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. 2021 Feb 17;18(4):1944.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18041944.

Key Physical Factors in the Serve Velocity of Male Professional Wheelchair Tennis Players

Alejandro Sánchez-Pay  1 , Rafael Martínez-Gallego  2 , Miguel Crespo  3 , David Sanz-Rivas  4
Affiliations

Key Physical Factors in the Serve Velocity of Male Professional Wheelchair Tennis Players

Alejandro Sánchez-Pay et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the physical factors related to serve speed in male professional wheelchair tennis players (WT). Nine best nationally-ranked Spanish male wheelchair tennis players (38.35 ± 11.28 years, 63.77 ± 7.01 kg) completed a neuromuscular test battery consisting of: isometric handgrip strength; serve velocity; 5, 10 and 20 m sprint (with and without racket); agility (with and without racket); medicine ball throw (serve, forehand and backhand movements); and an incremental endurance test specific to WT. Significantly higher correlations were observed in serve (r = 0.921), forehand (r = 0.810) and backhand (r = 0.791) medicine ball throws showing a positive correlation with serve velocity. A regression analysis identified a single model with the medicine ball throw serve as the main predictor of serve velocity (r2 = 0.847, p < 0.001). In conclusion, it is recommended that coaches and physical trainers include medicine ball throw workouts in the training programs of WT tennis players due to the transfer benefits to the serve speed.

Keywords: biomechanics; movement; physical tests; tennis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Service sequence in conventional and wheelchair tennis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Agility test (T-Test).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Medicine ball through backhand (a), forehand (b), and serve (c).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Relationship between the medicine ball throw test simulating a serve (a), forehand (b), backhand (c) and sprint of 20 m with racket (d) with the serve velocity (km/h).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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