Match Characteristics and Rally Pace of Male Tennis Matches in Three Grand Slam Tournaments

Introduction: A tennis player has a very limited time to hit an incoming ball; however, the ball delivery time is affected by playing on different surfaces. Consequently, the playing surface can affect also other match characteristics as players can reach more incoming balls or can move on the court with different intensity (cover more distance). Aim of Study: The aim is to analyze the rally pace characteristics and the frequency of rally shots in men’s matches in the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in 2017. Material and Methods: We analyzed 24 male matches in the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in 2017. Analysis of variance including post-hoc tests and Cohen d were used to compare the point duration, number of rally shots, time between the points, rally pace and work to rest ratio among these tournaments. Results: The rally pace (mean ball flight time between the opponents) was the fastest in the Australian Open (1.22 s) and was significantly faster (p=0.003) compared to the French Open (1.35 s). The rally pace in the Wimbledon reached 1.27 s and Cohen d showed large effect between the rally pace in the Wimbledon and French Open or moderate effect between the Australian Open and Wimbledon. There were other differences among the tournaments, but the lowest number of rally shots (4.07), point duration (5.30 s) and time between points (18.82 s) was reached in the Wimbledon. More than 50 % of all points were finished within the first four shots (most in the Wimbledon – 66%). Conclusion: These findings show and endorse the impact of surface differences on the game performance in professional tennis and can be used to shape specific training sessions on different surfaces.