PART ONE - ANALYSIS
Tennis has come a very long way from its supposed 12th century French origins. During the French handball game Paume someone picked up a racket and it became “Jeu de Paume” forever changing the course of sporting history. In contradiction to this some people involved in the historical research of Tennis say that there was even evidence of it being played in Ancient Greece! This interesting historical development is only surpassed by its amazing technical demands and qualities. Wonderfully it remains a true sporting anchor for all shapes, sizes and ages.
I feel the Irish being the sporting mad bunch that we are have never fully embraced this brilliant game. I’m part of this problem so I feel I can make this point without being overtly critical. I like a lot of sports fans only really watch Wimbledon once a year. I am generally slack-jawed, glued to the couch roaring on Roger Federer time and time again. It will be sorely missed this year by countless people. In truth it’s a masterclass in sporting prowess, willpower and tactics. Because of this fact we decided we’d like to devote some more attention to it and break down why it is such a joy to watch.
I’ve divided this blog into what I feel represent the three most impressive feats that professional tennis players demonstrate. This is in no particular order.
Shot Speed
Ultimately what will determine a whole lot of speed on your serve is technique. We’ll leave this to the talented tennis coaches out there as it remains a pretty complex topic of discussion when you boil it down. From a performance and physiotherapy point of view upper limb power will be a critical component. Here are some statistics to share to highlight these impressive feats:
· John Isner broke the male serve record at the 2016 Davis Cup representing the USA. During his victory over Bernard Tomic, Isner recorded an incredible 253km/h [1]. This was the fastest official serve in any Association of Tennis Professionals event. Even more impressively Sam Groth produced a serve of 263km/h at the 2012 Busan Open Challenger tournament in South Korea [2].
· In the Women’s game Sabine Lisicki holds the record and achieved this at the 2014 Stanford Classic. Her serve reached 210.8km/h. Venus Williams came a close second in the 2007 US Open reaching 207.6km/h [3].
While the above achievements are so technically demanding and focused, there is also a huge amount of upper limb functions that go into it. As a quick analysis one needs multiple things to go right. First as the ball is lobbed overhead the player’s racket shoulder must achieve a high degree of overhead range in conjunction with back and hip movements. This is effectively the slingshot stretching before the snap. Various tendons of muscles in the back of the arm elongate and store energy ready to strike. Notwithstanding the amazing coordination it takes to create impact with the racket, one’s triceps and latissimus dorsi contract powerfully at the shoulder and elbow. Your shoulder internal rotators, pectorals and wrist flexors add more fuel to this flame and a truly powerful effort launches the ball over the net. Admittedly in my case this remains a great hope rather than execution given my lack of ability in this wonderful sport. It is important to note the contribution of the lower limbs and trunk in this effort. A lot of the force generated here will be started in the lower body [4-6]. We’ll discuss how to improve this later.
Reactive Ability and Coordination
It’s no surprise that one’s reactive ability must be as sharp as a Cobra’s given the speed that little green ball can reach throughout a match. Even without the speed elements the chain of potential movements can follow many paths in response to an opponent’s shot. Let’s break this down in a scenario:
“You’re on the right side of the baseline and have just hit a Corker of a serve into the farthest reaches of the opponent’s right service court. You hit it well and grin, it was a really good shot. You charge forward to the service line enthusiastic of your chances to win this set. Given the speed you anticipate your opponent can only return a forehand strike down the sideline if they’re lucky. As you rotate your hips towards the left side of the court to control the play they do the unlikely and return the serve back into your right service court. Panic sets in and you’ve a lump in throat the size of a tennis ball. You frantically adjust your body to get across and within milliseconds tap the ball with the top of your racket face over the net with the deftest of touches. With a large inhalation and deep exhalation, you punch the air with a closed fist. The point and set are yours but you were made to work hard for it and you really feel it in the lungs. You throw your eyes up to the sky and are grateful you can take a break. There are multiple sets to go.”
So, we will work backwards now and analyse the sequence of movements that needed to happen for you to achieve this serve in a VERY SHORT TIMEFRAME. A seminal piece of research from Elliot (2006) in the British Journal of Sports Medicine breaks the power serve down well [7].
Stage One - Preparation/Backswing
· Grip
· Foot position
· Trunk Rotation - hips and shoulders
· Racquet Rotation - displacement
· Type of swing - full or abbreviated
· Body orientation
· Ball toss - relationship of arms and position of non-racquet arm
Stage Two - Forward Swing
· Leg drive
· Position at maximum external rotation
· Shoulder and arm alignment
· Trunk rotations - twist, forward and shoulder-over-shoulder
· Weight transfer
· Non-racquet arm tuck for trunk rotation
· Shoulder flexion
· Elbow extension
· Shoulder internal rotation
· Wrist flexion
Stage Three - Follow Through
· Internal rotation
· Landing - foot and position on court
· Racquet path
So, despite this long list of tasks to accomplish one’s body can amazingly coordinate it all into a beautiful flow of proficient movement to produce a cornerstone of this wonderful game. Now I’d like you to pause for a moment and consider how quickly all of that information must be received, processed and acted upon in response to what’s happening on the court. It’s truly breath-taking when you stop to think about it.
Agility
The final factor I would like to discuss in this initial blog post is agility. Unfortunately, agility has been poorly defined and poorly trained for a long time due to an inherent lack of understanding. The traditional literature and testing methods for this important sporting performance marker didn’t measure what they were designed to. They always missed a key factor which are the reactive and perceptual elements. You decelerate, change direction and accelerate in response to something that happens in front of you and so you must factor this into the training of it. True prowess in agility sits right in the middle of the following diagram. If you can add some of this spice to your training it will really benefit your game. The very nature of the sport and the reasonably small court on which it is played means that in order to succeed one needs to be a very agile individual. Luckily this will also reduce your risk of injury and keep you playing long into the summer evenings.
