Studia Kinanthropologica 2016, 17(2):123-129
Comparison of center of gravity movement in selected tennis players
- 1 Masaryk University, Faculty of Sports Studies, Department of Kinesiology
- 2 University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Education, Department of Sports Studies
Tennis is a very nice sport, which can be played on different performance levels. Optimal tennis technique requires the activation of the whole body. While the dominant upper extremity plays a crucial role, the correct tennis shot should also be based on adequate activities of other body parts, e.g. non-hitting upper extremity, legs, body core, etc. We focus on comparison of the trunk (core) activity in three players of different tennis quality. Three-dimensional kinematic analysis with the help of Simi Motion software has been used and we achieved precise kinematic parameters of 13 body segments and tennis racket. However, the most important in this study were trajectories, velocities and accelerations of center of gravity during the tennis shots. We took into consideration forward-backward, side (lateral) and vertical motion of center of gravity (x, y and z axis) and absolute velocities and accelerations of hitting upper extremity with tennis racket and center of gravity as well. We were comparing data taken from three tennis players. The first represented the highest tennis level (international) - 751st in ATP ranking, the second ranked 23rd in Slovak national ranking and the lowest quality was a Slovak junior tennis player ranked 2nd in Slovak national junior ranking. Their ages were 25, 25 and 17 respectively. Each played made 10 shots, which were recorded, and the best one was selected. This data has been evaluated and compared to each other. Based on this analysis and comparison of the motion of center of gravity, its range, velocity and acceleration before, during and after forehand tennis shot we found significant differences between the tested players. This confirmed the very important role of the core during tennis movements, which has influence on the quality of tennis strokes.
Keywords: tennis; center of gravity; kinematic parameters of tennis motion
Published: September 30, 2016 Show citation
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