Exploring the Importance of Players' Characteristics and Performance on Serve and Return of Serve in Winning the Women's Singles Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments

• Main Authors: Ruslan, N.A.S (Author), Wan Yaacob W.F (Author), Zainan Abidin, A.W (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Physics Publishing, 2020
• Subjects: Chi-square tests; Female players; Odds ratios; Player characteristics; P-values; Statistical tests; Tennis; Tennis players; Tools and techniques
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher; View in Scopus

 Sports analytics has become very popular in recent years. Many researchers have been using the tools and technique to study tennis player performance in various aspects during matches. However, much of the studies were performed on male players while much less attention were made on female players. This study explores the female players' characteristics and serve performance that leads to winning matches in women's singles 2018 Grand Slam tennis tournaments. Using data provided by the official website of the Women Tennis Association (WTA), 1016 single matches in all four 2018 Grand Slam Tournaments were analysed to evaluate winning traits in tennis specifically looking at the two most important strokes in tennis which are the serve and return of serve. Additionally, other personal player characteristics that would influence the match outcomes were also evaluated. To achieve the objectives of the study, odds ratio and chi-square test were used to compare between the match winner and match loser. The study revealed that percentage of first serve return won (PFSRW) has the highest odds ratio value (OR=1.263) followed by the percentage of first serve won (PFSW) with odds ratio equal to 1.244. These showed that having a good first serve, plays an important factor in increasing the winning odds as compared to second serve either in serve or in return of serve. This study also reveals that a taller player had the advantage over a shorter player for faster serve speed (p-value<0.05). © 2020 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.