Men's doubles professional tennis on hard courts: Game structure and point ending characteristics

  1. RAFAEL MARTÍNEZ-GALLEGO 1
  2. MIGUEL CRESPO 2
  3. Jesús Ramón-Llin Mas
  4. Santi Micó
  5. José Francisco Guzmán Luján
  1. 1 Universitat de València
    info

    Universitat de València

    Valencia, España

    ROR https://ror.org/043nxc105

  2. 2 Federación Internacional de Tenis
Revista:
Journal of Human Sport and Exercise: JHSE

ISSN: 1988-5202

Año de publicación: 2020

Volumen: 15

Número: 3

Páginas: 633-642

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.14198/JHSE.2020.153.13 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openRUA editor

Otras publicaciones en: Journal of Human Sport and Exercise: JHSE

Resumen

Despite the great tradition and importance of the doubles game in professional tennis, no literature has analysed to date the performance of professional players. Therefore, the information on the characteristics of the game, or the tactics related to how the points are won in doubles play is scarce. The objective of this study has been to describe the basic characteristics of the structure of the doubles game, and to establish how the points finish in doubles professional tennis played on hard courts. Thirty-four ATP doubles matches played in 2018 were analysed, which included a total of 40 professional players. As per the game structure, the results showed that, in comparison to the singles matches, the number of points per match, the number of sets per match, the number of points per game, and the number of strokes per point, are lower in the doubles matches. However, the number of games per set is higher in doubles than in singles. Winning shots and winning serves are the most frequent patterns to finish the point in doubles. These data show the great importance of the serve in doubles, as well as the relevance of using offensive tactics.

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