Kinematic study of serve velocity of Hong Kong elite tennis players

Effective training for improving serve velocity is important for elite tennis players. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between whole body kinematics and ball velocity of tennis serve of Hong Kong Elite Tennis players. Twelve Hong Kong Tennis Team male players were recruited. Body kinematics of the players during tennis serves were monitored by a motion analysis system (Vicon MX, Oxford Metric, Oxford, UK) and correlated with the ball velocity. Compared to the Olympic 2000 tennis players, the front knee peak extension velocity, pelvic peak axial rotation velocity, trunk peak right rotation velocity, shoulder peak internal rotation velocity, elbow peak extension velocity and wrist peak flexion velocity of the Olympic players were 5, 2.1, 4.1, 2.9, 2.8 and 2.9 times, respectively, faster than those of the Hong Kong Elite Players. The mean serve velocity of Olympic players (182.9+/-14.0 km/h) was significantly faster than that of the Hong Kong Elite players (145.4+/-19.9 km/h; range: 119-180). The velocity of tennis serve of Hong Kong Elite players was within the range of the lower-level tournament western play-ers. The slower ball velocity of Hong Kong Elite players might be due to the differences in kinematic profile during serve. It was also found that the right shoulder peak internal rotation velocity, right rear knee range of motion, right rear hip peak extension velocity, right shoulder rotation range of motion and body weight were significantly correlated with the ball veloc-ity. Stepwise linear regression analysis showed that the right shoulder peak internal rotation velocity and body weight were significant predictors for ball velocity which contributed 3.8%, 85% respectively to the total variability (r2 = 0.878, p<0.05). The body kinematics and body weight were shown to have significant effects on ball velocity of tennis serve. Copyright © International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering 2010.