KINEMATIC ANALYSIS OF TENNIS VOLLEY

The purpose of this study was to examine selected kinematic variables of the tennis volley. Fifteen skilled tennis players performed volley strokes under five (right, right-middle, middle, left-middle, left) different lateral contact locations. A ball machine was modified so subjects could not predict the ball trajectory before it was released from the machine. Two high-speed cameras (250Hz) were genlocked to collect the data and the Kwon3D software was used to analyze the temporal and kinematic variables. The results indicated the middle location have the shortest pushing (0.249s) and stroke (0.466s) time than other locations. An ipsilateral side step occurred more often in Backhand (BH, 86%) than in Forehand (FH, 67%). In addition, more FH volley (55%) was used than BH (45%) when return the ball from middle location. KEY WORDS: biomechanics, temporal, lateral movement. INTRODUCTION: Tennis volley is an important offensive technique in men’s singles and both men’s and women’s doubles play. The volley is divided into four phases – backswing, forward acceleration, impact and follows through. The volley is usually performed under a time stress due to the reducing distance between the players. The anticipation, fast reactions