How are elite tennis matches won at Wimbledon? A comparison of close and one‐sided contests

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Fitzpatrick, Anna Stone, Joseph A. Choppin, Simon Kelley, John
Description	AbstractNotational analysis investigations of several sports have suggested that the performance characteristics associated with success differ by match closeness. It is not known whether this is the case in tennis. Therefore, this study aimed to first develop operational definitions for closely contested and one‐sided tennis matches, then establish whether the important performance characteristics in elite grass court tennis differ by match closeness. Data from 365 men and 374 women's Wimbledon single matches played between 2015 and 2017 were analyzed. Irrespective of match closeness, points won of 0–4 shot rally length, first serve points won and baseline points won were associated with winning matches, and forced errors and unforced errors were associated with losing matches, for both sexes. Spearman's rank‐order correlations demonstrated excellent agreement between the importance of the performance characteristics in closely contested and one‐sided men (r s = 0.89, p < 0.001) and women's matches (r s = 0.90, p < 0.001), respectively. Findings suggest that expected match closeness (of an upcoming match) should not necessarily influence decision‐making around practice design and match‐play strategy. Additionally, the operational definitions developed for closely contested and one‐sided matches developed here could be used in future studies to investigate different competitive contexts. AbstractNotational analysis investigations of several sports have suggested that the performance characteristics associated with success differ by match closeness. It is not known whether this is the case in tennis. Therefore, this study aimed to first develop operational definitions for closely contested and one‐sided tennis matches, then establish whether the important performance characteristics in elite grass court tennis differ by match closeness. Data from 365 men and 374 women's Wimbledon single matches played between 2015 and 2017 were analyzed. Irrespective of match closeness, points won of 0–4 shot rally length, first serve points won and baseline points won were associated with winning matches, and forced errors and unforced errors were associated with losing matches, for both sexes. Spearman's rank‐order correlations demonstrated excellent agreement between the importance of the performance characteristics in closely contested and one‐sided men (rs = 0.89, p < 0.001) and women's matches (rs = 0.90, p < 0.001), respectively. Findings suggest that expected match closeness (of an upcoming match) should not necessarily influence decision‐making around practice design and match‐play strategy. Additionally, the operational definitions developed for closely contested and one‐sided matches developed here could be used in future studies to investigate different competitive contexts. Highlights This is the first study to develop clear operational definitions for closely contested and one‐sided tennis matches; these can be utilized in future research.In contrast to previous investigations of team sports, the most important performance characteristics for winning matches at Wimbledon did not differ between closely contested and one‐sided matches.Irrespective of match closeness, winning short points, first serve points and baseline points were most closely associated with winning elite, grass court tennis matches for men and women.Findings suggest that expected match closeness should not necessarily influence coaches and players' decision‐making around practice design or match strategy planning. HighlightsThis is the first study to develop clear operational definitions for closely contested and one‐sided tennis matches; these can be utilized in future research.In contrast to previous investigations of team sports, the most important performance characteristics for winning matches at Wimbledon did not differ between closely contested and one‐sided matches.Irrespective of match closeness, winning short points, first serve points and baseline points were most closely associated with winning elite, grass court tennis matches for men and women.Findings suggest that expected match closeness should not necessarily influence coaches and players' decision‐making around practice design or match strategy planning.
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Page Count	10
ISSN	17461391
Volume Number	24
DOI	10.1002/ejsc.12063
PubMed Central reference number	PMC11235650
Issue Number	2
PubMed reference number	PMC11235650
Journal	European Journal of Sport Science [Eur J Sport Sci]
e-ISSN	15367290
Language	English
Publisher	John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Publisher Date	2024-01-09
Publisher Place	Hoboken
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2024 The Authors. European Journal of Sport Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH on behalf of European College of Sport Science.
Subject Keyword	elite tennis grass court tennis match closeness match statistics successful performance
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Sports Science