ABSTRACT

In tennis, players will often ‘run round’ a shot to change the ball to their favoured side. This is never done at elite level in squash or badminton because of the speed of the game at this level. This inefficient movement will have a deleterious effect upon the recovery of the player back to a central position on the court. Previous notational analysis research in racket sports has mainly concentrated on playing patterns. Time motion analysis has been applied to squash and badminton (Hughes, 1995), but none has been applied to tennis. The aim of this study is to investigate whether these inefficient movements have an effect on the ends of rally results. It is also intended that the study will broaden the existing research in movement analysis by providing a framework of the basic footwork movements of the tennis player, in preparation for the shot, at impact and during recovery.