Physiological Characteristics of Semi-Professional Male and Female Tennis Players - Research Paper Example

A research on the Effect of Gender on Playing Tennis Abstract The aim of this research paper is to find out the characteristics of the singles tennis professional players during any competition. The characteristics of these players are important in order to determine the activity patterns during the normal play of the matches and the skills and the talents the players possess. In this report a number of matches were analyzed, that involved 20 different players that gave rise to 48 sets of data. The observations that were made in this research included: The point duration, the duration of the tennis game, the match duration, and the number of strokes in each point. From these results, the amount of time spent in play was determined and the frequency of any stroke in tennis match also determined. The amount of time spent in play and the stroke frequency factors were determined and compared to both males and females. The statistics was that the male (n = 10) and females (n=10). Moreover, these two factors enabled the comparison between matches. Point durations were realized to be higher in both cases involving males and females. The effective playing time (%) was discovered to be greater for both genders and the stroke frequency showed significant differences for both males and females (P< 0.02). The methods used in this research provided an important tool that was used to assess the “activity patterns, intensity patterns, and the performance” in any tennis competition. These results used in this study give the right information regarding the stresses and the characteristics for both males and females professional tennis players during a competitive match. Key Words: professional tennis, competition, Grand Slam, activity analysis, notational analysis, player performance. Introduction Tennis is played all over the world by both male and female genders in all ages based on given standards as a requirement of the competition. However, despite being tennis being known all over the world by a majority of the people, the physical characteristics of the participants and the performance of the players is not well understood. In this study, a tool was used to give an in depth analysis of the tennis competition that resulted in the evaluation of such issues as the relationship between the performance of tennis and the physical characteristics, the need for training and nutritional interventions, the control mechanisms of the cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular, and integrated systems and their relationship to one another, to evaluate the techniques of physiological measurement and to identify acute and chronic responses in both males and females, and to collect, manipulate, interpret the experimental data. In the previous research, there was no full information regarding the “time-motion” and the performance of the players was not critically analyzed so that the real picture of the competition would be realized. Nevertheless, the previous studies either involved the use of tools that were made to represent the points, the simulated matches with limitations on time, or they at times considered the portions of competitive matches for analysis. However, the present study was aimed at assessing the activity patterns, and the performance during the real competition on tennis singles. The procedures used were similar to those that have been described by Smekal et al., and Christmas et al., were used to analyze the tennis matches for the singles males and females. The effective playing time, the lapse of the points, games and matches, and the frequency of the strokes were recorded to give information on the stresses of the game. Literature Review Tennis competition has a tournament program and events that take place throughout the year. Nevertheless, the competition is played while following certain rules of the International Tennis Federation and its competitions range from professionals such as the Grand Slams and the Olympic Tennis Event to the level that include males and females. This event is thus enjoyed by people of all types. Tennis competition is characterized by fast starts and stops, repeating overheads, and involving the muscles during the different strokes made by a player. These muscles fluctuate more often and therefore the variety of ball types, match duration, the playing surface, and the type of ball have an effect on the physical and physiological requirements of a tennis match. These factors show that players with fast serve might prefer fast surfaces that are hard and grassy, while strong baselines prefer the slower surfaces. Tennis Basic Concepts Tennis is a game that is usually played by two players that are placed on either side of a net. They strike the ball in turns using a stringed racket. The main objective for both players is to get the maximum points from the play through striking the ball within a limited playing surface called the court and out of reach by the opponent. The scoring system in a tennis competition can be described as being non-linear. In addition, a tennis match consists of an odd number of sets and each set comprises of a number of games whereby it will be the sequence followed by a player serving in turns and the games on the other hand consist of points. The winner of any tennis match is the one who scores more points such as winning more than half the sets. Consequently, the winner of the match is the one who has won six games and at least two games more than the opponent. A player loses a point when one of the players during the match fails to play back the ball. This however would happen in several ways: a winner plays a shot that is impossible to be reached by the opponent and thus wins the point; to repeat a mistake by your opponent and return a shot played by the opponent. Methods This research used the experimental analysis and the random selection method for the professional Grand Slam tennis as an approach to the problem. The sample data consisted of 20 players of which 10 were male and 10 females from 28 national teams that participated in a cup competition. The subjects were placed according to their gender and the outcome of the study. The results included the first 5 players and the last ranked players in each group of both the males and females. This was done in order to separate the players in accordance to their playing level, even though all the players studied have been involved in training for a number of years. The objective was to separate the teams to have those that were placed at the highest level on the final grouping that included the quarter final, semi-final and the final from the lower ranked group of players. Thus the first twelve players in the research represented a sample with the best players with individual rankings. The variables that were analyzed were used to describe the various physiological characteristics between the males and female players. Study Procedure The single matches for each of the rounds that included the quarter finals, semi-finals, and the finals were randomly selected for the analysis. The tennis matches that were analyzed were played on a center court and the observations live. Nevertheless, a stopwatch was used to indicate the duration of the matches from the initial serve to the final point of the match. Further, a stopwatch was used to show the duration of each play that was started at the first serve of the match and stopped after the final point of a game. The lapse of each point was measured using another third watch where the time recorded was from the beginning of the serving the ball and stopped when a player earned a point. The faults that resulted from the first serve and double faults did not contribute to the point duration. Strokes were counted for each point and included the service and unforced faults. Afterwards experimental session was conducted that included: (1) the ITN on-court assessment, (2) laboratory test. Laboratory Test The participants of the tennis match were later taken to the laboratory, here measurements for both groups that included the anthropometric were taken including the height, weight, and the “skinfold”. The body fat was determined for all the groups. The body fat of all the groups was determined 3 times and the median measure used in the analysis. Analysis More information was obtained from other additional factors such as the primary observations during the matches. The normal playing time was determined from the addition of all the point durations and converted into percentages of the total match durations. The stroke frequency was also calculated for each point and this was got from the number of strokes and the duration of the point. The reliability of the testers was determined using the main tester and an additional individual and this was analyzed through randomly selecting the set of point duration. The effects that gender had on the variables used earlier were analyzed through the use of variance and the analysis done using SPSS. Results The average of the results observed during the matches and the data are presented in table 1. The big range in the match duration was because the men’s singles in Grand Slam tournament are best with five sets while the women's matches are only 3 sets. These differences are because of the varied characteristics possessed by both the male and female. However, there was excellent agreement between and within observations. Both groups of male and female had comparable results in terms of their weight, age, height but the content of fat in both groups differed. The distance covered by both groups was significantly the same but this reduced with the increase in the level of the competition such as the players in the finals covered lesser distance as compared to the players in either the quarterfinals or the semi finals, and moreover there was no difference in the energy demand for both groups during all the levels of the competition. Discussion Since the essence of this paper was to have a clear understanding of the characteristics of both men and women that makes them fit for the tennis competition. This study would be used to recommend whether the tennis exercise brings about the healthy in a person through the exercise. This study investigated different characteristics that are found in both male and female that makes them suitable for the competition. The physiological characteristics were studied. From the results it would be indicative that both groups find it beneficial being involved in the tennis competition since it results in the development of the cardiovascular fitness of all the groups regardless of how skilled the person is. The time analysis that was used in the form of a clock is vital since it is used to know the physiological responses and the requirements of the tennis competition. However, the time analysis did not indicate any significant differences among the two groups of gender. The playing level whether in the quarter finals, the semi finals or the finals had no effect on the activity patterns during the tennis competition. However, previous studies show that the physiological characteristics influence the movement patterns during the tennis competition. Both groups had to accelerate in order to get the ball in time, however in the semi finals and the finals the players in both groups covered greater distances and this can be seen as a result of their experience and more skills as compared to those in the quarters as they would not even play well to reach higher levels. The experienced players would hit tight angles and they would utilize the court in the most efficient manner. The distance covered by both genders in the court reveals that the players in the final since they covered less distance is a demonstration that the experienced players whichever gender they are moving cautiously on the court and thus would use less speed to reach the ball because their muscular is stronger as compared to the less experienced. References Smekal G 2000, Comparison of laboratory and "on-court" endurance testing in tennis. International Sports Journal, 21: pp. 242-9. Vergauwen L 1998, Evaluation of stroke performance in tennis. Medical Science Sports Exercise, 30(8):1281-8. Elliott B, 1985, the energetic of singles tennis. Journal of Human Studies, 11: pp. 11-20. Smekal G 2001, A physiological profile of tennis match play. Medical Science Sports Exercise. 33, pp. 999-1005. O'Donoghue P 2001, A Notational analysis of elite tennis strategy. Journal of Sports, 19(2): pp. 107-22. Christmass M 1998, Exercise intensity and metabolic response in singles tennis. Sports Journal, 16(8): pp. 739-47. Reilly T 1993, Investigation of exercise intensity in male and Female singles lawn tennis. Sports Journal, 11: pp. 43-58. Chandler J 1995, Exercise training for tennis. Clinical Sports Medicine, pp. 33-46. O'Donoghue P 1998, A notational Analysis of time factors of elite men's and ladies' singles tennis on clay and grass surfaces. Science and Racquet Sports II. London: E & FN Spon, pp. 241-246 Read More