (2023). Markerless motion capture estimates of lower extremity kinematics and kinetics are comparable to marker-based across 8 movements. Journal of Biomechanics, 157, 111751.
26.
Tresilian, J. R. (2005). Hitting a moving target: perception and action in the timing of rapid interceptions. Perception & Psychophysics, 67(1), 129–149.
27.
Vial, S., Croft, J. L., Schroeder, R. T., Blazevich, A. J., & Wilkie, J. C. (2020). Does the presence of an opponent affect object projection accuracy in elite athletes? A study of the landing location of the short serve in elite badminton players. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 15(3), 412–417.
28.
Vitali, R. V., Cain, S. M., Davidson, S. P., & Perkins, N. C. (2019). Human crawling performance and technique revealed by inertial measurement units. Journal of Biomechanics, 84, 121–128.
29.
Watari, R., Suda, E. Y., Santos, J. P., Matias, A. B., Taddei, U. T., & Sacco, I. C. (2021). Subgroups of foot-ankle movement patterns can influence the responsiveness to a foot-core exercise program: A hierarchical cluster analysis. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 9, 645710.
30.
Yang, J. F., & Scholz, J. P. (2005). Learning a throwing task is associated with differential changes in the use of motor abundance. Experimental Brain Research, 163(2), 137–158.
31.
Zhang, W., Scholz, J. P., Zatsiorsky, V. M., & Latash, M. L. (2008). What do synergies do? Effects of secondary constraints on multidigit synergies in accurate force-production tasks. Journal of Neurophysiology, 99(2), 500–513.
32.
Zheng, N., Barrentine, S. W., Fleisig, G. S., & Andrews, J. R. (2008). Kinematic analysis of swing in pro and amateur golfers. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 29(6), 487–493.
| eISSN: | 1899-7562 |
| ISSN: | 1640-5544 |
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
