Tennis serve performance in rested and exhaustion conditions of college-level players

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of rested and physical exhaustion conditions on accuracy and speed of tennis serve performance among college-level players.
Design: A repeated measures design with control and experimental groups was used to determine the effects of physical exhaustion on tennis serve performance.
Method: Sixty male tennis players, age=23.58(±1.74) years, were recruited, and  randomly assigned into two groups for two serve tests, with the experimental group being given a 1.5-hour simulated competition intervention in between.
Results: Results revealed that the serve performance of the experimental group was significantly deteriorated (p<.05) under the physical exhausted condition.  There was no significant association among serve parameters between two tests except serve speed (r>.90; p<.05).
Conclusion: Physical exhaustion following a 1.5-hour simulated competition has a deteriorating effect on serve performance among college-level male tennis players. Further study of skill assessment and /or a prior fitness test is recommended for in-depth investigation.