The relationship between tennis serve velocity and select performance measures

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between tennis serve 3 speed and isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) kinetic variables; countermovement jump height 4 (CMJ Height), shoulder internal and external rotation strength and anthropometric measures 5 in elite adolescent tennis players. Twenty-one elite junior tennis players from the Tennis 6 Australia National Academy were recruited for this study (male, n = 12, female, n = 9). 7 Correlations between the performance variables and peak tennis serve speed were calculated 8 using a Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient. A significant positive correlation 9 was found between peak serve speed and body height (r = 0.80, p < 0.01), IMTP peak force (r 10 = 0.87, p < 0.01), CMJ Height (r = 0.77, p = < 0.01) and impulse at 300ms (r = 0.71, p = < 11 0.01). A significant, strong correlation was found between peak serve speed and impulse at 12 100ms (r = 0.58, p = < 0.01), impulse at 200ms (r = 0.64, p = < 0.01), internal rotation <900 (r 13 = 0.63, p = < 0.01) and external rotation <900 (r = 0.63, p = < 0.01). Due to the significant 14 positive correlations between IMTP variables, CMJ Height and peak serve speed, strength 15 and conditioning coaches with access to a force plate should consider using the isometric 16 mid-thigh pull in order to athletically profile athletes in regards to their strength, power and 17 injury risk