Physical and Morphological Characteristics of Turkish National Adolescent Tennis Players and Their Association with Serve Speed

Objectives: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to determine physical fitness and anthropometric characteristics of a cohort of national youth female tennis players and to analyze the relationships between serve speed and aforementioned variables. Material and Methods: Twelve players, 15.1-18.6 years of age (16.4 ± 1.1 years), were tested on serve speed (radar gun), vertical jump (countermovement jump), linear speed (10- and 20-m sprints), agility (T agility test), maximal isometric grip strength, and a total of 16 anthropometric variables (body height, body weight, eight skinfolds, four girths, and two breadths). Body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, muscle mass percentage, sum of skinfolds (three, six and eight), and somatotype components were calculated. The weight and string tension of the rackets were also recorded. Results: Descriptive results indicated similarities and differences in various measurements with those of the normative samples reported by previous studies. Serve speed was found to be significantly associated with body weight (r= .775, p<0.01) and BMI (r= .603, p